A Finnish president and 2020-2024 policy directions for Emmaus Europe!

The Regional Assembly of Emmaus Europe is held every four years and brings together the 20 member countries so that they can choose shared policy directions and elect our representatives.

Close to 200 Emmaus representatives from across Europe met this autumn in Saint Sebastian and elected our movement’s first ever female president.

Carina Aaltonen has been involved in Emmaus Finland for 25 years and at the international level of Emmaus since 2007. A former minister of social affairs and the environment on the Åland Islands, which are located between Sweden and Finland, she is heavily engaged in initiatives focusing on the environment, human rights, and lifting people out of extreme poverty.

Emmaus Europe is going to commit to these objectives over the next four years and has selected four main focus areas:

• Showcase and bolster our resilience to climate change.
• Combat rejection of others and develop shelter and support in order to build lasting peace.
• Promote exchanges of practices, peer learning, and increase support for new groups.
• Bolster both practical and intangible solidarity in the movement.

She will be able to draw on a largely new regional council motivated to accomplish these policy directions.