efilife april 2010 - final€¦ · 20 applications. an exciting bunch of people, don’t you think?...

EFILife NEWSLETTER Edition 80, April 2010

EFIL is the Federation of AFS Organisations in Europe Avenue Emile Max 150, 1030 Brussels, Belgium tel +32 2 5145250 fax +32 2 5142929

EurAfr ican Par tnersh ip for Change pro jec t Tra iners team in Ghana (photo : EF IL )

INDEX

Governance

• Extra-ordinary General Assembly in France

EFIL tra inings and projects • EFIL Volunteer Summer Summit

2010 – work in progress • ECTP Logo hunt - your ideas! • Intercultural Dialogue Day –

30 September 2010 • South Afr ica hosts second leg

EurAfrican Partnership for Change project

• EFIL Training Advisory Body meets in Zurich

• European Pool of Trainers – new faces

Partner development • EFIL and AFS expanding in

South Eastern Europe Partner news

• Partner news • AFS Sweden – ready for a

breakthrough • AFS France mobil i ty pet it ion

Developments in Europe • European Youth Forum update • Youth Pol icy Watch • Pol icy developments in Europe

EXTRA-ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN

FRANCE On Monday 7 June an EFIL extra-ordinary General Assembly wil l take place alongside the Heads of Off ice

meeting at the

Domaine des

Escaunes in Sernhac in the French

Provence. Four members of the Board of Directors are to be elected. The EFIL Elect ion Committee and the EFIL Secretariat have received the nominat ions of candidates for the vacant Board posit ions. At the extra-ordinary General Assembly the ful l Members of the Federat ion wi l l be invited to submit their votes. Other agenda items of the e.o.G.A. include a proposed change in the EFIL statutes to accommodate the newly establ ished AFS organisat ions in South Eastern Europe (Croatia , Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia) , as wel l as potentia l future network partners. Members wi l l a lso be invited to approve the proposed changes in the Board elect ion procedures, and wi l l vote on the worked out proposals of various EFIL membership fee systems to be appl ied as from 2011.

EFIL VOLUNTEER SUMMER SUMMIT 2010 – PREPARATORY WORK IN PROGRESS

Early b irds a lready made sure they wi l l not miss the biggest EFIL event of the year. On 28 March the early appl icat ion deadl ine has passed and more than 220 volunteers appl ied! With appl icants coming from no less than 33 di f ferent countries , the

EFILife Newsletter, Edition 80


Summer Summit promises to be a celebrat ion of diversity . Here are some data, just because we love stat ist ics . : )

we have 138 female appl icants and 90 male appl icants;

21 per cent of the appl icants are above 30;

38 per cent of the appl icants have been volunteering for more than 5 years;

the oldest appl icant is 69 years old;

the highest number of appl icat ions comes from Ita ly , with 22 volunteers eager to come to Zanka, c losely fol lowed by South Afr ica with 20 appl icat ions.

An excit ing bunch of people, don’t you think? You can soon start booking your t ickets to Hungary, because select ion announcements wi l l go out this week.

Vo lunteer Summer Summit 2009 (photo : EF IL ) Meanwhi le the preparatory team has selected the trainers for the Summer Summit . The promising group consists of 5 g ir ls and 5 guys; there is not only gender equal i ty but balance in experience too. The workshop l ist has now been f inal ised and the programme has been put together. You can read about the workshop topics in the upcoming edit ion of the VSS Herald, make sure you are subscribed! http : / /www.ef i l summersummit .org/2010/ For those st i l l wanting to be part of this not-to-be-missed summer event, there is st i l l t ime to apply unt i l 23

May. Make it an unforgettable summer with EFIL!

ECTP- LOGO HUNT SEND US YOUR IDEAS!

We are looking for an of f ic ia l logo for this year 's European Cit izenship Trimester Programme (ECTP) and its End of Stay Camp in Brussels (28 November to 2 December 2010)! The logo wi l l be used on al l project communicat ion, materia ls and products . The logo should be young, di f ferent and European and should be a combinat ion of the fol lowing ideas: European Cit izenship, mobi l i ty , youth, diversity , mult i l ingual ism, Brussels . . . We'd l ike to open up a l ive ly discussion in our Facebook group and of fer you space to brainstorm, exchange ideas and motivate each other to take part in this logo search! So, check the EFIL ECTP group regular ly . To join us on Facebook, fol low: http : / /www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wal l&viewas=672633220&ref=ts&gid=121291308327 P lease submit your logos by the 2nd May 2010 to i lyana.panteleeva@afs .org Depending on how many proposals we get , we' l l post the short- l isted ones in the Facebook group and we wi l l organise a vot ing round. The f inal decis ion wi l l be taken by the ECTP preparatory team to be formed soon. You can of course post your creat ions in the group, but p lease make sure you submit them by e-mai l too.

