Press Releases |
The
European Seminar From the Weekly Magazine “ACTUALITATEA”,
published by Lugojpress House |
Between the 7th and the 10th of November 2002, the first European Training Seminar was organised in Lugoj by EUROLINK - House of Europe, member of the International Federation of Europe Houses (FIME), as part of the project “National Histories in South-Eastern Europe and History of a United Europe”. The sponsor of the event was the Open Society Institute (Zurich/Budapesta) and the host in Lugoj was the “Angels of Hope” Foundation. “Us and the United Europe” Mr. Ioan Valcan, Director of this foundation, kindly offered details related to the development of the Seminar: “Besides the main training programme, several other activities were scheduled: Sunday, the 9th of November the participants of the Seminar met the Mayor of Lugoj, Mr. Martinescu at the City Hall. They then visited the “European University Dragan” and “Coriolan Brediceanu” National College. The participants to the Seminar were students from Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Republic of Moldova etc. The teaching staff came from Germany, Austria, Portugal, Macedonia and Romania. The International Federation of Europe Houses is the most representative network of NGOs acting in the field of education. It is present in 32 countries and has more than 140 member organisations. Its basis were put in 1954, as a partnership between France and Germany for a United Europe, and has acquired since then consultative status to the Council of Europe. The activities of the network are numerous and involve a consistent financial effort. The training in Lugoj is the second stage of the programme that started in Timisoara. Its objective was to emphasise the idea of the compatibility between the history, the culture, the traditions of every country and the United Europe. Each country joins Europe with with its culture, administrative forms and traditions. A United Europe must assume all these differences. There are however, common places that offer the link of a direct comunication: a common currency, a language heritage.” “There is no province as to what culture is concerned” Prof. Sever Avram, Executive President of EUROLINK House of Europe, stated: “The Seminar had as purpose a deeper understanding of the school curricula in the field of national history, within the new European framework. Lugoj, as a space of multi- and intercultural exchanges, has been a particularly welcoming host. A strong team-spirit was immediately borne. The experience was extremely useful, especially defining a clearer and stronger opinion that there is no province as to what culture is concerned. Lugoj is by no means “provincial” in its culture. On the contrary, it is a centre of influence, perfectly compatible with every other European city. The tuning to Central European values is more vivid here. The lack of prejudice, the tolerance, the lack of xenophobe behaviours offers a good framework for the exchange of ideas, life experience and for the deepening of practical, methodological way of changing the perspective on teaching history. Obviously, there will be some time before this is accomplished. “Romanians and Macedonians” Mr. Silviu Hariton, post-graduate student at the Bucharest Faculty of History, shared a few impressions with us: “I am a member of the Student Society for Historical Studies, ERASMUS, and together with some of my colleagues and with the support of EUROLINK, we have developed this project. It is one of the first reforming initiatives at such a scale, as a youth organisation in history studies. It is a challenge and we hope to rise to its expectations.” Mr. Nikola Zezov, member of the Youth Council in Prilep, Macedonia, declared: “ I am a teaching assistant at the History Study Institute in Skopje. I am for the first time in Romania. Lugoj is a wonderful city, especially due to its old and beautiful architecture. The Seminar should create a good connection with our Romanian colleagues, as we share the same problems. In Macedonia, there are Aromanians and in Romania we have Macedonians. Bucharest should be open to Macedonian researchers because Romania has many documents concerning the history of Macedonia. Students here should interact more with those in my country and our collaboration will improve.”
Durin a three-days period, between 7-10 November 2002, the House of Europe EUROLINK from Bucharest organised the First European Training Seminar “National Histories in South-Eastern Europe and a history of a United Europe”, sponsored by the Open Society Institute. The House of Europe is a member of FIME, a non-governmental and pan-European organisation in the field of information and education, with Consultative Status to the Council of Europe represented in 32 countries. The Seminar in Lugoj reunited representatives of the civil sociey, students and teachers from some South-Eastern Europe countries, as well as teachers from Germany, Austria, Portugal, Macedonia and Romania. The participants benefited of a tour of the town and met at the City Hall, the Mayor Marius Martinescu. They also visited two prestigious education institutions, the European University Dragan and the National College “Coriolan Brediceanu”. This Seminar intended to underline the compatibility of the history of each country with the concept of the United Europe. It also stressed the importance of the exchange of ideas within such meetings. In the same time, this event emphasized also the European vocation of Lugoj, a town which was awarded with the “Honorary Diploma” of the Council of Europe and “the Flag of Europe”. |