Eight years after its establishment Fondation EurActiv became a public service foundation, dedicated to hosting and training independent media, by Royal Decree of 29 March 2012 and published in the Official Gazette of Belgium on 16 April. Its official name has changed to "Fondation EurActiv Politech" in recognition of the integration of Politech Institute AISBL from 01/01/2011 – see link.

Christophe Leclercq, founder, said "This recognition of our public service commitment comes as the Foundation strengthens its role around European integration, which requires innovative communication tools and multilingualism. Fondation EurActiv PoliTech complements what the EurActiv Network mediasdo on more political and visionary topics”.

The Foundation acts primarily to bring together individuals and organisations seeking to shape or influence European Union policies. Its aim is ‘Faciliter efficacité et transparence de la Communauté des Acteurs Européens’, specifically to:

-  host and support independent media: the Foundation assists civil society to promote debates for the development of European democracy; it also provides a Brussels Network Office and hosts stakeholder-orientated media and a French translation unit;

- train journalists: Fondation EurActiv PoliTech provides training for its own teams as well as other journalists, using state of the art communication good practices (including the successful Robert Bosch fellowship programme);

- develop the use of social media and mobile technologies: it manages, a multi-blogging platform, BlogActiv.eu. It is also involved in the use of new technologies and stakeholders’ engagement in the public sphere and e-participation projects (pooling of ideas and dissemination of results) such as ‘Open Discovery Space’ and ‘Citadel on the Move’.

- provide philanthropic support: factual information to help civil society organisations and debates for an open and participatory European democracy. It has also launched Initiative.eu, federating European Citizens’ Initiatives, under the Treaty of Lisbon. 

Julian Oliver, Secretary General said “Our main programmes involve Journalistic training and fellowships in Brussels, preparation and promotion of the French version of EurActiv.com, and the expansion of the Social Media department, which develops EU-funded projects, as well as Initiative.eu and BlogActiv.eu. We welcome inquiries from new potential partners".

Procedures will now be put in place to enable gifts and donations made to the foundation to benefit from tax exemptions, consistent with Belgian Federal Ministry of Finance regulations.

For more information on the Foundation: click here.

Contacts:

Julian Oliver, Secretary General, Fondation EurActiv, Tel.+32(0)2.226 5825, SecGen@EurActiv.com

Christophe Leclercq, Publisher, EurActiv.com, Tel. +32(0)2.226.58.13, publisher@euractiv.com

Dominique Ostyn, Senior Manager Communications & New Media, Tel: + 32(0)2 788 36 88, communication@euractiv.com

Note to the editor: 

EurActiv is the independent online media network dedicated to EU policy, counting 609,000 unique visitors monthly together with the Web 2.0 platform Blogactiv.eu. Set up in 1999, the network is an important working instrument for actors (institutions, industry federations, NGOs, think tanks, the press and others) involved in defining or influencing EU policies. The EurActiv Network publishes EU policy news and information in 15 languages from offices in the capitals of 15 European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom and Turkey. The Network's national policy portals are accessible here.

In order to provide free services and ensure independence, EurActiv's services are financed from four sources: corporate sponsoring, EurActor membership, online advertising and EU projects. General sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: Assembly of European Regions / GE Energy, Enel, First Solar, the Nickel Institute, People First Foundation, United Technologies and VISA Europe. Section sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: ArcelorMittal, Boeing, Camfil, Coca-Cola, Dow, Euro-ciett, General Electric, Honeywell, Microsoft, MSD, Swiss Mission to the EU, Trans Adriatic Pipeline, Unilever and Yara. Further supporters include: Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

EurActiv also has 60 “content partners” (NGOs & think tanks) as well as ca. 500 “contributors”, providing their policy positions for free publication, based on EurActiv's editorial discretion. Input welcome:editor@euractiv.com. EurActiv.com content extracts can be re-used freely by other media, subject to clear attribution, and copy sent to content@euractiv.com.