At the European Par l i ament , ECTP 2009 (photo : EF IL )



Logos are expected in a . jpg, .g i f format and in good resolut ion, in colour or black/white. To make it even more inspirat ional a lso for those of you who are less tech-savvy, we also accept scanned handmade drawings! I f you were looking for an art ist ic chal lenge that you want to connect to AFS, EFIL and the ECTP, then this cal l is for you! We are looking forward to your numerous responses!

INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE DAY – 30 SEPTEMBER 2010

Volunteers across Europe have started preparat ions for the 3rd Intercultural Dialogue Day, to take place on 30 September. News has reached the EFIL Secretariat in Brussels , of IDD workshops taking place in several countries, in preparat ion of the big day, just over f ive months from now, when chapters in no less than 25 partner organisat ions across the continent wi l l once again make a joint ef fort to set up a l l k inds of act iv it ies including creat iv ity workshops, youth debates, panel discussion, concerts , school act iv it ies , movie screenings, street enterta inment, competit ions, markets , etc .

Fol lowing the success of the f irst two edit ions - 2008 and 2009 - the ult imate goal for IDD2010 is to include as many chapters and locat ions across Europe as possible . Wouldn't it be great i f volunteers in every chapter in 25 countries in Europe were to be involved somehow in the celebrat ion of intercultural dia logue on 30 September 2010?

IDD2009 in France (photo : AFS FRA) The EFIL Secretar iat in Brussels has compi led a select ion of act iv it ies in two attract ive, colourful 24 pages booklets , ref lect ing on the big days in 2008 and 2009. We invite you al l to have a look at the IDD booklets on the EFIL website. Just fol low the l ink: http: / /ef i l .a fs .org/ - homepage. The IDD booklets 2008 and 2009 (both can be found on EFIL’s website) wi l l g ive our partner organisat ions a l l over Europe plenty of inspirat ion to move on with the preparat ions. Volunteers a l l over Europe, make 30 September, Intercultural Dialogue Day 2010, YOUR day!

IDD2009 in Be lg ium (photo : AFS BFL )

SOUTH AFRICA HOSTS SECOND LEG EURAFRICAN PARTNERSHIP FOR CHANGE

PROJECT Ten experienced volunteers from AFS oganisat ions in Belgium (Flanders) , Spain, Austr ia , Iceland, Portugal ,



Ghana and Kenya are currently preparing for their much ant icipated vis i t to South Afr ica in the framework of the EurAfrican Partnership for Change project , sponsored by the European Commission. The project Steering Group is holding

its second meeting in South Afr ica,

a longside and part ly

overlapping with the stay of the

trainers team. In South Afr ica, as part of the f irst week’s programme, our local AFS of f ice has set up appointments with government inst itut ions, the private sector, NGOs and local organisat ions for the part ic ipat ing volunteers to col lect information as part of a feas ib i l i ty study. The feas ibi l i ty studies in the EurAfrican Partnership for Change project a im at proposing a framework to help empower the AFS organisat ions in the African partner countries and further support them in their organisat ional and volunteer development.

AFS t ra iners in Ghana (photo : EF IL ) Over the weekend, an intensive training for volunteers wi l l take place in three regions in South Afr ica, this way reaching more than 100 local youth workers and mult ip l iers – AFS volunteers and staf f – in Gauteng province, the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal . The tra inings wi l l cover a wide range of topics including

intercultural learning, volunteer recruitment and motivat ion, roles and responsibi l i t ies of volunteers, host ing aspects and f inding host fami l ies , recruitment and select ion of part ic ipants , preparat ions and orientat ions, project management modules ta i lored for volunteer networks, r isk management, fac i l i tat ion and presentat ion ski l ls , communicat ion and report ing competences, act iv ity p lanning, etc.

