Offer to Journalists:
A Visit to Brussels to Discuss The EU Constitution and Meet with IFJ/EFJ
16th March 2004
To: Member Unions in The European Federation of Journalists covered by the enlarged European Union and candidate countries
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce that the IFJ/EFJ in cooperation with the European Journalism Centre in Maastricht has a number of great opportunities for journalists in our member unions to have access to a range of visits and activities focusing on the work of the European Union over the next three months.
Unions can nominate colleagues to a series of custom-made seminars and briefings in Brussels pertaining to the impact and content of the proposed European Constitution. These meetings will take place in Brussels, at the headquarters of the IFJ/European Federation of Journalists. These are fully paid for and will also give colleagues an opportunity to meet with IFJ/European Federation of Journalists staff.
The activities are organised through the Journalists @ Your Service project, to which the IFJ/European Federation of Journalists is a partner.
Journalists can take part in an extensive programme of seminars focusing on different aspects of the draft European Union constitution during the Irish Presidency as well as explaining the background to the constitution. The following seminars will be organised:
April 5-7 Democratic Union (includes charter of fundamental rights, rules on openness etc); two seminars (English)
April 26-28 The EU Constitution for young readers, two seminars (English)
May 3-5 Economic and Finance Policies, two seminars (English)
May 17-19 Justice and Freedoms, one seminar (French),
Foreign and Security Policy, one seminar (French)
May 24-26 Justice and Freedoms, two seminars (English)
June 7-9 Democratic Union, two seminars (English)
The seminars are open to journalists from the 25 current and new member states, plus the candidate countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. The programme is organised in co-operation with the Task Force for the Future of Europe, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Parliament. During these visits meetings with IFJ and European Federation of Journalists staff will also be arranged.
Journalists can present their candidature by sending a letter to the Marjan Tillmans tillmans@ejc.nl, or Bianca Lemmens lemmens@ejc.nl at the European Journalism Centre.
These are unique opportunities for journalists to gain specialist knowledge about Brussels and the constitutional development of the European Union as well as to get briefings on the work of the IFJ and European Federation of Journalists at our headquarters.