Summer School on Minority-Issues in South-Tyrol/Italy
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 20:54:57 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Summer School on Minority-Issues in South-Tyrol/Italy
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Gabriel Von Toggenburg
<[email protected]>
Summer School on Minority-Issues in South-Tyrol/Italy
The European Academy's Summer School 1999
"Trans-national Regionalism and Minority Protection in Europe. A
challenge for Eastern Enlargement?"
I. Aim and contents:
Minority Protection, Crossborder Co-operation and Eastern Enlargement:
each of these three catch-words stands for a political development
which might change the face of Europe as we perceived it up to now.
The trend towards regionalisation and trans-national co-operation and
the growing public perception of the minority-conflict's destructive
potential relate in many and diverse contexts to the main project of
the European Union - its enlargement towards the East. The main
objective of this innovative and ambitious Summer School is to
elaborate this different interdependencies.
Both the European Council in the criteria of Copenhagen and the
Commission in its recent reports emphasise the striking significance
of resolving minority problems for the further Eastern Enlargement of
the European Union. Minority protection is becoming an European issue
and determines important decisions on the European level. On the other
hand regional trans-border co-operation is an important mean for
integrating the economies of East-Central Europe into the internal
market, thereby providing welfare-creating effects in the East and
offering the opportunity to overcome the economic division between
Western and East-Central Europe. The border-crossing areas have also
the potential to settle minority conflicts in a positive and peaceful
way and contribute, thus, to the consolidation of political stability
in the Eastern part of Europe.
Taking into account these new circumstances it seems to be very
crucial to create forums where researchers, experts, political and
administrative figures and representatives of minorities originating
from Eastern and Western Europe come together and discuss these most
current issues. Because of its history and geographical location,
South Tyrol has a leading role to play in questions relating to the
protection of minorities and to forms of trans-border co-operation.
For that the research institute European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen
offers an ideal background for providing a legal and practical
training on the issues headed by this Summer School. The European
Academy's Summer School 1999 represents a forum which aspires to
foster a multidisciplinary East-West dialogue on the developments of
regionalism, minority protection and Eastern Enlargement. Through a
combination of theory and practice in seminars and excursions, models
and possibilities for the future EU-Enlargement are discussed.
II. Structure and course:
The Summer School 1999 is organised as follows:
+ Lectures by international experts examine the international legal
standards of minority protection, the work of the Council of Europe in
this field and the different constitutional settings in the member and
the applicant states. Furthermore, the role of the European Union and
the Community Law concerning the legal protection of minorities will
be examined and discussed.
+ Round tables with politicians, researchers, civil servants and
officials of the European Commission show the broader framework of the
problems associated with the process of the Eastern Enlargement.
+ Workshops such as "The Styrian Automobile-Cluster" as an example for
trade-co-operation between industries within the EU and applicant
countries (Austria, Slovenia, Hungary) provide both theoretical and
practical insights into the inner-workings of trans-border
co-operation.
+ Visits to local politicians, bilingual legal proceedings and
sessions of the regional parliament gives a lively example of how a
minority-system like that of the autonomous region S�dtirol/Alto-Adige
works. Participants have the opportunity to discuss with
internationally recognised experts from Western and Eastern Europe
whether this system may give some guidelines for resolving the eminent
minority problems in CEEC.
+ Excursions to several state institutions, enterprises, local
authorities and chambers of commerce in the Euregio
Trentino/North-/South Tyrol illustrate the problems and benefits in
establishing and maintaining regional trans-border co-operation.
III. Who can join the Summer School 1999?
We invite civil servants, qualified students and representatives of
minorities to apply for our Summer School. The staff of local and
national governments in the CEEC play the key role in adapting their
countries to Western standards thereby providing the circumstances for
a successful enlargement of the European Union.
Students in their last year of university showing good credits may use
the Summer School as a possibility for multisciplinary specialisation
in the field of regional economies, the legal, political and
sociological background of minority protection as well as in the field
of Eastern Enlargement.
Representatives of minorities may gain from this Summer School the
legal background of minority protection in Europe, its possible
further developments and the role it will play in the near future of
European Integration.
IV. Information and application:
Please visit our website http://www.eurac.edu to get to know the
European Academy. The section Ethnic Minorities and regional
autonomies established a website (http://www.eurac.edu/summerschool)
where you find general informations, the programm, a list of our
lecturers and the application form for the Summer School. If you need
further information do not hesitate to write an e-mail to the
following e-mail account: [email protected]. We are also at your
full disposal under the telephon number 0039 0471 306121 (Secretary)
or 0039 0471 306122 (Gabriel Toggenburg).
GABRIEL TOGGENBURG
European Academy Bozen
Weggensteinstrasse 12/a
I-39100 Bozen/Bolzano
Tel: +39 0471 306122
Fax: +39 0471 306199
(http://www.eurac.edu)
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