Three RGSL students in November 2011 participated in the European Diplomacy Workshop – Katrīne Buševica, Andrejs Vasiļevskis, and Emīls Birkavs.
European Diplomacy Workshop (hereinafter EDW) in Warsaw is a weeklong seminar made for students and proffessionals in field of politics, international relations and diplomacy. EDW was held in Warsaw, Poland. Dates of seminar – November 21-26, 2011.
European Diplomacy Workshop was organized by European Academy of Diplomacy (Europejska Akademia Dyplomacji) and supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Casimir Pulaski Foundation.
EDW was designed to give civil servants of various ministries, young professionals as well as representatives of third sector, from the EU and Eastern Partnership countries a greater capacity for understanding and influencing EU foreign policy.
The program’s main goal was to familiarize participants with the EU Foreign Policy, especially with the initiative of the Eastern Partnership. Over the course of the workshop, the program covered five focus areas: EU Structure in the context of Foreign Policy, the European Neighborhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership, EU-Russia partnership perspective, negotiations in and with the EU, and Public Diplomacy of the EU.
During weeklong seminar we had four types of study processes:
- Seminars: in a format similar to university lectures the experts presented fundamental knowledge concerning the EU structure and protocol;
- Workshops: highly interactive sessions engaged participants through presentations, individual speaking exercises and educational trips in the city. Participants received study materials to enhance their holistic understanding about the European diplomacy;
- Panel Discussions & Debates: the program included keynote speeches from and panel debates of the key EU topics with the well-known speakers. Participants had the unique opportunity to hear different perspectives and ask questions.
Participants were invited to a special event held by the EAD on the last day of the workshop. Its guest of honor was Mr. Bernard Kouchner, former French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs (2007-2010), co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders and Doctors of the World (Nobel Prize Winner).