The end of a two week internship – Civil Trust Building: Find Your Way through the Enlargement Labyrinth

Vienna, June 25, 2012 After two weeks of internship in the EU, 7 young civil society activists from the Western Balkans after two-weeks of internship in the EU gathered in Vienna on 25 June 25, 2012, in order to share their experiences and plan future activities. The internship was a part of the Civil Trust Building – Find Your Way through the Enlargement Labyrinth, supported by the European Fund for the Balkans. The Civil Trust Building project is an international civil society project for the promotion of the enlargement of the EU Member States. The interns had an opportunity to present themselves and share their internship experiences and lessons learned. This internship included the distribution of the Enlargement questionnaire, preparation of the National Citizens’ Consultations. They worked on the implementation of the Civil Trust Building project; familiarized themselves with the political, social, cultural and civil realities of the host country; and participated in preparations and the holding of a national citizens’ consultation on EU enlargement, organized by the host organization. Ilma Ibrišević- 'The Vienna meeting was very lively and constructive. It was interesting to see people of all ages from different countries and with different backgrounds working and fighting for the same goal. The Vienna meeting was a nice finish to the wonderful experience my internship provided me with. I was also happy to meet the other interns and hear about their experience. Furthermore, the presence of the European Commission representative was very much informative and rewarding.' Jelena Kamenko - 'This internship was useful for my job because I created new contacts with whom my organiszation and I certainly will continue to co-operate through joint partnership projects. What I see as especially important is that through this project, I had an opportunity to see how civil society can contribute to the EU and how they can involve citizens in matters related to EU enlargement. The evaluation meeting in Vienna, Austria, was a valuable experience, where I could hear the experience and thoughts of the other interns and also establish contacts with them.' All interns proved their dedication in bridging the gap between Europe and Western Balkans and they will continue working together as EFB Community members in accomplishing joint goal: Bringing the Western Balkans closer to the EU. The second project phase will start with the Enlargement Labyrinth bus tour. ‘Civil Trust-building’ bus tour will visit 5 participating countries within the Enlargement Labyrinth. The tour will last from September 8 until September 16, 2012; the bus will visit Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Ljubljana and Udine. The Civil Trust Building project will end with the final conference in Rome, scheduled for December 2012. The aim of the Civil Trust Building project is to familiarize EU citizens to the specific situation of candidate and potential candidate countries of the Western Balkans region, and about the perspective of future EU enlargement in general. Civil society organizations on both sides of the fence can play an important role in this process by – among other things – promoting public debates and carrying out information and awareness-raising campaigns. Countries of the Western Balkans have a potential to join mainstream European processes and contribute on a partnership basis to the shaping of the Europe of the future. More on Civil Trust Building Project More on EFB Community Network