Tra in ing in Sunyan i , Ghana (photo : EF IL ) EFIL’s project a ims at enhancing c iv i l societ ies in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa through the empowerment and capacity bui lding of youth organisat ions and structures. The project perfect ly ref lects the AFS network’s increased focus on Afr ica as seen in the AFS Vis ion 2020 and the discussions on network priorit ies at the AFS World Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , in October 2009. Read al l about the act iv it ies of the

project team in South Afr ica in the next edit ion of EFILi fe!

TRAINING ADVISORY BODY MEETS IN ZURICH The Training Advisory Body (TAB) of the European Federat ion for Intercultural Learning met on 11-12 Apri l 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland.



L i sa Cohen , I zabe la Jurcz ik , D iana Rosta and

S tephan Win iker (photo : EF IL ) The TAB had been created as an advisory structure at European level to support EFIL training issues in terms of both strategic and operat ional matters. Thanks to its composit ion including two Organisat ional Development Coordinators, two experienced volunteers and an AFS Internat ional representat ive, the TAB helps EFIL in keeping the overview of AFS tra ining needs in Europe. Despite the absence of two TAB members, the meeting covered valuable and product ive contents , Apart from the usual agenda points – looking back at past tra ining events , g iv ing input to the planned ones and outl in ing possib le themes for further future – the meeting included also a discussion about the AFS Internat ional and EFIL recent act iv it ies in the f ie ld of Intercultural Learning, the developing onl ine sharing/networking space for train ing and the communicat ion during the upcoming transit ions in the EFIL Secretariat and in the TAB itsel f . The group discussed also the input received from the network before the meeting – thank you to a l l those who gave a contribut ion fol lowing the TAB’s request! The next TAB gathering is p lanned to take place in January 2011, as a joint meeting between the current group and the TAB 2011-2012 (the bi-annual TAB refreshment is p lanned for the end of 2010).

A big thank you goes to the TAB members for their input and to AFS Switzerland for the smooth logist ics cooperat ion. A specia l word of grat itude is reserved for Stephan Winiker, the TAB member who took exceptional care of the group as a host .

EUROPEAN POOL OF TRAINERS NEW FACES

The European Pool of Trainers (EPOT), establ ished in 2002, is the common training resource for a l l EFIL members. This is where preparatory teams for EFIL seminars are recruited and this is where European AFS organisat ions can f ind trainers for their nat ional events in the frame of the Travel ing Trainers scheme. EPOT membership g ives a unique chance to gain new ski l ls , travel , get to know di f ferent tra in ing contexts (a lso outs ide AFS) and have an impact on the European tra in ing real i ty. Apart from the general b i-annual recruitment, EFIL Member Organisat ions can nominate addit ional EPOT members after supplementary cal ls , 6 and 12 months after the refreshment. We are happy to announce that the addit ional select ion round has just been f inal ised and 10 new trainers have joined the Pool : Hanneke Boode (Belg ium Flanders) , Katarina Nikodemova and Pavel Nikodem (Czech Republ ic) , Urd Kornø Rasmussen (Denmark), Inga List and Annika Menke (Germany) , Edi i te Mi l lere (Latvia) , Pau Puigpelat , Danny Mart inez Al ler and Maria Fanlo (Spain) . With the current strong team of 80 tra iners from 19 AFS organisat ions we are looking forward to the next act iv it ies of the EPOT, for the benef it of a l l European AFS organisat ions. Next opportunity to join the Pool coming up in one year, when the ful l renewal of the EPOT wil l take place!



EFIL AND AFS EXPANDING IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE

At the EFIL General Assembly in Lisbon 2007 the Member Organisat ions endorsed EFIL’s Strategic Direct ions, which include implementing in it iat ives to enlarge the Federat ion. Feasibi l i ty studies were conducted by EFIL in 2007, leading to the decis ion by the Board to work on the potentia l opening of programmes in the South Eastern European countries S lovenia , Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia .

Slovenia CroatiaBosnia and Herzegovina Serbia

New Member Development~ South Eastern Europe ~

Today, in 2010, we are proud to announce that four new organisat ions have joined the AFS global network. In the f irst months of 2010, branch of f ices of AFS Internat ional have been registered in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia , with Slovenia expected to fol low soon. The non-prof it organisat ions that over the past years have been establ ished in the four South Eastern European countries , have s igned a Memorandum of Understanding with AFS Internat ional , and are ready for the chal lenge: to increase their sending and host ing numbers over the years to come, and become a v iable AFS partner. In short : growth with qual i ty!

