The flagship training programme of the Development Office: the Intensive Seminar on the European Union, celebrated its 15th birthday with a renewed success. Ninety professionals from diverse backgrounds, coming from all over Europe and beyond, gathered in Bruges to enhance or refresh their knowledge about the EU. Some courses were an occasion to engage in a stimulating exchange of views on European politics and policies, sometimes with former participants to the seminar being invited this time as expert practitioners.

They actively took in one of the three formulas of the Intensive Seminar – the compact one-week, advanced two-week, or classic three-week programmes – adapted to their level of knowledge about the EU.

All alumni of the Intensive Seminar continue to have access to a dedicated extranet platform on which all outlines, handouts, working documents and shared pictures of the 2008 edition are stored. The extranet site is also a good mean to keep contact after the Seminar and  contributes to the creation of a true Intensive Seminar network of professionals in Brussels and beyond.

Within the framework of a technical assistance contract between the Development Office and DG Communication, 130 members of the EUROPE DIRECT Network – made up of EU information centres, European Documentation Centres and Team Europe speakers – participated in a specialised training seminar on EU climate change and energy policy at the new Verversdijk campus on 9-10 June. High-level speakers from the European Commission, the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), as well as from Brussels-based think tanks and the NGO sector, provided participants with useful background knowledge. In four workshops the Network members further discussed best practice examples and possibilities for cooperation with other stakeholders in communicating climate change and energy policy to the media, schools, business and the private sector in their countries. The seminar was complemented by a visit to the world heritage city of Bruges and by sunny weather.

The Development Office organised two conferences in June 2008 at the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM), the EU Agency based in Alicante, Spain. The conferences were titled “The Lisbon Treaty: what would change?” (2 June) by Jo Vandercappellen, and “Le nouvel agenda social européen: où va l'Europe social" (23 June) by Professor François Vandamme. Both were addressed to the agency officials, as part of a framework programme between the College and OHIM to organise events of this type. Other conferences will follow after the summer break.

A separate collaboration between the Development Office and the EU Pavilion at the Expo Zaragoza 2008 is taking place on the 27th of August with the organisation of a conference titled “Global resource management and conflict: the case of water”, as part of the programme of activities that the EU Pavilion is offering to visitors.

The Development Office hosted a skills building programme of the Swedish Folke Bernadotte Academy in Bruges on 26 and 27 June 2008. Providing assistance in the organisation of the programme entitled “From Early Warning to Early Action”, the Office’s support also covered reporting activities on the workshops for a group of about forty participants, mainly from the Council Secretariat, the Commission and the administrations of the Member States of the European Union. The purpose of the programme was to raise awareness of Member States’ administrations on the conflict sensitive and preventive approach, to contribute to better common analysis of conflict situations and to improve the transformation of early warning into early action.

The Development Office has moved offices from Riddersstraat to Verversdijk in Bruges. The restoration of the former monastery in Verversdijk and the construction of a new building at the site give us the space required for housing almost fifty staff members under the supervision of Dr Marc M. R. Vuijlsteke. Since the arrival of the Jesuits at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Verversdijk has almost continuously housed educational institutions. Today, this educational function takes on a European dimension.

The Development Office welcomes Eva Ptackova, Anti Beka and Karolina Borczack, who have joined the team of Researchers in our Office.

The Development Office says goodbye to Kimberley Brayson, Darren Camilleri, Christine Cassar, Sara Chrzanowska, Catalina Constantin, Pauline De Zeeuw, Silvia Gambino, Johanna Haukipuro, Klara Hurkova, Johan Jonzon, Alena Kopuncová, Sari Korhonen, Tjaša Lahovnik, Lucia Marušková, Molnár Katalin, Mette Nielsen, Ivan Petrov, Zvi Raman, Liene Reine, Paulo da Silva, Natalia Skrzypek, Christina Tzortzatou, Kalman Varga and Julian Waagensen, and wishes them all success in their future careers.
The Development Office is happy to announce that Anastasia Vilara, former Researcher in our Office, has joined the Communications Office as Head of Students Affairs and Communications Manager.