By Tenzin Tsering
Dharamsala, August 7 – The European Tibetan Congress (ETC) is scheduled to meet in Paris, France for its second meeting from Oct 15 to 17 this year.
The Tibetan community of France will host the second ETC meet, expecting to gather the largest number of Tibetan community leaders from Europe by inviting 10 official delegates from each European country and welcoming interested participants. Prominent western and Tibetan speakers will also attend the summit.
The second ETC Organizing Committee consists of Tibetan Community of Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, Norway and Spain.
Ten countries have confirmed their attendance (Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland)
The meeting is set to embark on a ‘European Chithue Initiative’ to “engage in a pre-election search for eligible candidates for the upcoming Tibetan Parliamentary elections” in October and March.
The last General Elections in 2006 witnessed 36 percent of the registered voters in Europe, which is 800 out of the 2224 registered voters, decided on the two Tibetans MPs from Europe.
“This is very disheartening. A democracy is only as strong as the people who participate in the process. While we expect the Central Tibetan Administration to find a solution to one of the hardest problems, we also need to put in effort from our part as individual Tibetans,” said Thupten Gyatso, President of Tibetan Community of France and Chairperson of the 2nd ETC Organizing Committee.
Europe, which is home to growing number of Tibetan refugees, can elect two representatives in the Parliament in exile, based in Dharamsala, India.
ETC believes its initiative will help improve participation from Tibetans residing in the continent in choosing their candidates.
‘The role of the next parliamentary representatives from Europe is of tremendous importance as the number of Tibetans living in Europe is on the rise today and I believe that it is important that individuals committed to the Tibetan issue combined with a good understanding of the European system represent Tibetans living in Europe,” said Mr Gyatso.
The ‘European Chithue Intiative’ is another endeavour aimed at generating more awareness and participation from the Tibetans in the upcoming elections in succession to the ‘Kalon Tripa Initiative’ launched by Mr Thupten Samdrup, which ETC said inspired it.
The European Tibetan Congress first met in in Basel, Switzerland in 2008 with over 125 Tibetan delegates from 14 European countries. ETC says it aims to strengthen the capabilities of the Tibetan communities in Europe and improve Tibetan democracy by facilitating discussion on Kalon Tripa and European Chitue candidates.
