Stage Echoes

Out with the (ec)hoes

2011-11-30T07:34:00.001+01:00

Dear readers,

Due to unforeseen circumstances, unfortunate connotations and higher EU powers, we've had to change our name from Stage Echoes back to the old name European Stagiaires Journal.

You can now find us HERE!

Any questions, comments, suggestions, love letters and hate mail should be sent to: european.stagiaires@gmail.com.

With love,

Team ESJ

UN Climate Conference: Game over for Kyoto?

2011-11-28T12:06:00.001+01:00

International commitments for GHG emission reductions pass off with 2012. Debates at this week's UN Climate Change Conference in Durban will center around a renewal of the Kyoto Protocol. As pretty much a sole fighter, the EU will try to convince other parties of committing anew.

In 2012, the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will expire. The Protocol, created in 1997, legally bound 37 industrialized countries and countries in transition to cut down on 5% of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the past five years. As decided by the contracting parties at the Climate Summit in Bali 2007, the follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol (KP2) should have been put into place in Copenhagen in 2009. However, until now, the parties have still not come to an agreement on the principal controversial issues of a KP2: the level of GHG reductions, the involvement of the developing countries and the extent of financial transactions.

This week, the international community will again meet together at the 17^th UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa. Time is pressing for decisions, which is why this summit could be the match point for the future of the Kyoto Protocol.

"We must do as much as we can to push others forward."
Connie Hedegaard, Commissioner for Climate Action

According to figures of the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the EU is the world's third-highest emitter of CO² emissions, following China, and the US as first and second respectively. The United States has never ratified the Kyoto Protocol nor cut down its GHG emissions. China is not a legally bound party to the Protocol and its CO² emissions have increased by 206% since 1990. The other important industrialized parties to the treaty, Japan and Canada, have completely failed to meet their reduction targets and have already refused to renew their commitments. Also Russia, which has shown brilliant reduction results, has pulled out again.

On the contrary, the EU-15 has proven to be a credible precursor of the Protocol, as it is predicted to meet its reduction target of 8% by 2012. According to a recently voted resolution by the European Parliament, the EU will take on leadership at the UN Climate Conference and push for a second commitment period.

Connie Hedegaard, Commissioner for Climate Action, is determined to fight for KP2, as she argued during a press conference last thursday: "Europe has been ready and is ready to commit again."

Confronted with the challenge that the EU will be a lone fighter, she stated: "Should we just relax and leave it to the rest? No, we must do as much as we can to push others forward."

However, it will be a tough fight, especially as the EU' s demands towards the other parties are very high. The EU's overall aim at Durban is to prepare for a legal framework for cutting down on GHG emissions, which the whole international community should take part in. The EU is prepared to commit itself again, but also requests this from others – an expectation that is reasonable, but unlikely to be fulfilled.

All in or all out?

Europe's main discussion partners for a KP2 are now the developing countries, and among them especially the Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs). These countries are willing to prolong the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, as they stated during a separate "BASIC Group" (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) conference in August (economist, 03/09/2011). However, what might seem to support the EU's ideas at first glance, is also the source of controversy as well.

The developing countries – and under the Kyoto Protocol, the NICs are counted for as such – are not legally bound parties, i.e., they do not commit to any GHG reductions. They are mainly included in the Protocol by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which facilitates investments for climate change mitigation by industrialized countries in developing countries, e.g. alternative energy projects. These investment projects are mainly carried out in the NICs, which is where emission reduction is easiest to achieve. Unsurprisingly, that the BASIC group is very keen on preserving its special status under the Protocol.

However, this status is a key issue that Commissioner Hedegaard wants to see changed for the KP2. She says that this "artificial division between developed and developing countries does not reflect the world as it is today" and demands that developing countries are legally taken into account as well. She argues this demand by pointing out that the BRICS already represent almost one-third of the world's GDP and that by 2020, nearly two-thirds of global emissions will come from these countries. This concerns especially China which shows the largest growth in GDP and the largest volume of GHG emissions among the BASIC countries.

Nevertheless, Hedegaard does not want to absolve the responsibility of the industrialized world vis-à-vis the developing countries: "Today, the investments under the CDM go into very few countries. It is our aim to make CDM more attractive, especially for the very poor, least developed countries." Thus, it is another aim of the Commissioner to push forward the implementation of the Green Climate Fund which should furnish the developing countries with $100 billion a year by 2020.

The special status of the developing countries has since the childhood of the Kyoto Protocol been the main argument of important industrialized countries (the so called JUSCANNZ – Japan, US, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Norway, New Zealand) to not at all or only hesitantly ratify the Protocol. In this respect, Hedegaard's claim for the "same legal value for developed and developing countries" seems like a good (and probably the only) strategy to get the JUSCANNZ countries into the game as well.

The BASIC countries know that they must make promises on GHG reductions if they want to receive financing from the EU. China has promised a 40% reduction by 2020, Brazil of 36% (economist, 03/09/2011). However, these promises are far away from being a legally-bound commitment. And even Hedegaard's forecasts during the press conference denote that China is mainly interested in projects using the financial mechanisms implied in the Protocol.

Playing the same game, the United States is more willing to pay off its bad climate conscience by contributing to the Green Climate Fund instead of reducing their GHG emissions.

changes between 1990 and 2010,
showing decoupling of GDP growth and emission level in the EU
source: IEA, 2011

The EU's ideal for a KP2 would be "all in" for legally bound emission reductions. If this is the sole aim of the KP2, at the moment, it seems more likely to result in an "all out". In order to come to an agreement upon the KP2, it will most likely be necessary to continue working with "soft instruments", such as CDM, for developing countries. However, if these investments can prove that decoupling economic growth from CO² emissions is also possible in newly industrialized countries, they may pave the way for legal commitments from these countries in the future. If, on the other hand, these countries realize that they can endlessly count on investments from Europe without committing themselves, the match point for the "true Kyoto" will never even be played.

by Elena Fries-Tersch

Europe: What fate for the beleaguered euro?

2011-11-27T18:54:00.001+01:00

In recent months, thecrisis in the euro zone has spread rapidly from peripheral members, such asGreece, Portugal and Ireland to some of the biggest economies in the EuropeanUnion, namely Spain and Italy. This week the contagion continued, as interestrates on Belgian and French 10-year government bonds increased,and Germany only managed to sell €3.6 billion of the €6 billion-worth of10-year Bunds available at an auction on Wednesday.

TheEuropean Commission’s index of consumer confidence fell for the fifth month ina row this November, signalling to a likely return to recession in the eurozone. The growing financial pressure in this area is increasing the likelihoodof government defaults which may trigger the break-up of the euro zone.

In the not so distantpast, to question the stability and solvency of the European single currencywould have been thought sacrilegious. Upon the entry into circulation of euro coins and banknotes on 1 January 2002, the euro was widely regarded as a legitimate trading alternativeto the US dollar. Confidence in the success of the euro was so strong that noprovision for the exit of member states from the single currency was everwritten into EU legislation.

The once unthought-ofpossibility of euro-zone disintegration is fast becoming a reality. Last weekGermany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union party passed a resolutioncalling for changes to the Lisbon Treaty to allow euro-zone members tovoluntarily exit the monetary union without giving up membership to the broaderEuropean Union.

