CEP is taking one of the leading roles in the implementation of the Danube Strategy

CEP is taking one of the leading roles in the implementation of the Danube Strategy

2. 8. 2016 | Danube

At the end of the year 2010 European Commission adopted the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) that aims to deepen the cooperation of 14 countries in the Danube region. These are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine. Countries are very diverse – EU members, candidate countries, potential candidates as well as countries from the European Neighbourhood Policy. Despite the different statuses, the listed countries share common geographical area, history and part of the cultural heritage and therefore connection seems especially reasonable in the field of environment protection, ensuring prosperity and strengthening of the Danube region.

Strategy is covering 11 priority areas and each priority is coordinated by two partner countries (PA means priority area):

PA 1A Mobility – Waterway
PA 1B Mobility – Rail-Road-Air
PA 2 Energy
PA 3 Culture & Tourism
PA 4 Water Quality
PA 5 Environmental Risks
PA 6 Biodiversity, landscapes, quality of air and soils
PA 7 Knowledge Society
PA 8 Competitiveness
PA 9 People & Skills
PA 10 Institutional capacity and cooperation
PA 11 Security

Slovenia is coordinating two priority areas, PA 1B that aims to improve mobility and intermodality – rail, road and air as well as PA 10 – Institutional Capacity and Cooperation that plans to step up institutional capacity and cooperation in the field of civil society, local/regional administration, urban areas and youth. CEP is coordinating PA 10 with Austria.

In first years of the implementation of the Strategy Slovenia was in PA 10 represented by Centre for Excellence in Finance, while from 1.1.2017 coordination will be delegated to Centre for European Perspective. On the Austrian side, City of Vienna is responsible for the management of PA 10 and has been part of the Danube Strategy from its beginning. Partners have for the upcoming three years together developed projects that will be implemented to contribute to better cooperation in the region, promotion of the Strategy and European Union as a whole. Our work will be focused on facilitation of better participation of young, raising awareness on importance of coordination in the Danube region, search for solutions for better collaboration on local and regional levels as well as capacity building of actors and structures of the civil society.

Centre for European Perspective is proud to be taking over the role of a coordination and has already started intensively preparing with participation at the 5th Annual Forum of the Danube Strategy in Bratislava (http://www.danube-forum-bratislava.eu) and at 11th meeting of the PA 10 in Bucharest on November 15th.

More information about the Strategy for Danube region can be obtained at http://danube-region.eu, while priorities and activities of the PA 10 are presented at http://www.danube-capacitycooperation.eu/.

CEP prevzema aktivno vlogo v Podonavski makroregiji

Evropska komisija je konec leta 2010 sprejela Strategijo za Podonavje, katere namen je poglobljeno sodelovanje 14ih držav v Podonavju. To so Nemčija, Avstrija, Češka, Slovaška, Madžarska, Slovenija, Romunija, Bolgarija, Hrvaška, Srbija, BiH, Črna gora, Moldavija in Ukrajina. Partnerske države so zelo raznolike – članice EU, članice kandidatke, potencialne kandidatke in države, s katerimi ima EU odnose v okviru Evropske sosedske politike. A kljub temu države delijo geografsko področje, zgodovino in tudi del kulturne dediščine, zato se zdi povezovanje smiselno še posebej na področju varovanja okolja, zagotavljanja blaginje in krepitve Podonavja.

Strategija vsebinsko pokriva 11 prioritet, vsako prioriteto pa skupaj koordinirata dve partnerski državi (PA je kratica za ‘priority area’, prednostno področje):
PA 1A Plovne poti
PA 1B Mobilnost – železnica-cesta-zrak
PA 2 Energija
PA 3 Kultura in turizem
PA 4 Kakovost vode
PA 5 Okoljska tveganja
PA 6 Biotska raznovrstnost, krajine, kakovost zraka in prsti
PA 7 Družba znanja
PA 8 Konkurenčnost
PA 9 Ljudje in veščine
PA 10 Institucionalna zmogljivost in sodelovanje
PA 11 Varnost

Slovenija tako koordinira dve področji, prednostno področje PA1B, ki se ukvarja z izboljšanjem prometne povezanosti regije in področjem PA 10 – Institucionalna zmogljivost in sodelovanje, katerega glavni namen je izboljšanje administrativnih kapacitet države in sodelovanja na področjih civilne družbe, lokalne/regionalne uprave, urbanih področij in mladih. Področje PA10 CEP koordinira skupaj z Avstrijo.

V prvih letih izvajanja strategije je Slovenijo v PA10 zastopal Center za odličnost v financah (CEF), s 1.1.2017 pa koordinacijo prevzema Center za evropsko prihodnost. Na Avstrijski strani je za vodstvo PA10 določeno mesto Dunaj, ki je del podonavske strategije že od samega začetka. Partnerja sta za prihodnja tri leta skupaj oblikovala projekte, ki jih bosta izvajala in s tem prispevala k boljšemu sodelovanju v regiji, promociji strategije in Evropske Unije kot celote. Delo bo osredotočeno na omogočanje boljše participacije mladih, ozaveščanju pomembnosti sodelovanja v Podonavski regiji, iskanju rešitev za boljše sodelovanje na lokalnem in regionalnem nivoju ter povezovanju in opolnomočenju akterjev in struktur civilne družbe.

