More than one hundred citizens attended the street event organized by the CONGDE to send a letter to the President, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero demanding during his presidency a change in European policy. This has been the beginning of a protest against financial and social policies carried out by the EU seeking a turning point towards a more social Europe with solidarity and responsible for meeting its development commitments.

The NGO Coordinator considers that the compliance of these commitments is urgent since the numbers speak for themselves: more than 1.200 million people live under the threshold of poverty. During the presentation of the campaign letter boxes were provided for citizen demands. The objectives of the main demands are related to achieving a more committed Europe with the impoverished countries, with gender and development equity and with the participation of civil society in decision making.

Likewise, a web page has been created, www.urgeotraeuropa.org, to continue sending demands, either written or by pictures or video. All those received will be sent to the Presidential office.

The campaign takes place in a decisive year with events like the Lisbon Treaty, the revision of the Beijing Declaration or the follow up summit of the Millennium Development Goals.

The main demands of the campaign are:

-A coherent Europe whose trade, migrant and military policies do not contradict development commitments.

-An efficient aid regarding quantity and quality: not just a matter of achieving aid equivalent to 0,56% of EU´s GDP committed for 2010, but to ensure that aid adds up efforts from all players and achieves a multiplying effect.

- Development with gender equity, so that being a woman may not mean being poorer or more vulnerable.

- The democratic set up of a common agenda on integration and development between the European Union and Latin America with the participation of civil society.