European House Skopje

Bulgaria and Romania have signed accession treaties and are set to join in 2007 or 2008. Croatia and Turkey started accession talks on 3 October 2005. Turkey could complete them in 10 years, Croatia in five. The other four Balkan countries have been told they can join the EU one day, if they meet the criteria. These include democracy, the rule of law, a market economy and adherence to the EU's goals of political and economic union. Candidates for EU membership

In the summer of 2006, the Academic Training Association (ATA) togetherwith the Universities of Skopje, Bitola, Tetovo and the SEE Universitywill organise the second International Summer University in Macedonia. It is not possible yet to apply for the Summer University, but you canpre-register now by entering your name and email address on www.academictraining.org We will then inform you by email as soon as theregistration procedure opens. The ISUM 2006 will offer 20 intensive 3-week courses in Law, Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration, Education Science andTeacher Training. Courses will be taught in English and successfulparticipants will receive an official ECTS-compatible "Summer University Certificate". Next to the academic courses, cool parties, weekendexcursions, field trips, sports tournaments, and debates will be organisedfor all participants! Don't miss your chance for a great summer - visit www.academictraining.org and pre-register for the

Education and training programmes Youth Programme Promotion of Active European Citizenship

The Programme of Confidence-building Measures (CBM) in civil society was established following the first Council of Europe Summit held in Vienna in 1993. The upsurge of problems concerning majority-minority relations in specific countries has revealed the need to back up legal standard-setting and intergovernmental co-operation by implementing specific initiatives in particular fields in close co-operation with the majority and minority communities concerned. The CBM Programme is the only assistance and co-operation programme of the Council of Europe that provides subsidies to civil society projects. The Programme’s budget for projects is each year considerably increased by voluntary contributions from member States. The CBM Programme is designed to improve tolerance and understanding between communities and to defuse possible tensions between different communities in order to break down the barriers that divide them, both within member or applicant States as well as across borders. Th

A round-table meeting entitled "The Balkans and the European Union" will take place this weekend in Bucharest with participation of 10 countries from the region, including representatives of NGOs and foundations.The meeting will focus on regional co-operation, security-related issues, EU integration process, and EU's role in Kosovo status talks.The event was organized by the Project on Ethnic Relations (PER).The PER was founded in 1991 to encourage the peaceful resolution of conflicts in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation.

Further efforts are needed to tackle climate change, the UN has warned in a fresh report, with greenhouse gas emissions in many EU states rising instead of decreasing.The Bonn-based United Nations Climate Change secretariat in a report released on Thursday (17 November) warned that the western world is losing its grip on the climate change problem. UN researchers found that overall in the industrialised world, greenhouse gas emissions were down 5.9 percent in 2003 compared to the 1990 levels.But the UN report says a large part of the reductions were achieved in Central and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, as heavily-polluting industry stemming from the communist era were shut down as these countries restructured their economies.Richard Kinley, acting head of the UN climate change body, said: "What we see is that the emissions from developed countries as a group have been stable in recent years and not decreased as they did in the early 1990s. Moreover, greenhouse gas projections

What is education ? Is it maybe a kind of a polite gentleman that softly puts fair-plays manners into greedy human beings ?(… This time the first glance over the topic is given to me by a short article from The Economist: how Europe fails its young , attacking the state-of-the-art of Europe’s higher education….)Definitely education is much more than gentlemen. It regards the fundamentals of a nation, an area or a macro-region, that could strive them to improvements, both cultural and economical.Will there be an European Education System ?I hope and I envisage a time when not only credits are changeable, as now, but when the entire system will move from the same political view: a common financial independence, a variegated degree of freedoms: to get funds, to choose his own research fields, to set up specific academic paths. To be updated and gain competitiveness.

"All Different - All Equal" This campaign will be organised by the Council of Europe and the European Youth Forum. In 2006, activities linked to the themes of the campaign will be given priority for EYF funding. For more information, consult the Youth web site: www.coe.int/youth

The European flag – symbol of Europe's common values and unity At a ceremony in Strasbourg today to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag, the leaders of the major European institutions said that the flag, which represented the shared values of the Council of Europe and the European Union, was the symbol of a continent-wide unity that transcended national frontiers. The ceremony was brought to a close by twelve children, who placed the twelve stars on a giant flag spread out on the lawn of the Palais de l'Europe. (more ...) Video of the event Photo gallery Radio and TV Spots Special file

A magazine on issues around "Youth-Training-Europe", published once or twice a year. Its main target group is trainers and leaders of youth organisations. It contains articles written by experienced youth workers and specialists on issues of European-level youth worker training. More...

Throughout the prolonged spasm of rioting in France, now in its 17th day, one dog which has been strangely silent is the European Union. Quick to give its opinion – wanted or not – on any manner of issues, it has refrained to commenting, much less offering anything like criticism.Now, that silence is broken. El presidente Barroso has leapt into the foreground, not of course criticising France but actually offering money - €50 million, "to help it tackle problems in its suburbs that have provoked unrest”.According to Reuters , Barroso revealed his offer on Europe 1 radio, stating that the main challenge facing France in dealing with impoverished suburbs was to create youth employment, "The best social politics is to create employment," he said. "When you have 60 percent of youths unemployed in suburbs it is a problem." Interestingly, Barroso said he had offered to make the funds available in a letter to Villepin on Friday. "If the French authorities want to

by Brussels Gonzo The European Commission released its annual reports on enlargement yesterday, including a recommendation that Macedonia be recognised as an EU candidate . Eagerly anticipated (including by Doug Muir a few weeks back ), but also pretty stunning given the difficulties the region has had, and given the general perception of enlargement fatigue. However in my view this piece of good news is put in the shade by this morning’s Guardian story about likely Bosnian constitutional reform . Apparently a deal brokered by the Americans, but lubricated by the prospect of EU entry, “would give Bosnia the ’normal’ trappings of an integrated, non-ethnic parliamentary democracy: a national parliament with full legislative powers, central government and cabinet enjoying full executive power, and a titular head of state”.

The European Commission has recommended that Macedonia become a candidate country for EU membership. Macedonia will be the third ex-Yugoslav republic to gain candidate status, after Slovenia - an EU member since 2004 - and Croatia. The Commission did not set a date for starting entry talks with Macedonia, leaving that to December's EU summit. It said Turkey could now be termed a functioning market economy but said it had to do more to respect human rights. EU officials say that politically, Macedonia is an incredibly positive story, but that it still has a long way to go in terms of the economy and the public administration. Weak and divided The country stepped back from the brink of civil war in 2001, after the EU and Nato helped broker an agreement between ethnic Albanian rebels and the majority Slav population. "Only a few years after a major security crisis, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia today is a stable democracy and a functioning multi-ethnic state," a

The EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn visited Macedonia on 10 November 2005. On the meetings with the highest Macedonian authorities, the Commissioner elaborated the Opinion and the European Partnership Report and evaluated the progress that Macedonia has made and presented recommendation for what has to be done.“You’ve got a one-way ticket”, Rehn agreed with the comment of the Prime Minister Vlado Bučkovski, regarding EC’s recommendation to the EU Council to grant Macedonia status of candidate country for EU membership. The opinion is that Republic of Macedonia has stabile and functionate, democratic institutions respecting their competences and cooperating with each other.Rehn stated that submitting the application was the right step that contributed the process.“EU family will be incomplete as long as the Western Balkan countries remain outside it”, said Commissioner Rehn, reminding that those were his words during his first visit to Macedonia, one year ago.“Twelve months l