Increasing unemploymentin the euro zone means lower tax receipts and increases in welfare payments, renderingit more difficult for European governments to reduce their deficits. The foreseeablefailure of governments to reach deficit-reduction targets will cause markets toquestion member states’ solvency to an even greaterdegree than previously.

The unwillingness ofinvestors to fund sovereigns and banks is also undermining confidence in theeuro. During the credit boom, cheap foreign loans were purchased in Greece,Spain, Portugal and Ireland to finance housing booms and trade deficits. Consequently,these countries’ net foreign liabilities are close to 100 per cent of GDP. Themajority of this debt is financed in the form of bonds sold to investors increditor countries. While the latter tend to have low bond yields, debitor countrieswith large international debts have a high cost of borrowing. This amounts toan internal balance-of-payments crisis, which means the economic discrepancybetween euro-zone countries is only likely to widen as debitor countries payever-increasing interest rates on their debt.

If a euro-zone memberis forced to default, it will likely have to reinvent its currency. This wouldenable the country to write down the value of its debts, while also cutting itswages to give the country a competitive edge over those still in the euro zone.In addition, this would largely eliminate monetary shortages, because thecountries’ national central banks would be free to bail them out, something whichthe ECB has thus far refused to do for ailing euro-zone members.

This currencyreinvention comes at a price. If a member state were to pull out of the euro,it would have grave consequences for other weak economies. Governments wouldhave to limit bank withdrawals and introduce capital controls, as depositors rushedto take out their savings to avoid losing money in a forced conversion to aweaker currency. Furthermore, the lack of investmentsecurity would disincentivise investment and lead to a credit shortage. Governmentswould be forced to find other sources of funding to bridge the gap between taxrevenue and public spending.

While it is difficultto pre-empt how a disintegration of the euro-zonemight come about, let us speculate. In advance of his resignation some twoweeks ago, Mr Papandreou, the former Greek prime minister, proposed a referendum onGreece’s membership to the euro zone. Although the referendum was killed off by threats from the EU to withdraw the latestinstalment of bail out money, a similar future fall-out between Greeceand its creditors (the EU, the ECB and the IMF) may prompt Greek withdrawalfrom the single currency. Or perhaps it will be a failed bond auction that tipsthe applecart and leads to a euro-zone member leaving the monetary union.Italian bonds worth €33 billion and €48 billion will reach maturity in Januaryand February respectively. Given Germany’s recent troubles shifting its sovereignbonds, it is not unlikely that Italy will also struggle to sell its debt off toinvestors.

If the euro zone doesdisintegrate, the consequences would be disastrous. The region would be torn apart by government defaults, a dryingup of available capital, bank failures, and the imposition of capital controls.More broadly, the demise of the euro zone would endanger the future of theEuropean Union itself.

Nevertheless, the eurozone can still survive, but only with strong policies and swift action. TheECB, hitherto unwavering in its refusal to act as a lender of last resort, shouldlaunch a comprehensive programme of bond-buying toavoid the euro zone plunging into a deep recession. However, to attractinvestors back to government bonds, the euro zone also requires more than just ECBsupport. Analysts stress the need for a solid debt instrument which would, insome form, share liability for government debts. Germany’s Council of EconomicExperts has proposed mutualising all euro-zone debt above 60 per cent of eachcountry’s GDP, and allocating a percentage of tax revenue to paying it off overa 25-year period. The German administration has nevertheless rejected thisidea, fearful that it would be their country bearing the burden of weakerstates’ economic strife.

One thingis sure: the attitude in member states’ governments needs to change. And fast.Otherwise the euro will certainly die a very painful death.

By Sonia Jordan

Memos from Member States

2011-11-27T18:49:00.001+01:00

Belgium: Political stalemate to end?

Moves were made to put an end to the political stalemate in Belgium this week, with Elio di Rupo as the likely candidate to become the next prime minister after the King asked the French speaking socialist leader to form a new government.

The move comes after the political parties reached a deal on the 2012 budget in which Belgium commits to reduce its deficit to 2.8 per cent of GDP. The agreement symbolises an important step towards to the formation of a new government more than 18 months after elections were held.

Pressure was building on Belgium to act after Standard and Poors downgraded the country’s credit rating stating the government’s inability to respond to economic pressures as one of the principal factors contributing to the downgrade.

Latvia:Latvijas Krajbanka goes bust

The Latvian financial watchdog Finansu un Kapitala Tirgus Komisija (FKTK) announced this week that the troubledLatvian bank Latvijas Krajbanka had no further deposit availability, meaningthat the bank is no longer able to function.

The Latviangovernment has announced that there will be no state bail out for LatvijasKrajbanka, of which the Lithuanian government is the majority shareholder. TheLatvian government has instead urged Lithuania to bail out the bank.

Krajbanka'sclients will receive their state-guaranteed compensations for their deposits upto the sum of LVL 70,000 (EUR 100,000) within 20 days. Deposits beyond that sumwill be lost if no takers are found to bail out the bank. Several Latvian stateinstitutions have much larger deposits in Krajbanka.

While the majority of deposits in LatvijasKrajbanka – LVL 343 million altogether – is private individuals' money, smalland medium-sized enterprises, corporate entities, and state-owned companies arealso entitled to receive the state-guaranteed compensation. Despite the muchlarger size of their deposits however, these companies and intuitions will onlyreceive a maximum of LVL 70,000 each, the same sum as individual investors.

Germany:Neo-nazi activities to be investigated

The east-German authorities faced scrutiny thisweek over whether official protection was afforded to a trio of neo-Nazis whomurdered members of minority groups – mostly Turkish store owners but also oneGerman police officer – between 2000 and 2007.

Two male members of the far-right group called the‘National Socialist Underground’ were found dead this month, in suspectedsuicide cases.

Investigationsare currently being undertaken to ascertain whether the killers benefited from sympathy from the German informationservices. All unsolved cases with a possible racist motive since 1998 werereopened this week.

By Sonia Jordan

I love techno: fête d'une foule folle de la musique électronique

2011-11-23T09:28:00.000+01:00

la foule dansante:
I Love Techno a attiré 35.000 spectateurs

Samedi passé, des trains quelques peu particuliers sont arrivés à la jolie petite gare de Gand en Flandre: ils étaient chargés d’une foule de party people assis partout dans les couloirs, couverts de couleurs fluos, des gobelets de vodka dans les mains. Le genre de gens que les vieilles dames appellent « ces jeunes d'aujourd'hui » en secouant leur tête avec dénigrement et les sourcils froncés. D'autant plus surprenant que cette foule festive n'était pas composée principalement de jeunes rebels, mais d'étudiants sages, de jeunes salariés, de stagiaires européens…et tous n'avaient qu'une passion en tête: la passion de la techno.

Pour son seizième anniversaire, le festival I Love Techno a attiré 35.000 spectateurs à la Flanders Expo de Gand. Plus de 20 DJs connus sur la scène électronique internationale ont fait trépider les cinq énormes salles pendant une nuit entière, de neuf heures du soir jusqu'à six heures du matin.

