Summer Seminar 2005

Summer Seminars » Summer Seminar 2005

Within the period 08-11 September 2005, the Economic Policy Institute has successfully organized the sixth annual edition of the traditional Summer Seminar for Young Public Servants from South Eastern Europe “Preparation for EU Accession”. The training was carried out with the kind financial support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy (Belgrade), the Central European Initiative (Trieste), the Austrian Embassy to Bulgaria (Sofia), the Know-How Transfer Centre (Vienna) and the Encouragement Bank (Sofia).

Following the traditions, the Summer Seminar took place on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, near Varna. The five-star complex “Riviera Holiday Club” was defined as a seminar’s venue. More than 50 practitioners from all over Europe have take part in the training (including the honorary guests and the EPI’s staff). The trained SEE participants were 25 people altogether, coming form the following beneficiary countries: Albania; Bosnia & Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Macedonia; Moldova; Serbia & Montenegro and Romania. Some of the institutions/organizations presented were:

- Austrian Embassy, Sofia;
- Bertelsmann Foundation, Gütersloh;
- Center for Applied Policy Research, Ludvig-Maximilians-University, Munich;
- Council of Ministers, Sofia;
- Embassy of the Swiss Confederation to Bulgaria, Sofia;
- Encouragement Bank AD, Sofia;
- European Policy Centre, Brussels;
- General Directorate for EU, Belgrade;
- Hewlett-Packard Bulgaria Ltd., Sofia;
- Institute for World Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest;
- Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Sofia;
- Ministry of Defence, Sofia;
- Secretariat for European Affairs, Skopje;
- Ministry of European Integration, Bucharest;
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Zagreb;
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bucharest;
- Ministry of Transport and Communication, Sofia;
- Stability Pact for South East Europe, Brussels;
- University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, etc.

The main topics that concentrated the attention of the audience and serve as a basis for further discussions under a “Working group” format were the following:

- South East Europe and the Process of European Integration I - After Signing the EU Treaty and Before Entering Negotiations;
- South East Europe and the Process of European Integration II - Stabilization and Association Agreements;
- Reform in Public Administration;
- The European Integration from the EU Point of View;
- EU Integration of South Eastern Europe: the Business Perspective;
- The Future of Europe.