Center za evropsko prihodnost s ponosom prevzema vlogo koordinatorja in se je na delo dobro pripravil, tudi z udeležbo na 5. letnem srečanju Podonavske regije, ki je potekalo v prvih dneh novembra v Bratislavi (http://www.danube-forum-bratislava.eu/) in 11. srečanja PA10 področja v Bukarešti, 15. novembra 2016.

Več o Podonavski strategiji je dostopnega na http://danube-region.eu/, prioritete in aktivnosti področja PA10 pa so predstavljene na http://www.danube-capacitycooperation.eu/.

Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) to start on Monday in Gotenica

Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) to start on Monday in Gotenica

15. 10. 2015 | HEAT, PR

Centre for European Perspective and Folke Bernadotte Academy are within the framework of Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi) organizing a Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) at the Police Training Centre Gotenica between 19 and 23 October. Training is organized in close cooperation with Slovenian Police and Slovenian Armed Forces.

Crisis management mission’s representatives or other personnel travelling and working in highly volatile environments around the world are exposed to variety of risks and occupational hazards when performing their duties. All large international organizations, be it the UN, the OSCE or the EU as well as non-governmental organizations or researchers face a common challenge in the field: the safety and security of their representatives. It is therefore of great importance to implement a specific training, which focuses on variety of security risks as well as challenges of these environments. Equipping civilian personnel with the basic awareness tools on how to deal with them is part of the duty of care of both sending Organizations and recruiting States. Training curriculum of the HEAT training therefore provides a comprehensive coverage of the relevant issues and is complemented with real-life simulations confronting key issues of such environments.

19 representatives of various international organizations and of 14 different nationalities will attend the training, which is largely composed of field exercises. Four days will be dedicated to their safety and security preparedness, which will be tested in an all-day complex field training exercise on the last day.

CEP is organizing HEAT – Hostile Environment Awareness Training in October

CEP is organizing HEAT – Hostile Environment Awareness Training in October

18. 6. 2015 | HEAT, PR

Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) is an intensive four days course aiming to train professionals to deal effectively with risks-associated and emergency/critical situations while deployed in hostile environments abroad. The course is intended for people who have little experience of working in conflict area to understand the required behavioural requirements.

The Course is designed to:
• improve participants knowledge about multiple threats present in hostile environments and to learn how to deal with them in an effective manner;
• rehearse and practice safety and security procedures accordingly with the specific threat;
• trigger individual skill dealing with different stressful situations;
• trigger group dynamics dealing with multiple stressful situations.

Training is composed of five modules. Activities include lectures, guided discussions, role plays and simulations. Trainees will be talking about being deployed in hostile environment (threat awareness and management of various threats, etc), medical help (vaccinations, personal hygiene, first aid), orientation, communications (GPS, radio, satellite phone) and off road vehicles driving. Practical activities and one day field simulation will be dedicated to practicing newly gained skills and will intentionally expose trainees to situations they are likely to encounter in the mission.

Training is organised by the Centre for European Perspective in cooperation with the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) from Sweden, Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, Slovenian Police and Slovenian Armed Forces.

DATE and LOCATION

Training will be held between 19 and 23 October 2015 at the Police Training Centre Gotenica. Gotenica is a training village with all needed facilities and full board accommodation for all participants.

REGISTRATION

In order to acquire more information please contact Nina Čepon ([email protected]; +386 (0)1 560 86 10). For registration please turn to http://www.entriforccm.eu/register.html
All participants need to have a valid driving license which is needed in order to drive with 4×4 vehicles.

COSTS

Trainees cover their costs of transportation to Ljubljana.
Organizers are covering training and full board accommodation during the training.

Short-term Election Observation Course for the First Time in Slovenia

4. 5. 2015 | PR

Short-term election observation course will start tomorrow at Jable Castle, which is the first training of that kind in Slovenia, prepared by Centre for European Perspective in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Slovenia.

The main purpose of the training is to familiarize the participants with the work on short-term election observation mission, prepare them on the working conditions, which may face, and teach them how to care for their health and safety, when on mission. In addition, procedures for application and selection of candidates for the OSCE and the EU Election Mission, which in Slovenia are coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be presented to them.

Basic principles and rules of election observation will be presented by Mrs. Tamara Otiashvili from the office ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights), which operates within the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Mrs. Aleška Simkič will present her experience from the OSCE election observer missions that she attended as a Core Team memeber and Mrs. Katja Gönc will present practical implementation of election observation missions. All experts have extensive experience of long-term and short-term observation missions in Europe, Aisa and Africa. Some tips for the safety and protection will be presented by Mr. Matej Brajnik, who participated in several missions of the EU, as police officer and is also an active member of the Mountain rescue Association.

Training will conclude on Thursday, 7 May 2015.