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.