"Foundations will play an even more important role in society in the future - but they should not become stopgaps for duties to be fulfilled by the state", said Nadja Hirsch, Member of ALDE group in the European Parliament, during the Opening Plenary of the 2010 EFC AGA and Conference.

"The involvement of foundations is crucial and it is not possible to imagine some areas such as education and research without it. I therefore strongly favour a cooperative approach whereby foundations would, for example, start initiatives that the state then picks up and makes available to even more people", added Ms Hirsch. "Let us not lend ourselves to the illusion that foundations' budget could ever compare with state budgets."

"When running cross-border projects, foundations are often faced with bureaucratic and legal barriers. An optional European Foundation Statute could help solve these issues. However, we have to avoid any kind of overregulation. This could harm the diversity of the foundation landscape and their capacity to act", warned Ms Hirsch.

According to a study by the European Foundation Centre and the research institute Gallup, 73 percent of MEPs polled would support such a statute.

Across Europe there are more than 110,000 foundations together spending up to 150 billion Euros annually.