It’s now becoming a real tradition for DG Enlargement's stagiaires: every semester they organise a trip to candidate (or potential candidate) countries. This year the destination is Skopje and Enlargement’s stagiaires have promised to organise different activities for you, to introduce you to the region.
Obviously this trip is not just about fun and touristy adventures. Even if the Balkan nights are legendary and the alcohol is cheap in the region, as representatives of the European Commission, the stagiaires have promised to behave. During their short stay in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia* they are going to meet – or at least try to - prominent EU officials, members of the delegation, local associations, etc.
So close and yet sometimes so far, the Western Balkans are certainly not the most accessible. DG Enlargement's trainees want to use the opportunity of their trip to share their passion and help you discover a small part of the cultural, historical and most of all human wonders of this region.
"We want to go beyond the usual clichés," insists Michelle, their Porte-parole, "we want to contribute, in our own modest way, to changing the perception of the Western Balkans."
"We want to go beyond the usual clichés," insists Michelle, their Porte-parole, "we want to contribute, in our own modest way, to changing the perception of the Western Balkans."
They are organising, in addition to the film screened on Tuesday evening, a "Black and White Party" on Friday April 15th at El Barrio - a fundraising event supposed to cover some of the costs of their trip to Skopje. "It's not a simple stagiaires' party," insists Thierry, one of the organisers, "there's going to be people from everywhere." And indeed, they have been promoting their party among students in Brussels, the Erasmus community, on Facebook and more. "The objective is to earn some money, but most of all, it is an opportunity to have fun with a twist of Balkan music," explains Amerigo another motivated Enlargement trainee.
Kim Fredericq Evangelista,
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| Some of the DG Enlargement trainees |
DG ELARG
*Please note the use of "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" in this article. When dealing with enlargement matters you quickly become very attentive to semantics. For example one should never mention Kosovo as a country and always accompany it with "under UN Security Council Resolution 1244…” This may result in strange and twisted sentences in enlargement brochures and leaflets, but this sometimes happens with the politically correct jargon used at the Commission.
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