16th March
16th March
Heinrich Böll Stiftung.
On friday morning we went to the Heinrich Böll Foundation which is a political organization near the green party. There we met the press person (Michael) for the foundation. It was founded in 1997 by members of the Böll family. Heinrich Böll was one of the most important politicians in post-war german history. He received the noble prize in 1972. The aim of the foundation's activities is to support projects related to ecology, human rights, democracy and self-determination. The foundation receives public funding and has an annual budget of approximately 38 million euro. Today there are about 200 people working in offices in 25 countries (for example Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic and Russia) supporting more than 130 projects worldwide.
The main issues the foundation is concerned about in Europe are for instance european integration and european neighborhood policy. Heinrich Böll Foundation organizes seminars, conferences and special exchange programs for young leaders, specialists from different organizations and also scholarships for german students. Some activities of the foundation include cooperation with other political foundations. One of the recent events was a big conference about migration and intergration of migrants organized with Christian democrats foundation.
When Michael, the press person, had given an introduction to the foundation we had a discussion about personal, national and european identity within the group. Representatives from different NGOs were supposed to join us, but unfurtunately they had to cancel the meeting in the last minute. However, since this topic had been on the agenda all time during the project a lot of different opinions were heard. Therefore it was very difficult to come up with a conclusion since there is no wrong or right in many of the questions. (D.I.)
SWP.
The Friday afternoon programme was very interesting - mostly for the female participants. We had a round table discussion about European identity with four handsome guys representing the SWP (Foundation of Science and Politics). SWP is an independent academic research centre which advises the Bundestag and the Federal Government on foreign and security policy issues. SWP was set up in 1962 by private initiative in Ebenhausen, near Munich, and given the legal status of a foundation. Currently there are more than 130 staff at SWP´s German Institute for International Security Affairs. SWP has eight research units.
After entering a huge and pompeous conference hall first we felt a little shy, also the four men in elegant suits were confusing. We were not brave enough to sit next to them at the round table so they had to face the whole group during the meeting.
Mostly the same topics arised like which we had already had before - weather European identity exists, what is the role of the EU in creating the identity, where the boarders of the Union should be. We also tried to name European values and find what could be the base for Eurpean identity. Can we actually find values which can be called strictly european? Can they be for instance rule of law, human rights, democracy, freedom of religion? What is obvious there are no simple answers for such questions. What we hope for is that our project will be a strong voice in such a crucial debate.
This time that we got the answers from the point of view of experts and I really apprechiated the fact that we could ask some other kind of questions like the interests of the European Union and the defence policy when it is about the accession of Turkey. We found out that creating a European identity is an important part of linking the countries for ling term, but the common currency can be a key instrument too. The time passed quickly - mostly for the enthusiastic photo-making female participants - and I do think that it was an interesting discussion. (P.B., M.KSz.)