A la gare de Gand, la foule folle était 'squeezée' dans les "Pendeltrams" qui l'ont amenée au festival. Cela n'aurait pas été tout à fait la Belgique si un tram n'était pas tombé en panne au milieu de la route entraînant un énorme embouteillage de Pendeltrams. Cela n'a pas dérangé la foule qui ne s'est pas arrêtée là et a continué le voyage à pied comme déjà entraînée par les rythmes électroniques.

chauffant la salle: les foudres électroniques de Paul Kalkbrenner

En arrivant, tout rassemblait à un salon conventionnel, bien organisée, propre, avec des stands Coca-Cola et Red Bull. Mais plus la nuit tombait, plus le festival est devenu spectaculaire. Déjà les beats de Paul Kalkbrenner, vieux héro de techno, ont rapidement chauffé la salle qui se transformait en sauna de au moins 35°C, des gens à moitié nus et la foule bougeant comme une mer déchainée. Les sons du DJ allemand, assez mélodieux, aux sons clairs et rythmes fringants, agitaient tous les pieds, même les plus fainéants. Un autre "highlight" de la nuit fut le duo Cassius, dont la basse rapide et raide cassait la salle en millions de parties de corps bougeant: les personnes en transe qui ne pouvaient que danser sous les foudres électroniques en entrant dans un monde lointain.

A chaque musique sa drogue

C'est cela l'effet, non seulement de la musique électronique, mais presque de chaque grand concert: faire oublier la vie quotidienne, provoquer des émotions spéciales et faire bouger les corps. Pour celui qui adore la musique, ces effets ne sont pas si différents que ceux des drogues. Et pourtant, chaque musique a sa drogue.

Malheureusement aussi la techno, elle a sa drogue, et malheureusement aussi "I love Techno" a attiré un certain nombre de spectateurs pour des raisons autres que la musique qui ne sont pas venu d'abord pour la musique. Il fallait regarder dans beaucoup d' yeux et cela n'était parfois pas évident de le déceler, mais quelques uns montraient bien ce regard vide qui est le résultat de l'addiction.

Pour la plupart des spectateurs, qui se sont satisfaits des impulsions électroniques des DJ, la folie de la fête était du bonheur. Non pas comme pour ces 42 personnes qui, selon la Libre Belgique, ont été amenées à l'hôpital pendant la soirée, ni pour les victimes des sept criminels qui ont été interpellés par la police pour trafic de cocaine et kétamine.Reste à espérer que les rapports dans les journaux feront réfléchir certains "jeunes d'aujourd'hui" pour lesquels la drogue est encore un jeu: peut-être est-il temps de se satisfaire de la musique comme drogue la prochaine fois. Afin de pouvoir rentrer à la jolie petite gare de Gand à six heures du matin avec des bons souvenirs et des beats dans les oreilles.

by Elena Fries-Tersch
with support from Kim Miranda Lopes and Sarah Busigny
photos: Anna Mirsch

Interested in international experiences? The Youth in Action Programme gets you there

2011-11-21T21:12:00.001+01:00

Have you ever heard about the wonderful opportunity to meet people from another country, travel and visit them abroad, discuss certain – for you – interesting topics over the course of several weeks? Or even to spend up to one year abroad, working in an organization, while not even being a student or an organization member – and all this with the financial support from the EU? If not, do not worry, you are in between two thirds of those unlucky people who have never heard about the Youth in Action programme offered by the European Commission. Stage Echoes is here to right that wrong, inform you about the programme and give you a chance to participate on it.

Find out more about Youth in Action possibilities here.

To gain a bigger overview on the programme, Lucia Mrazova interviewed Mr. Pascal Lejeune. He has been working for the European Commission since 1986 and currently, he is the head of the Unit in charge of Youth in Action that deals with the ambitious programme for all young people in Europe.

Youth in Action has existed since 1989 and while it was initially a small programme, it has since expanded to manage a current budget of 180 million Euros. Have you ever participated in it? Why would you suggest others to take part?

Of course, when I was younger, this programme did not exist. Therefore I have no personal experience with it, but I have always been interested in what the current DG Education and culture proposes. I was particularly interested in this programme as it has an additional strong focus on citizenship, which is very original. Through non-formal learning activities we try to increase skills, knowledge and competences for young people. But beyond improving their future employability, the programme also offers the opportunity to meet and conversewith their peers from other countries, it helps young people to get involved in society (what we call active citizenship), it gives them a feeling of being European. Employability and participation are two raisons d'être of the non-formal learning opportunities offered by the Programme.

The most known activities under the hat of the Youth in Action programme are volunteering and youth exchanges. What is so special about them?

In some countries, volunteering schemes exist. But they mainly offer possibilities to volunteer in your own country, not abroad. On the contrary, the European Voluntary Service allows you to accomplish tasks of general interest in another country. Of course, spending up to one year abroad in such a scheme is a true learning experience with a strong impact from a personal, social and professional point of view; but let's not underestimate the "solidarity" dimension: for the hosting community, it constitutes a much appreciated support.

Similarly youth exchanges are a great opportunity to spend two-three weeks abroad, not as a tourist, but with a view to meeting other youngsters from different countries and exchanging with them on different topics, on Europe, on what matters for young people. It's all the more important that we pay a special attention to the inclusion of youngsters with fewer opportunities; we know that for many of them, participating in a youth exchange is a first opportunity to go abroad and therefore have a first contact with European realities: an unforgettable experience here again!

What about the participation in the programme? Does the Commission undertake surveys to assess the number of people involved?

On average, the Youth in Action programme has now approximately 150 thousand participants a year, either young people or youth workers - professionals working for youth organizations. Since its launch in 1989 when it was called Youth for Europe, more than 2 million people have benefited of it. Under the current Youth in Action programme, since 2007, close to 7 hundred thousand people have participated.

Last year we launched a survey among a representative sample of around 5 thousand beneficiaries of the programme, with a view to assessing the impact of the programme on the participants. Unsurprisingly, since it supports transnational learning activities, 91 per cent of them claimed a certain increase in their language and communication skills; furthermore, 82 per cent claimed an increase in their social and civic competences as well as in their cultural awareness. Further noticeable impact was noted relating to most of the key competences defined at European level.

Another interesting result of the survey was that we also asked these participants, whose projects had came to an end around Easter 2009, if they had participated in the 2009 elections for the European Parliament. And the result is impressive: 60 per cent of the youngsters of the sample declared that they had been participated in the elections, while the general turnout at the 2009 elections in Europe was 43 per cent, and only 29 per cent when it came to young people.

The Youth in Action programme targets young people between 13 to 30 years of age. But how many of those youngsters have heard about it? How does the Commission work to increase the programme's visibility?

If every year we reach let's say 150 thousand youngsters (aged between 13 and 30), as was the case in 2010, it means that we touch around two per cent of the overall young population of Europe, which is 100 million youngsters. Two per cent is not that much, but we see this program as being justified not only because we concretely support the initiatives of these 150 thousand people, but also because, beyond these direct beneficiaries, the programme has a much wider systemic impact. For example, we support activities for youth workers, who get possibilities to participate in seminars and trainings and will be implementing what they have learned even outside the projects supported by Youth in Action, through their activities with youth NGOs at regional or local level.

Furthermore, such a European programme can inspire countries or regions to develop their own programmes for young people by adding a transnational dimension that we have been testing. We even have the example of Belgium, where the authorities came to the conclusion that one way to improve the relations between the communities could be to help young people better know each other. So they developed a national scheme directly inspired by what the European Union does thanks to Youth in Action. And now, in Belgium, there is a voluntary scheme to enable, for example, a Flemish young girl, to volunteer in Wallonia, and youth exchanges organised between the three communities.