Mire la Hrn j i c (Bosn ia -Herzegov ina ) , I vana Pav lov ic (Serb ia ) , Mar i j a Bevanda(Croat i a ) J anez Damjan (S loven ia ) a t the Programme

Directors meet ing in Sara jevo (photo : EF IL ) Meanwhi le, EFIL continues to support the development of the new partners in several ways. Further act ivit ies wi l l be developed and grants appl ied for to set up more trainings for the volunteers in South Eastern Europe and sponsor the part ic ipat ion of the newly establ ished partners in the network act iv it ies , including EFIL’s f lagship projects , the Volunteer Summer Summit , Intercultural Dia logue Day, and the European Cit izenship Trimester Programme with the closing camp in Brussels . EFIL continues to encourage Member Organisat ions to support the new partners through a mentorship programme ( l inking them with establ ished network partners) , as wel l as separate in it iat ives by partners or chapters. A specia l word of thanks goes to AFS Internat ional for their much valued support with the developments in South Eastern Europe, including the often compl icated legal aspects related to the establ ishment of the branch of f ices , and the preparation of the local volunteers through train ings (Global Link etc.) . Congratulat ions to the volunteers in Croatia , Serbia , S lovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina for the remarkable progress made in developing AFS in their countries over the past years.



Serb ian s tudents and vo lunteers a t the pre-

departure or ienta t ion 2009 (photo : Interku l tura Serb ia )

PARTNER NEWS

In each ed i t ion o f EF IL i fe , we ded ica te some space to partner news , inc lud ing personne l changes as we l l a s re levant events that have taken p lace over the pas t month .

AFS Tunis ia is proud to have been chosen by the Tunis ian

Ministry of Educat ion to organize and manage a student exchange programme for a group of 11 American high school students from various high schools from the City of Memphis . The act iv it ies have taken place between 7 and 17 March 2010 in col laborat ion with the Tunis ian Ministry of Educat ion. This student exchange programme was part of the ‘Memphis in May’ Fest iva l which of fers a r ich and varied programme including concerts , exhibit ions, conferences…

AFS Austr ia is happy to announce that the Austrian

Ministry now al lows part ic ipants from the fol lowing countries to stay within the Schengen area for an addit ional three months after the programme has of f ic ia l ly ended: Argentina, Austral ia , Brazi l , Canada, China, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, USA, Venezuela and students from Hong Kong with a SARs passport . For more information, please contact AFS Austr ia in Vienna.

We once again want to draw your attention to AFS

Germany’s cooperat ion with an academic inst itute, a private university in Karlsruhe - of fer ing an Intercultural Summer Academy. For more information, see our February edit ion of EFILi fe . For any quest ions about the Summer Academy, please contact Manuel Schwinn in Hamburg. And there’s more news coming from Germany. “Constanze”, the nat ional tra ining event of AFS Germany, wi l l take place in Berl in this year. About 350 experienced volunteers and staf f members aged 18-70 are expected to come together on 8-9 May in Germany’s capita l . A wide range of over 60 trainings and workshops as wel l as an interest ing framework programme are of fered to them. This year’s guiding theme is „( Inter-)Acting in Global Networks“. The weekend starts with a key note speech by Prof . Dr. Michael Zerr (Karlshochschule Internat ional University) on Saturday morning. Afterwards, the part ic ipants wi l l have the opportunity to take part in three consecut ive tra in ing slots . Time to focus on some staf f updates. After one year as Host ing Coordinator in AFS Germany’s

Stuttgart of f ice, Benjamin Mal ik has le ft the organisat ion

to seek new professional chal lenges. Sandra Köllner wi l l be in charge of a l l support cases in Baden-Württemberg from now on. AFS France has announced an

optimizat ion of the internal staf f s i tuat ion. Elsa Tremel , Programme Director for

several years, wi l l be in charge of a new department focusing on Volunteer and Network Development. Anais Crouzet, Host ing Coordinator, and Simon Papet, Sending Coordinator, together wi l l take care of a l l communicat ion and issues concerning programmes, so please include both of them on your l ist of “Programme Directors”.



AFS SWEDEN – READY FOR A BREAKTHROUGH

AFS Sweden has gone through many dif f icult ies and changes over the past

years . The organisat ion has been faced with a common di lemma: f inding a balance between volunteer and staf f dr iven structure, and the struggle to save money whi lst keeping the qual i ty and service level in a competit ive environment. There have been several staf f changes the last years and many task reassignments. AFS Sweden has managed to cut 30% of personnel expenses during the last 2 years and reconstructed the programme price structure.

