Getting more people involved in volunteering is the key aim of the 2011 European Year of Volunteering. Awareness raising and practical help for voluntary organisations will be key planks of this strategy. Around 100 million Europeans regularly volunteer for some activity although there are high discrepancies, in Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands it is 40% of people whilst in Bulgaria and Italy it is about 10%. We spoke to Irish MEP Marian Harkin (ALDE), who is promoting volunteering.

Q: There are so many burning issues in society today, why dedicate a whole year to the ethos of volunteering?

MH: In the EU one in every five people are volunteering in some way or another. It is very significant number and it is something that concerns a lot of citizens.

Perhaps when you talk about "burning issues" you are referring to the economic crisis and believe me I know all about that, but I believe that volunteering can also help contribute to social cohesion in the current economic climate.

Q: In many western countries volunteering has a long tradition. However, in post Communist countries people are quite suspicious about anything new, including volunteering. How can we overcome this?

MH: I think volunteering has a lot to do with culture with tradition. I have spoken to Members of the European Parliament and NGOs from different member states and one comment I remember was from a Czech lady who said that if you volunteer, a lot of the older generation think you are crazy. But she made the point that younger people have a different perspective.

Q: What changes could the European year of volunteering bring?

MH: I think volunteering will have to find its own place and space and it might be quite different to how it is in the UK, France or Italy. It’s not so much about a change of attitude but it’s about changing the circumstances and very often changed circumstances bring about changes in attitude. The European year of volunteering can be an opportunity for people in the "new" member states (those that joined the Union after 2004, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe) to explore what volunteering can mean for them in their own context.

Q: What is the role of MEPs and EP in the European year of volunteering? How could they contribute efficiently?

MH: We have in the Parliament the unofficial "EP Volunteering Interest Group" and we have sent information to all the MEPs regarding the national contact points. They themselves can contact their regional contact point, see what is happening in their own country and region and how they can be involved at the national level. I think this is quite important because it is engages MEPs with volunteers. It’s absolutely crucial equally the Parliament is actively working with the "Alliance" (which informally gathers 33 European Networks active in Volunteering)

Hopefully, by the end of the year we will have in place some policy recommendations that we can bring to the European Commission and ask about a green paper.