Some countries are exceptionally good at promoting the programme, for example Estonia. There, about six out of ten youngsters have heard about Youth in Action. It may be related to the fact that Estonia is relatively small country or to the fact that the National Agency, in charge of implementing the Youth in Action programme in this country, has signed an agreement with the body dealing with unemployed people, which helped reach youngsters in difficult situations.

The Youth in Action programme is about to end in 2013 and the Commission decided to put programmes of formal education (like Comenius or Erasmus) with a non-formal education (Youth in Action) programme under one roof, so called Erasmus for all. Recently, there have been many voices, web pages or social media groups launched, calling for revision of this idea, who are concerned of losing visibility for non-formal education available for all young people, no matter of their education. How does the Commission answer?

This choice has been made by the Commission, and it is justified by various reasons; for example, we have to face the fact that we live in times of budgetary constraints and any saving in the management of programmes is an asset. Surely, this is a challenge and I am aware of the fact that people do not like it. But as I said, it is a challenge for us to work in such a way that it will be beneficial for those whom we support. Youth exchanges will continue to exist, the European Voluntary Service will continue to exist, the current support for youth workers will continue as well. In the Commission's proposal, we can also see an increase of budget by 73 per cent for Erasmus for all. Indeed, this may mean an increased budget for Erasmus, but possibly also for actions related to non-formal education. I personally think that the track record of Youth in Action suggests that such non-formal learning opportunities deserve to be supported in the future, whatever the architecture of the programme.

If you had the opportunity to be part of any project under the Youth in Action, which would you choose?

Difficult to say; there are very interesting projects in the various strands of Youth in Action. But if I must chose, I think it would be volunteering. Because I imagine having the possibility to spend one year abroad… this must be something! Spending one year in Spain or in Greece, doing something interesting and formative, making friends, learning another language, why not? But youth exchanges are important also. We have many testimonies that spending two or three weeks with youngsters from another country also create long lasting effects and help to discover people coming from completely different environments. Bringing people closer! That's what Europe is about!

By Lucia Mrázová

Memos from Member States

2011-11-20T17:40:00.001+01:00

Spain:Centre-right predicted to win general elections

Voters in Spain headedto the polls on Sunday in an election expected to bring an end to over 7 years of socialist party rule. Opinion polls conductedin November predict that the centre-right Partido Popular, led by Mariano RajoyBrey, will win more than 45 per cent of the vote, some 15 per cent aheadof the Socialists.

The election wascalled by current prime minister, Jose Luis RodriguezZapatero, amid concerns over the economy. With slow growth, the highest unemploymentrates in Europe, and borrowing rates that passed 6 per cent this week, theeconomy has been at the centre of the election campaign.

The Partido Popularhas gained support due to its proposed policies to fix the country's economicproblems and reduce unemployment. The PartidoSocialista Obrero Español has been critical of these policies however, accusingMr Rajoy of planning to make severe cuts to health and education.

The voting boxesopened at 9am Sunday morning, and as this article went live, votes were stillbeing counted.

Poland:Austerity all the way

Following the exampleof its Western European neighbours, Poland’s newly re-elected government hasadopted an austerity package to cut the country’sdebt and shield the nation from the worsening crisis in the euro zone.

Donald Tusk, Poland’sprime minister, has pledged also to cut tax and pension privileges for certain groups, and to raise the retirement age for both men andwomen to 67.

Theausterity measures come in spite of the fact that Poland is the only member ofthe European Union that escaped recession, with 15 per cent of growth over thepast three years.

Italy: ‘Super’ Mariowins second confidence vote

Italian primeminister, Mario Monti, has won a crucial confidence vote in the lower house ofparliament.

Former European Commission and senior advisor to GoldmanSachs, Mr Monti wassworn in to lead a government of experts after Italy’s worsening economiccrisis forced out Silvio Berlusconi on 12 November.

The vote endorses the technocratic government'sprogramme after Mr Monti requested that he continue in office until newelections in 2013. The vote had previously been approved by the upper house ofparliament, by 281 votes to 25.

Mr Berlusconi, who still benefits fromconsiderable support in parliament, said he would back the new cabinet staying inoffice but warned that he would bring down the new government if he did not approveof their policies.

Mr Monti has promised to reformpensions and fight tax evasion to reduce the country's debt.

Italy’s new leader has already facedprotests by those concerned with growing unemployment, further austerity, andhis own undemocratic appointment.

By Sonia Jordan

Europe: Technocracy or democracy?

2011-11-20T17:29:00.001+01:00

George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister andSilvio Berlusconi, his Italian counterpart, have been in a political fiddle forsome time now. Mr Berlusconi has been heavily criticised for his monopoly overthe Italian media and his premiership has been plagued by sex scandals. MrPapandreou’s austerity programme led to a wave of nationwide strikes andcreated divisions in even the upper-most echelons of government.

Nevertheless, their recent resignations were nodoubt triggered by the ultimatum put to them by euro-zone leaders at the G20summit in Cannes: either reform your economies or clear your desks. MrPapandreou was told to approve the latest European bail-out deal or lose hisloans, while Mr Berlusconi was instructed to allow IMF supervision of hisreforms.

Although the European Union (EU) has longinfluenced domestic policy, the intrusion of euro leaders into the internalpolitics of Italy and Greece is unprecedented in terms of the scale and urgencyof demands. The age-old debate over whether the EU is an intergovernmental orsupranational organisation has resurfaced.

As decisions are increasingly migrated toBrussels, many voters feel distanced from, and powerless before, those draftinglegislation to which, as citizens, they must abide. But, if the increasedpowers afforded to Brussels under the Lisbon treaty weren’t enough, the veryfabric with which Western nations have sewn their political structures, namelydemocracy, is under siege.

Both Italy and Greece are now led by governmentsthat their citizens did not elect. Athens, the city from whence democracy isbelieved to have originated in 507 BCE, is now led by Lucas Papademos: aneconomic expert he may well be, but elected by popular suffrage, he mostcertainly is not. All of this after his predecessor’s term was brought to apremature end because Mr Papandreou dared to suggest giving the people a say onausterity, by means of a referendum.

Although we are betraying democratic principleswhich, as Western citizens, have been sold to us as the fairest form ofgovernance, might technocracy be the only answer in such challengingtimes? Currently, Italian 10-year bondyields are above the 7 per cent mark; a level that previously drove Portugal,Greece and Ireland to seek European bailouts. If Italy goes under, so too maythe rest of the euro-zone. Decisions as urgent as these cannot afford to sit onthe shelves of 17 national parliaments before consensus is reached.

Might, in certain situations, technocracy be just?Both Italy and Greece chose to join the single currency, and in doing so,agreed to a number of spoken, and unspoken rules. In any union, recklessness byone member endangers the existence of others. If Italy and Greece had not amassedsuch debts over years of poor financial governance, they would not beexperiencing such difficulties today. Should not those countries that providefinancial help to the union’s ailing members have a right to impose conditionsupon the loans?

In the long-term, some forms of technocracy arealso necessary. Independent institutions, such as the unelected EuropeanCommission are needed to provide stability and consistency as power switchesbetween different political parties. Such independent institutions are alsopreferable to an intergovernmental body dominated by a few powerful members,such as Germany and France.