S ta f f AFS Sweden (photo : AFS Sweden)

AFS Sweden is currently focusing on 3 main areas: f inding host fami l ies and host ing support in general , strengthening the volunteer network, and improving school relat ions. The organisat ion is operat ing in a highly competit ive market and f inding candidates for the programmes and host fami l ies is a chal lenge. The situat ion is improving very slowly, and 2010 is going to be the year that wi l l make the di f ference and hopeful ly turn the downwards spiral . Today the Swedish AFS of f ice consists of 7 persons and 1 EVS intern, 3 of whom are working fu l l t ime: Partner Director, Qual ity and Support Manager, two Hosting Coordinators, Volunteer & Hosting Coordinator, Sending Coordinator, Accountant , School Relat ions Coordinator (EVS intern) .

The host fami ly recruitment is st i l l mainly covered by staf f in the of f ice and it a f fects the task ass ignments during a good part of the year. The host ing responsibi l i ty is shared between four people, of whom two are ful ly responsible and they work 50% each on general host ing, whi le the Volunteer & Host ing Coordinator is hal f responsible for host ing, which bui lds “a bridge” between the volunteer network, host famil ies and students . The Qual ity and Support Manager dedicates hal f of her t ime to work with host ing support cases and ensures the qual ity of the host ing programme. Experience has shown that i t is more ef f ic ient that several persons share the pressure of the host ing issues. This way of spl i tt ing tasks seems to be posit ive and AFS Sweden is planning to continue this pract ice. Due to the f inancia l s i tuat ion, AFS Sweden only has hal f a posit ion responsible for volunteer network development. This makes i t chal lenging to ensure the growth of the volunteer force. The organisat ion rel ies upon experienced volunteer leaders in chapters. Two years ago, the board and of f ice set a goal to increase the qual i ty of relat ions with schools . Ef forts started to pay of f when the organisat ion s igned up an EVS intern for this project . Right now AFS Sweden’s organisat ional structure is formed, responsibi l i t ies are clearly def ined and staf f feels optimist ic and is geared up for a breakthrough and a way out of the cris is .

AFS FRANCE LAUNCHES PETITION FOR STUDENT MOBILITY

AFS France has launched a campaign to raise publ ic authorit ies ’ awareness about the remaining obstacles to secondary school student mobi l ity ins ide and outs ide Europe, including no val idation of the year spent abroad, di f f iculty to enrol in one’s school upon return, no scholarship



from the government to encourage such mobi l ity , etc. The main act ion of this campaign is an onl ine pet it ion that AFS France intends to present to the Government on the occasion of Europe Day on 9 May.

To show the strength of the AFS internat ional network and to show your support to students mobi l i ty in France and the world, you are kindly invited to s ign the onl ine pet it ion by fol lowing this l ink: http : / /www.bouge-toi -pour-ta-mobi l i te .org/en/pet i t ion. Let 's jump together for student mobi l ity!

EUROPEAN YOUTH FORUM UPDATE

Next weekend, the Counci l of Members (CoMem) and the General Assembly

of the European Youth Forum (YFJ) wi l l

be held. On 23-24 Apri l 2010, the delegates of 100 member organisat ions – National Youth Counci ls and Internat ional Non-Governmental Youth Organisat ions – wi l l gather in Brussels for the annual statutory meeting and a general update of the work of the platform. EFIL’s delegate to the YFJ CoMem is Diogo Casal – a volunteer and Board member of AFS Portugal – who’s been involved in the YFJ af fa irs before. The CoMem wil l vote on a document outl in ing some important statutory changes that wi l l make the YFJ more f lexib le in order to meet future chal lenges, leaner and more

responsive to the needs of i ts members. In addit ion, two Pol icy Papers wi l l be put forward for debate and voting – on Democracy in Youth Organisat ions and on Vocat ional Educat ion and Training. Preceding the CoMem there is another interest ing event that EFIL wi l l be attending: representat ives of 8 exchange organisat ions wi l l come together for a one day meeting. They are a l l deal ing with long-term youth exchanges and are part of an informal group within the YFJ . During the meeting we wi l l d iscuss our act iv it ies and priorit ies for the coming two years in v iew of f inding synergies and joining forces for our common external interests . EFIL wi l l present the pet it ion “Jump for your mobi l i ty!” in it iated by AFS France to our l ike-minded partners and we hope to get more support for it a lso from other networks. I f want to know more, contact I lyana.panteleeva@afs .org at EFIL and stay tuned for the outcomes of these two events in the next edit ion of EFILi fe!

