European Ombudsman gathers European top in order to start winning back citizens’ trust

Today’s tumultuous times are indisputably an enormous challenge for everyone involved in politics. This is true for every policy level, but is even more so for the European Union. Even before the financial crisis (firstly) and the budget crisis (secondly) had hit home, the E.U. had a difficult time in profiling itself as a force for good to – and gaining the trust of – its half a billion constituents. Since the crisis’s the E.U. has had more media coverage, the negative connotation surrounding that attention, however, didn’t boost the public image. To the contrary. The trust and confidence in the European Union and its institutions has never been this low.

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Giving Kosovo’s youth a viable future beyond the scars of the past

‘Yours truly’ was present on the 5th March 2012 at the conference ‘Sustainable Kosovo’ organized by ThinkYoung (a Brussels-based advocacy NGO for young people), in collaboration with the European Stability Initiative and the Robert Bosch Foundation. Four noteworthy speakers shared their views and analysis with the audience: Mrs. Ulrike Lunacek MEP, Mrs. Doris Pack MEP, Kosovo’s Ambassador to Belgium Illir Dugolli and the General-Secretary of ESI, Mrs Alexandra Stiglmayer. (more…)

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