Nevertheless, the technocrats also have theirlimits. Economics, although often presented as such, is not a science. Itsapplication has such profound implications for people’s lives, thatmacroeconomic decisions, whether made by elected politicians or by technocrats,will always be politically contentious.

BySonia Jordan

Youth in Action: The gate to mobility and intercultural experience

2011-11-20T09:39:00.000+01:00

Youth in Action (YiA) is the EU programme supporting informal education (meaning no school and teaching, no tourism, no festivals and similar official and profitable actions) of all youth – with the main purpose to get to know new people from other EU/EEA/Neighboring countries. Stage ECHOES will present to you the different types of actions for which you can easily apply.

Who?
You do not need to have an official non-governmental organization (but NGOs can participate as well), nor do you need to be a student or youth worker. You just need to find some friends who are as enthusiastic as you are and are between 13 to 30 years old – a group of a minimum of four people will be called “informal group“. The EU grants to cover all expenses on activities, accommodation and 70% of travelling expenses. But maybe you just wish to help others abroad, but you need a hint as well as financial support. YiA supports individual volunteers that wish to spend one year abroad, working on a particular project in some organization – this action is called European Voluntary Service. The EU covers all expenses and you only need to find a sending and receiving organization.Or maybe you already work as a youth worker at your national level? You can also receive financial support for your own idea. One example from Slovakia: A group of four friends – journalism students, submitted a project to support visibility of the voluntary program and traveled abroad to make short documentaries about three Slovak volunteers working in three different countries. Films were presented all over Slovakia in schools and youth centers to promote this fantastic opportunity of the Youth in Action program.

How?
There are several ways to get involved. This time we will present you the so called Youth Exchanges, probably the easiest way to gain support for your international project.
1. To create your own project on a certain topic (can really be anything, from Capoeira, theatre, music, culture and youth policy to sports, helping disables, anything you wish to discuss and you seek an opinion of another culture), you need to find a foreign partner(-s) (you may use either several FB databases, your friends from abroad, or simply google them…), further to discuss the program together with partner group(-s) and finally submit the project – meaning, to fill in a simple form (about 20 pages) and send it to the National Agency (every EU and partner country has its own agency).
2. The easiest way to get involved is to send a one page form (called Part III) to the group of people or organization that organizes this projects and search for foreign groups (there are also databases on the internet, for instance FB groups such as Youth Media Team or EU Projects Partners Finding group). When the project is approved, you can go!

How simple?
You will find more information at the website of EACEA website, where you can find out more about your options and ways to get involved in the Youth in Action projects.

By Lucia Mrázová

“My guys are great - all four of them!” says Deborah Walker, the General Coordinator of the new Stage Committee, about her team

2011-11-17T07:30:00.000+01:00

What does Deborah (26) - Scottish graduate of Edinburgh Napier University in Business Entrepreneurship, decent kick boxer and lover of dancing, motorbikes and scooters - think about her new fellows and why does she refuse to label trainees of this term stage miserable? She talked about the new Stage Committee and her plans for it.

The Stage Committee seems to be a nice place to meet many trainees and all of them will get to know you very soon. But why did you decide to run for a position there, did you have any specific intentions?
I love challenges, and I knew this would be one. I also like meeting a lot of different people, and this position definitely allows you to do that. I’m usually ridiculously organized and I knew this would be a skill I could use as general coordinator. More than any other stage position, the general coordinator requires efficient, timely and accurate problem solving skills and using these skills both excites me and allows me to do something I’m good at. Plus, who wouldn't want to be on call 20 hours a day, 7 days a week for 650 trainees!?!

The new Stage Committee has only been in place for a few days, but you have already discussed this. So what are the main plans of the Stage Committee? Have you prepared any surprises for other trainees?
Yes! We have been hard at work for 2 weeks now planning and deciding on some ways to make this traineeship great fun with interesting learning and perhaps some memories that will stick with the trainees for a long time. Our events coordinator has been searching day and night for the best party locations in town (and found them!). We are also working hard to obtain sponsorships for all the great events such as job fair and euroball, to ensure they are ones to remember!

What about the Stage Committee team? What were your first impressions of them?
Good question! Looking back three weeks to our first meeting together - I never imagined I would begin to like them so much. Michael, I thought he was loud, obnoxious and over-confident. In fact, he’s entertaining, (sometimes) adorable and great to work with - he brings the hilarity. He is also very generous with his time and always willing to help. He has been my biggest surprise! Chris is Northern Irish and I knew we would be okay. He’s very level headed, direct, extremely hard working and I’d say the biggest asset to our team. Lothar and I were battling for general coordinator, so there was tension for the first week - but he is in fact very funny when you least expect it, not to mention ambitious in his work. Petr - well who doesn't like Petr from the first moment? He loves to talk and we love to listen. He is charming, attentive and always likes to have everyone involved with his ideas - he is a real team player. My guys are great - all four of them!

What about your personal attachment to the European Commission, what were your main reasons to apply for a traineeship? And so far, how do you like the traineeship?
Applying for the traineeship has been my goal since first introduction of EU topics whilst studying in Germany in 2008/2009. My background is in business entrepreneurship and it has links to economic growth. I’m not the average EC candidate, but my passion for innovation, entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprise growth lead me to being interested in the legislation and regulation inhibiting the promotion of all of the above. Being involved at the core was for me, the place where I could really try to make a difference. And here I am!

I work within Eco-Innovation where we receive funding applications for sustainable and innovative products, services and processes with the central task being evaluation of business plans. I could not have hand picked a better position for myself! I would even go as far as saying I have struck gold being placed there! We, as a group of 7 trainees at the agency are so delightfully different from one and other yet bonded like superglue from day one.

I believe every member of Stage Committee has some expectations about their work. What are your expectations of the new Stage Committee? Why do you think this will be the best Stage Committee ever?
My first expectation is to be much more organized than the liaison committee. It is taking time for us to settle in and get to know everything, but we are almost there! There have been so many nice emails from trainees thanking us and we really appreciate that. We work hard and it makes our jobs bearable. This may be the perfect time to say that this traineeship can only be great when everyone is motivated to make it great. The Liason Committee has already labeled us as a slightly miserable bunch of trainees, (but I am sure they are wrong!). Participation and general interest is down from previous stages and as much as we want to reignite the passion and get everyone involved and excited to experience such things together, we cannot do it alone!
Why will our committee be better than any other? Because we are five fools dedicated to making it so.

By Lucia Mrazova

Europe: Apocalypse now?

2011-11-15T23:00:00.003+01:00

Concerns over Europe's ability to manage its sovereign debt crisis intensified this week, as political turmoil in Rome and Athens, and the stark possibility of a double dip recession, provoked panic on world markets.

The announcement that Silvio Berlusconi would step down as Italy’s prime minister once austerity measures were pushed through parliament, did not prevent a collapse of investor confidence. Rather, Italian 10-year bond yields passed the 7 per cent mark on Wednesday; a level that previously drove Portugal, Greece and Ireland to seek European bailouts. The European Central Bank (ECB) was forced to intervene and bought limited quantities of the country’s debt, which enabled bonds to rebound from previous lows.