YOUTH POLICY WATCH The European Youth Forum Youth Po l icy Watch i s a b i -week ly bu l le t in that a ims to prov ide the la tes t news in re l a t ion to youth wi th in the f i ve s t ra teg i c pr ior i t i es o f the European Youth Forum – Educat ion , Human R ights , Employment and Soc ia l A f f a i r s , Youth Work Deve lopment and Part ic ipa t ion /Youth Po l icy Ma instreaming . EF IL i fe presents a se lec t ion o f the l a tes t news in th i s new month ly co lumn.

EU strategy for youth On 23 March, the Committee on Culture and Educat ion of the European Parl iament adopted a report on 'EU Strategy for Youth – Invest ing and Empowering' . The report a ims at a more ef f ic ient youth strategy in the EU and better cooperat ion between Member States. The investment in youth is



considered a must for the future societ ies . In the report , Member States are strongly encouraged to foster learning and training mobi l ity for students and youth workers. The report promotes also the part ic ipat ion of youth organizat ions in the youth pol icy bui ld ing and it considers the structured dia logue and new technologies as good communicat ion means. In his remarks, the rapporteur Georgios Papanikolaou acknowledges that the main aim of the renewed youth strategy would be to better implement and communicate a l l the exist ing EU tools and programmes on youth. EU 2020 no educat ion targets

On 26 March, EU Heads of State met in Brussels to discuss the new 'Europe

2020' strategy. Prior to the Summit, Germany crit ic ised the strategy's education targets and stated that it bel ieves the proposal would create problems in i ts appl icat ion in Germany, as i t would step on the federal competences on education of the German Länder. The move provoked a strong react ion from the Commission. I t had cal led for targets to reduce the percentage of school leavers from 15% to 10%, and to raise by at least 40% the young people who have completed post-secondary studies . The a im of the EU 2020 strategy and EU educat ion pol icy is not to replace educat ion pol icies in Member States but to commit together to a serious investment in education. EC President Barroso agreed to continue working to develop this object ive and he cal led for extra ef forts and recognit ion by Member States assuming that change is needed.

Towards a National Youth Counci l in Poland? The Ministry of Educat ion of Poland organised a meeting for youth organisat ions on 18 March in Warsaw, which was attended by about f i f ty representat ives of youth NGOs from Poland and many representat ives of di f ferent governmental inst itut ions, such as the National Agency for the Youth in Action Programme and the Pol ish Parl iament. The aim of the meeting was to gather youth NGOs and start consultat ions on the establ ishment of a National Youth Counci l (NYC) of Poland.

POLICY DEVELOPMENT IN EUROPE Thi s compi la t ion i s based on in format ion co l lec ted by EF IL f rom the da i l y news le t ter “Europol i t i c s – the European a f f a i r s da i l y” . Th i s new co lumn wi l l f eature in every month ’ s EF IL i fe ed i t ion , f rom now on .

EU enlargement Albania ’s Foreign Minister, I l ir Meta, has sa id he hoped EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle’s v is it to Tirana might help resolve domestic row. Albania appl ied to join the EU in Apri l 2009. However, a disputed general elect ion, in June 2009, led the opposit ion Socia l ists to boycott parl iament, causing a s lowdown in EU-related reforms. The Spanish EU Presidency hopes to conclude Croatia ’s EU accession talks by the end of 2010. At the conclus ion of the EU-Croatia Stabi l isat ion and Associat ion Counci l , on 23 March, both the European Commission and the Presidency recognised the important headway made by Zagreb. They agreed that Croatia had entered the f inal stages, but added that a lot of work remained to be done. The launch of the works for the long-awaited opening of a crossing point at Cyprus’ L imnit is-Yesi l irmak, on 29 March, marks an important step forward in bui lding conf idence



between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communit ies , the European Commission said. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affa irs , Miguel Ángel Morat inos, as the EU representat ive, and the US Deputy Secretary of State, J im Steinberg, met in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina , in the framework of a joint strategy to promote stabi l i ty in the country and its integrat ion in the Euro-Atlant ic community . The aim of the meeting is to tackle together with Bosnia ’s pol it ica l leaders the reforms needed in order to improve the country’s prospects of joining the EU and NATO.

