A European conference brought experts from European institutions and academic centres to the College in Bruges on the 14th of March 2008 to discuss partnerships for social inclusion in Europe. The Development Office and the College’s Department for European General Studies organised the conference entitled, “Building social capital for more inclusive societies: partnerships for innovative approaches in Europe” in the framework of a partnership between the College of Europe and Cera.

What are the secrets of a successful Presidency of the EU? Where and how to approach the most relevant people to influence the EU decision-making process? Which negotiation techniques are most persuasive with and within the EU?

Over the past four years, these questions have been the focus of a five day seminar called ‘EU Negotiations in Practice’, a renowned advanced training course that the Development Office of the College of Europe organised for the sixth time in the spring of this year.

Thanks to a team of highly qualified trainers, drawing on their extensive experience in working and negotiating with and within the EU, participants can acquire a high level of insight and knowledge on the “environment” and best practice in a matter of days. The different professional backgrounds and nationalities have added spice to the simulation exercise that stretches over three days, to reach a climax on the last day in one of the meeting rooms of the Council of the EU. In the group’s evaluation of the course, the personalised feedback in the exercises, as well as the open and social atmosphere both during the programme and in the evenings spent in Bruges and Brussels are considered top features. 

You are working for a mission, regional or national administration, or an interest representation in Brussels? Our next EU Negotiations in Practice course will be on 24-28 November 2008 and registrations are open at our website

Over the past years the Development Office has been designing tailor made seminars for young professionals and post graduate students, in the framework of larger programmes aiming to bring young experts into both the public and private sector (SME’s) at regional level. These seminars have been developed for partner organisations of the College of Europe for the Italian regions of Puglia (March 2007) and Molise (February-March 2008). A group of 23 university graduates and civil servants are currently doing an internship at the College of Europe and in different EU project consultancies in Brussels, as a follow-up to an intensive training programme of six weeks organised in February-March of this year at the premises of the Delegation of the Italian Region of Molise in Brussels. The seminar combined core academic lectures with workshops on lobbying, tender and proposal writing and the management of EU funding programmes and EU projects.

Over 500 communication professionals, members of the Europe Direct Network of the European Commission working in the 27 Member States, have registered to attend a conference, in a series of three, currently being organised by the Development Office under a framework contract between the College of Europe and DG Communication. These meetings will take place in Budapest (17-19 September), Athens (8-10 October) and Lisbon (22-24 October) and will deal with three of the European Commission’s Communication priorities for 2008-2009: respectively, the EU’s role in the world, EU Social Policy and European Elections of 2009. The training workshops organised for these Annual General Meetings of the network focus on best practices in communicating current EU affairs to different target groups. The Annual meetings of the network also serve to reinforce cross border cooperation of the Relays and European Documentation Centres in joint communication projects.