Political chaos also characterised Athens this week, as talks to appoint a prime minister to succeed George Papandreou temporarily stalled. Greek party leaders ultimately agreed to name Lucas Papademos, a former ECB vice-president, as prime minister of a new interim government until early elections determine a permanent replacement in the first quarter of next year.

In response to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and the domestic political tensions of particular member states, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, issued a call for closer political integration within the eurozone. This assertion was echoed by José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, who called for the EU to "unite or face irrelevance".

In the midst of this political and financial turmoil, reports emerging from Brussels on Wednesday said that France and Germany had begun preliminary talks on the possibility of one or more member states leaving the eurozone. The remaining countries would push toward deeper economic integration, including on tax and fiscal policy. Further integration may prove difficult for some countries to swallow, necessitating EU Treaty changes, and by extension, referendums in at least four member states.

The renewed economic anxiety in the eurozone is provoking speculation on the possibility of a return to recession in Europe, with the European Commission cutting its euro-region growth forecast for next year to 0.5 per cent from its previous estimate of 1.8 per cent. “The forecast is in fact the last wake-up call,” Olli Rehn, the EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner, told reporters in Brussels on Thursday. “The recovery has now come to a standstill and there’s the risk of a new recession unless determined action is taken.”

By Sonia Jordan

Greece: Back to Interbellum?

2011-11-15T12:15:00.000+01:00

For two years, Greece's economy has been in a constant downswing. This does not only lead to an internal breakdown of the Greek welfare state, but furthermore plants powerful seeds for nationalistic ideas amongst EU citizens.

Nowadays, Greece finds itself in the eye of the cyclone of the worst financial crisis since the end of the Civil War in 1949, which followed the destruction suffered during the Second World War. After the fall of the military junta of 1967-1974, a period of relatively regular parliamentarian democracy commenced. The entry of Greece in the European Communities was greeted as a substantial step to European integration. In 2000, Greece was considered to meet the convergence criteria and was admitted as the 12th member of the Eurozone. On 1 January 2002 drachma (δραχμή) belonged to the past, replaced by the single currency. At that time, almost ten years ago, nobody could foresee the financial crisis that hit Europe in 2008.

The Greek government, which was elected in October 2009 with the motto “There is money”, reached an agreement with the so-called Troika (IMF, European Commission and ECB) and signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May 2010. The national debt at that time amounted to 120% of GDP. The deficit increased up to 15, 6%. A series of harsh austerity measures have been taken throughout the last 18 months: horizontal cuts of wages in the public and private sector, most of the pensions touch the minimum limit of € 350 per month, excise taxation on most of the products and services, decrease of public expenses in the sectors of education and health welfare are parts of the mosaic of the Greek reality.

In October 2011, the situation in Greece cannot be regarded as ideal. The public debt reached the astronomic height of 170% (second highest worldwide, only behind Japan), unemployment rate up to 18% (unofficially, more than 30%), 365.000 jobs have been lost throughout the last 12 months, consumption has been reduced more than 40%, recession will still hit the Greek economy with a rate of 6%. However, all these figures could be regarded as recoverable, if there was a hint of regeneration of the Greek economy, though this is not the case. An enormous wave of educated people abandons Greece and immigrates abroad. The –by far- most educated Greek generation is deprived of a bright future in homeland. After the 50s and the 60s, when thousand of Greeks immigrated to Australia, USA, Canada, Germany, Belgium and other European countries in the search of promise land, Greece is bleeding once more.

The most alarming aspect of this crisis, though, may not be the financial parameter of it, but the retreat to a period of intense nationalistic ideas. A week ago, a new TV show named “Go Greek for a week” was broadcasted on Channel 4. The concept of this reality show is very simple and catchy. A number of British people are behaving like modern Greeks- they do not pay any taxes, they do not work more than 8 hours per day, they go on holiday more than any other European.

German populist media like “Bild” and “Stern” do not hesitate to parallelize Greeks with lazy beggars sneaking into the European family and asking for money for free from the Germans tax payers. In February 2010, on the cover of the magazine “Stern” there was the statue of Aphrodite of Milos –which was found without any of its hands- raising the middle finger of its right hand, while a few months later the same statue was shown as a beggar with the right hand stretched and pleasing for money.

However, just a look to the official statistics provided by the EUROSTAT may lead to the opposite conclusion. According to these figures, the Greeks are the most hard-working Europeans in the private sector and proportionally among the worst paid employees. The total number of holiday in Greece rises up to 27 days per year on average, while the Germans and the Belgians enjoy about 44 days off on an annual basis. Regarding tax evasion, some aspects of this phenomenon have to be clarified. In Greece the employees and the pensioners, that is the main corpus of the medium class, pay their taxes on a regular basis. However, there is a large number of self-employed people, like lawyers, doctors, businessmen etc, who actually do not pay taxes according to their income. This burden, inevitably, has to be assumed by the weakest part of the society. This unfair situation has caused the angry reaction of thousands of people demonstrating outside the Parliament, demanding a more fair taxation system.

Throughout these two years, Greeks have been submitted to a kind of unprecedented racism, encouraged by populist politicians and media. It seems that Greece has reached the point of no return, also, because of the irresponsible behavior of a large part of the Greek political system and population during the last three decades, which has led to the formation of a gigantic, unproductive public sector, parasitic business activity and unfair taxation system. However, generalizing is the wrong approach to this reality.

The fear of a retreat back to the dark period of Interbellum is present. The vision of European integration appears to become blurry. Unfortunately, the lack of charismatic leaders and the imposition of extremely harsh austerity measures, that push mainly the medium class to the margin of the European society, is likely to lead to an explosion of anger, mistrust and hatred not only between the different social classes, but, also, between the European nations against each other.

By Gergios Malos

Memos from Member States...

2011-11-14T19:33:00.003+01:00

The United Kingdom: Support grows for Occupy London protest
War veterans are the latest in a long line of recruits joining the Occupy protests outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Such is the scale of the protest that, in a break with tradition lasting more than 800 years, the new Lord Mayor of the City of London was this week anointed at the cathedral’s south entrance rather than the building’s front steps.

The peaceful protest against economic inequality, social injustice and corporate greed began on 15 October 2011 in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York. The protestors occupy two encampments in central London in St Paul's Cathedral and Finsbury Square.

As protestors attended Remembrance Day services at St Paul's Cathedral, they were joined by former service personnel with their own list of grievances against the government. At least 15 military veterans have joined the camp in protest over their post-conflict treatment.

Their presence serves to illustrate the increasingly diverse support base of the anti-capitalist Occupy movement, which, just weeks after the protests led to the resignation of three of the cathedral's leading clerics, has now been endorsed by a canon in residence at St Paul's.

Belgium: Budgetary deadline set by European Commission
The latest economic forecast issued by the European Commission for Belgium predicts that the nation’s economy will grow by just 0.9 per cent next year, lower than estimated two months ago.

The Commission also called for all budgetary cuts to enter into rigour by mid-December, warning that if no action is taken, Belgium's budget deficit will top 4.6 per cent in 2012 and sovereign debt could exceed 100 per cent of GDP.

In response to the Commission’s report, Belgian Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, called on the six parties negotiating the formation of a new Federal Government to come to an agreement on budgetary reforms for 2012.