Visa regulat ions After the European Parl iament, the EU Counci l of Ministers approved, on 22 March, a proposal for a regulat ion intended to faci l i tate the movement of non-European nat ionals with a long-stay v isa within the Schengen area. In pract ice, these nat ionals wi l l be able to move freely within a European country other than the host country for up to three months in any s ix-month period. The cris is between Libya and Switzerland has evolved posit ively , at least for European cit izens from the Schengen area. The Libyan authorit ies and the Spanish EU Presidency announced the waiver of v isa restr ict ions by both part ies , in Syrta (Libya) , on 27 March, in the wings of the Arab League summit . However, Tripol i is st i l l holding a Swiss c it izen in detention and is demanding an international arbitrat ion of its dispute with Berne.

Educat ion and culture The European Parl iament’s Committee on Culture and Educat ion (CULT) adopted a report on university-business dia logue aimed at reinforcing cooperat ion between business and higher educat ion inst itut ions. This should make easier the inclus ion of young graduates in

working environments. Schmitt ’s report p icks up on three main areas: l i fe long learning, mobi l i ty and partnership, and good pract ice. The European Commission is welcoming over 400 dignitar ies and cultural operators in Brussels at a celebrat ion, on 23- 24 March, of the 25th anniversary of the European Capita ls of Culture in it iat ive. This year’s Capita ls of Culture are Essen (Germany), Pécs (Hungary) and Istanbul (Turkey) . “Think g lobal – Act European I I : The contribut ion of 14 European think tanks to the Spanish, Belg ian and Hungarian tr io Presidencies of the EU”, directed by Elv ire Fabry and Gaetane Ricard-Nihoul , 286 pages, in Engl ish with abstracts in French, Paris , www.notre-europe. Spain seeks to include gender aspect in Europe 2020 plan. The two targets that Zapatero would l ike to include in the new strategy are increasing the female employment rate by 70% by 2020 and reducing the pay gap as much as possible. He also declared that the Spanish Presidency of the EU would continue to promote new instruments to combat v iolence of a sexist nature on a European scale. The European Commission has presented a report in which it urges member states to use EU funds for the social and economic integrat ion of Roma. They represent the strongest European minority with a populat ion of 10-12 mi l l ion, suf fer ing from the highest overal l rate of discriminat ion. A separate report evaluates progress achieved in terms of integrat ion over the last two years. These two reports wi l l be examined during the second Europe-wide Roma Summit , to be held in Córdoba (Spain) on 8-9 Apri l .



CALENDER

19-29 Apri l EurAfrican

Partnership for Change project , South Afr ica

28 Apri l – 1 May EurAfrican

Partnership for Change project , Steering Group meeting, South Africa

10-16 May Intercultural Learning

Seminar, Strasbourg, France

4-6 June EFIL Board meeting,

Nice, France 6-9 June HOO Retreat and

EFIL Extra-ordinary General Assembly, Sernhac, France

31 Ju ly-7 Aug. Training for

trainers, Hungary 4-9 August EFIL Volunteer

Summer Summit , Hungary

23-27 August Closing Seminar

EurAfrican Partnership for Change project , Vienna, Austria

30 September Intercultural

Dialogue Day 8-10 October EFIL Board meeting,

Belg ium 28 Nov – 2 Dec European

Cit izenship Trimester Programme Brussels Camp

Editor: Paul Claes, Layout: Laura Licari Contributions: Paul Claes, Izabela Jurczik, Ilyana Panteleeva, Eliza Popper, Laura Licari, Marit Gronskei.

Many thanks to all those who have contributed to

this issue of EFILife. Please do not hesitate to share with us your

comments and suggestions. We welcome your contributions!

If you would like to subscribe to (or unsubscribe from) this Newsletter, please contact the EFIL

Secretariat at: [email protected].

Reproduction of texts and pictures is authorised provided the sources are quoted.

--- To receive further information about EFIL, please

check our website http://efil.afs.org or contact [email protected].

EFIL is sponsored by

The European Commission

The Council of Europe

The Belgian Federal

Government

efilife april 2010 - final€¦ · 20 applications. an exciting bunch of people, don’t you think?...

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