People of Yogyakarta get better acquainted with European Union
People of Yogyakarta get better acquainted with European Union
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Yogyakartans wanting to know more about the European Union can
visit the three-day EU Days 2005 show, which opened here on
Monday at Gadjah Mada University (UGM).
Presenting several EU ambassadors and Indonesian scholars as
speakers, an EU seminar on Monday discussed four different
topics: the European Constitution and the future of Europe, the
enlargement -- one year later, the EU's solidarity and rebuilding
of tsunami-affected areas, and Europe and the role of foreign
investment in Indonesia.
In his opening remarks, Pierre Philippe of the European
Commission Delegation to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and East
Timor said the event was part of the commission's Europe Month
program, which had been widened from the Europe Week event.
"Ever since we organized the first Europe Week event last year
in Jakarta, it has become our ambition to take the event outside
of Jakarta and into the great centers of learning across this
huge archipelago that is Indonesia," Philippe said.
UGM was the first to host this year's program, which would
move to Airlangga University in Surabaya on May 16 and on to
Cendrawasih University in Jayapura, Papua, later in the month.
"Every May we commemorate the end of the last great European
war, and out of that horrific experience, the emergence of the
European dream of unity," Philippe said.
This year, he said, was particularly significant because it
was 60 years since the end of the war, the longest period of
peace that Western Europe had ever known.
"May 9, or Europe Day, is the anniversary of the Schuman
Declaration, which paved the way to our current European Union,
and which brought us that peace," he said.
He was referring to the day that marked the proposal by then
French minister of foreign affairs Robert Schuman on the need of
the establishment of a European supranational institution to
prevent the conflict between European countries from recurring.
The EU Days 2005 in Yogyakarta was organized in cooperation
with UGM's Center for German Studies. Held from May 2 to May 4,
the program also encompasses European education and cultural
exhibition and a scholarship presentation.
As many as 17 embassies and several EU educational and
cultural institutions including the British Council, Erasmus
Huis, and EduFrance are scheduled to take part in the program
held at the Taman Budaya Yogyakarta cultural center's Soceitet
Building on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A small film festival, European Film Days 2005 will also held
during the event, during which a number of European films will be
screened at the same venue.
"One of the objectives for holding the event here is to
introduce European educational and cultural institutions to
Indonesian students wanting to continue their studies in Europe
or wanting scholarships to study there," organizing committee
chairman Agus Maryono of UGM said.
"The exhibition, too, hopefully will increase the relationship
and understanding between the people of Indonesia and European
countries," Agus said.