The Netherlands: An asylum seeker’s victory
The Dutch parliament has granted temporary reprieve to 18-year old Angolan asylum seeker, Mauro Manuel, allowing him to remain in the country on a student visa. Mr Manuel has become a symbol for other young asylum seeker s in the Netherlands, who, under Dutch immigration law, must return to their native countries when they turn 18.

Despite its historically open attitude to asylum seekers and immigrants, the Netherlands has become increasingly divided over immigration, as concerns mount over the number of Muslim immigrants in the country and their integration into Dutch society.

The political influence of Geert Wilders has had much to do with this shifting stance. As leader of the anti-immigration, anti-Islam Freedom party, he has a pact with the minority coalition government: in exchange for tough policies on asylum seekers, the Freedom party usually supports government to give it a majority in the parliament.

Sources: Agence France Presse, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Guardian, El País, BBC News, The Economist, Le Monde, The Financial Times, deredactie.be

By Sonia Jordan

Esperanto – a common language for Europe?

2011-11-13T11:37:00.000+01:00

Esperanto was created for the purpose of international communication. Throughout its history, it has been used by different social groups. However, political ideologies behind it may have hindered it to become a common European language.

At the end of the 19th century, Ludwig Zamenhof realized that language barriers were the origin of the fighting amongst his Polish, German, Yewish and Belarusian fellow citizens in his hometown Bialystok. In 1887, he therefore published the book "Unua Libro" describing basic grammatical rules and vocabulary of Esperanto: a language that should not mirror any ethnical or national belonging and thus enable a fair international communication.

And in fact, Esperanto has since then been spoken by many different kinds of social groups. In between the two World Wars, for example, Esperanto was a language widely spoken amongst French labourers. At approximately the same time, German and French Esperanto speaking members of the European Rotary Club – a beneficial club with a industrialist tradition– created a group to develop and practice the language. In 1922, Zamenhof – had he still been alive – would have cried with joy: the League of Nations considered introducing Esperanto as a worldwide official language that should be taught everywhere as a first foreign language. However, France opposed and the project failed. Considered as a minority and revolutionary language, Esperanto was soon after completely forbidden under both Hitler and Stalin. Zamenhof' s project became a distant dream again.

Today, Esperanto is spoken in approximately 115 countries of the world and estimates of users range from 100,000 to 2 million. Its largest speech communities within Europe can be found in Germany and France. Although linguistically it is a combination of Roman, Germanic and Slavik languages, it is not promoted by the European Union in language teaching programmes. It is not taught at European schools, neither is it officially accepted as a minority language.

But still nowadays there are people who believe that Esperanto is the best linguistic means to promote democracy in Europe. The fiercest defenders of this idea are members of the European-Democracy-Esperanto party, created in 2003. The party was presented in European elections in Germany and France in 2004 and 2009 and both times achieved around 30,000 votes.

Some of the people who actively promote the dissemination of Esperanto in Europe are meeting every Wednesday at the European Commission. Like the language group they represent, they are a colourful bunch of students.

At first sight, the Esperanto class seems like one of Magritte's paintings: something placed in a completely unfamiliar context. From the far end of a grey, neon-lit Commission Corridor you can hear them singing and chatting and a piano playing along. You enter their classroom and leave the Commission World: about 20 people dressed in anything else but black suits, a child shaking a rattle, a pensioner distributing song texts in Esperanto.

Michael Cwik is one of the students of this colourful bunch of people: The elderly German dressed in a blazer, neat shoes and a silk scarf – vaguely recalling the picture of a French intellectual – explains that he had worked at the Commission for over 30 years and is now retired. In his opinion, Esperanto as a working language at the EU could overcome career inequality due to language knowledge: "People who have English or French as their mother tongue, have more chances for their careers at the Commission." However, he criticizes that the Esperantists have no clear strategy as in how to promote the language on a political level.

Marek Blahus is the coordinator of the Esperanto group and trainee at DG SCIC. The graduate in computer linguistic seems to support a strategy of making Esperanto a European language by teaching – before in his home country, Czech Republic, and now here at the Commission.

To Stage Echo he spoke about what the language means to him, his motives of disseminating it and its future as a European language:

Stage Echoes: Why did you learn Esperanto and whom are you speaking it to?

Blahus: Since I was studying computer linguistics, I was looking for a language to learn in a summer course. I discovered Esperanto on the internet and started taking online classes in 2003. During the first year, I did not meet any people who spoke Esperanto, I only heard it on the radio, as there is a radio channel in Esperanto throughout Europe. I also wrote in Esperanto to pen-pals. By learning the language, I became part of the Esperanto community. I can now find friends everywhere. When I came to Brussels, for example, I immediately found people from the Esperanto community who helped me out. I also speak Esperanto to my girlfriend. You learn English to make money, you learn Esperanto to make friends.

Is the language also used for professional domains, such as in science and economics?

There are some science magazines in Esperanto, and it was even the main language of a university in France. Among the Esperantists, there are a lot of groups with special interests – for sciences or humanities, for example – who also use the language in this domain.

The German Hip-Hop Band Freundeskreis published an album called Esperanto in 1999. In one of their song lyrics they describe Esperanto as "the lingua franca of all leftists and immigrants". Would you say the language is generally connected to a socialist ideology?

At the time between the World Wars, Esperanto was to a large extent a language of the proletariat. However, it was the forbidden in the Soviet Union under Stalin, and only in 1969 the Communist Party allowed its use again. Today, it has a strong support in France and maybe this is due to the strong socialist tradition in France.

I think Esperanto is connected to a political idea, but that is not a communist one, but that of cosmopolitanism. Esperanto could make people from all over the world communicate with each other on a neutral basis. Also, the aim of the dissemination of Esperanto is to protect minority languages. It should not replace mother tongues, but become a second language for everyone to learn.

Will Esperanto once become the official European language?

Blahus: Realistically speaking, not in the near future. But it would be the perfect solution. It did not succeed until now because it has no economic power behind it and no governments to defend it. But then again, enforcing the language use through economic power would be against the idea of a democratic language. So, all in all, the Esperantist movement is a very idealistic one.

Thank you for the interview.

By Elena Fries-Tersch

Annemarie Bruggink: “Go for work, go for contacts. And if it does not work, come and see us!”

2011-11-13T11:36:00.001+01:00

Annemarie Bruggink has been the head of the Traineeship Office for six years. Even if she loves the program - unfortunately, she has never had an opportunity to become a trainee herself. However, she has been working for the Commission already during her last year of university. She started in the Commission in 1977, first in Translation, later in Operational Services where she managed the Citizenship Program. She greeted you all on your first day at the Commission and now she will tell us also some snippets of what she sees from her office at 24th floor at MADO.

Photo by Greg Smith

Stage Echoes: The European Commission Traineeship program is generally perceived as a prestigious type of internship. Thousands of young people apply every year to get this opportunity. But what are the main objectives from the side of the Commission?

Bruggink: I believe it is always useful to give a real historical overview. The aim of the Traineeship Program is to give an opportunity to young university graduates to learn about how Europe works. Either they decide to stay or not, all of them have a very concrete experience. This very idea already started in 1960, so right after institutions have been created. The first scheme started with three trainees, which, compared to the total number of staff, was already quite important. This basic idea of introducing people to things that we are doing and why we are doing them is still there. The program has expanded over years and since the mid-90s we have had about 600 trainees twice a year. Also, the number of applicants has increased, since in the mid-90s there was increase from four to six thousand applications per period. Now, due to the crisis, there are about ten thousands of them for each period.

Stage Echoes: So the program has been running for over fifty years and since its beginning, indeed, many interesting and nowadays important people took part. Could you mention some of them?

Bruggink: What is astonishing is that we do not know how many people working for Commission have been trainees before. We do not have statistics about that, mostly because of different IT systems. However, there are a couple of Commission employees that have been on training before. The most significant case is Commissioner Cioloş – he was a trainee some twelve years ago, so he made a bright career since. Commissioner Reding was a trainee, also former European Commissioner Mario Monti, who may create a government in Italy soon, was one. Then some royal persons, like one of the princes of Belgium and king Hassan of Jordania have also been trainees.

Stage Echoes: Since your engagement for the Traineeship Program, do you remember any particular group of trainees that simply stayed in your mind?

Bruggink: What I say when I do the pre-selection and afterwards: every trainee is different. You all are people who have generally lived abroad already, trainees with a lot of energy, ideas and plans, people who take the future in their hands, not just doing studies and then going for a job. Thus, it is full of life and of people who want to get the best out of those five months. However, there is a group dynamic. It is absolutely visible already from the Flagey Conference if the group will be dynamic or not.

But there are some famous stories. Once, we had a Greek trainee and one day, while sitting in his office, he was feeling like making a joke. He came up with this idea two months after the beginning of his traineeship. He created an email address: josemanuelbarroso@hotmail.com. And from this address, he started to send emails to fellow trainees saying: “I have been informed by your services that you have not been working very well and therefore I decided that I will end your traineeship as from immediately. If there is anything you can say to defend yourself, I want to see you at my office tomorrow morning and perhaps I may revise my opinion.” And all those trainees saw the message from Jose Manuel Barroso and they were so upset and many of them started calling the Commission, saying: "Please, Mr. Barroso, listen to me, I really do my best,” and things like that. And after Barroso’s office started calling us saying: “What is going on?” it became quite a big deal. At the end, I had to call the trainee and speak some serious words with him. He did not realize what the reaction would be, but we did not fire him, of course. And it became quite a funny story around.

Stage Echoes: We will see what our trainees will come up with. But nevertheless, let´s talk a bit about the future of trainees. Does the Traineeship Office keep any statistics on the future of its stagiaires in the sense of whether a traineeship particularly helps them to get any better position afterwards?

Bruggink: Unfortunately not. Also, we do not have a man-power to do take care of that. We loose track immediately after the traineeship ends. However, with social media, many of you keep in touch with their fellow trainees. Last year we celebrated 50 years of Traineeships and we had a group from the '60s that is still meeting every year for a week, all together – about fifty or sixty people. There is synergy, and I know that quite a lot of them stay in Brussels, not only to work for EU institutions, but many go to consultancy organizations, to regional representations. We estimate that about 30 per cent of people who have been here after five months stay here and find some kind of a job. But I do not know if they are here forever, or for couple of years and then they go home. However, everybody who comes back says that it is a plus for your CV if you have done a traineeship in the Commission.

Stage Echoes: It is true that many of trainees are not certain about their future and they may struggle while searching for a job after the traineeship anyway. What would you suggest to them?

Bruggink: This is really a difficult question because the situation is changing all the time and it is not getting better. However I think that you are a privileged group of citizens who alreaday have high skills and most trainees have at least a Master degree, you have language skills, you are flexible and open and all of you have already been abroad. Therefore I think that the experience at the Commission is the experience of how to deal in daily life with working in an environment of different cultures and different languages, so I think it is a very good experience to push further and to look for challenges.

Stage Echoes: What do you think trainees should take from this experience the most? What would you advice to trainees or maybe, what would you try if you were a current trainee at the Commission?

Bruggink: Well, what we say is to make the best of it. Now, it is not easy also for the Commission to integrate people who know nothing about its daily work, basically. So as a trainee, you must never feel neglected or so. You must be pro-active, look for work. All units have need of people, they are happy to have helping hands and they will appreciate it. And therefore, you have to make yourself also the best of it: go for work, go for contacts. And if it does not work, as I said, come and see us. It is five months that can be fantastic, because you can integrate, you can get to know people, learn how things work and you do not have to dig for career promotions, you are totally free in this environment, so take advantage of that. It is five months that will not come back.

Stage Echoes: Thank you for the interview.

By Lucia Mrazova

OUT & ABOUT - Week 45

2011-11-10T19:39:00.000+01:00

Dinner's Served! From Field to Plate, art exhibition on food production and distribution

Brussels never sleeps! Well, sometimes it does... but not this weekend! The sun is still shining and we've found a number of great events to check out, so no reason to stay in. You can learn all about food at the Dinner's Served exhibition, watch a movie at the Pink Screens Film Festival or listen to electronic tunes at Zukunft. If you prefer to get out of town, drive west and visit the medieval town of Ghent.

STAGE COMMITTEE

On Saturday, the SC will take you to Ghent for only €12 (€10 with Action Card). The trip includes the train ticket and a guided visit to the famous S.M.A.K. The plan is to explore the Ghent nightlife on Saturday night and then take the first train back at 5:24 AM on Sunday morning. You can sign up for the trip at Madou.

FOOD

Looking to satisfy your appetite? Then head to Tour & Taxis for the exhibition Dinner's Served! From Field to Plate. The project examines issues of food production and distribution through art. Expect to see installations, visual art, photographs, interactive screens and more. From November, 11, 2011 to June, 3, 2012. Admission: €12.

MUSIC

Tour & Taxis is also the setting for Zukunft at Magic Mirrors. On November 12, Zukunft will present the British duo Loose Fit. Daniel Willis and Johnny Smith will heat up the Belgian winter breeze and provide you with sweet memories to help you cope with the last 41 days of the year.

If you decided to join the Stage Committee on the trip to Ghent, you may end up at the I LOVE TECHNO festival. The line-up includes established DJs as well as up-and-coming talent, including Boys Noize, The Subs, Steve Aoki, Paul Kalkbrenner and Fake Blood. Tickets: € 50.00.

BARS & CLUBS

If you haven't been to Madame Moustache yet, this is the weekend to go. Friday you can watch Trotsky Tulsky play and on Saturday there is a 50's Jamboree by Mr Slick & Gamma GT. Mr Slick specialises in rockabilly, surf and garage and his sets may, or may not include tracks by Link Wray, Ronnie Dawson, The Sting-Rays, The Rondells, Carl Perkins and The Atlantics. On Sunday the party starts early, Cuir as Folk begins at 8PM. Cuir as Folk is for Boys and Girls and their friendly friends with Drag kings, Drag Queens and Live performances on stage.

FILM FEST

Genres d’à côté celebrates gender diversity and sexual minorities at the Pink Screens Film Festival. The 10th edition, which is held from November 10 to 19, includes more than 80 films on gay, lesbian, queer, trans, feminist and gender themes. On Thursday, Pink Screens kicks off with a screening of Romeos (Germany, 2011) and Circumstance (Iran, 2011), followed by the Let’s Sheherazade! Persian Pussies Party. In 10 days, Pink Screens will treat you to an abundance of films, exhibitions and parties including the not-to-be-missed Pink Night closing party. Tickets: € 5, students € 3.50.