The seventh year of the Czech-German Young Professionals Program has begun in the beginning of April in Berlin
The selected topics for upcoming year have been tackling the issue of society at risk and related Czech and German answers. The first workshop focused on political and social risks of our society, no surprise that the migration was among the main topics discussed from various perspectives – starting from very macro ones and getting to real local themes. The impact of EU migration and asylum policy on Czech-German relations was not omitted either.
The program started with the debate with Miranda Schereurs who is with the Environmental Policy Research Centre and Annegret Bendiek who works at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Both speakers touched the abstract dimension describing reasons people are in move and its security and environmental consequences for the European society.
The rise of populist parties in Europe was debated with Barbara John who is a former Berlin commissioner for foreigners’ issues and Sylke Tempel, Chief Editor of Internationale Politik. Both speakers contemplated options how to challenge leaders of these parties across the EU but to not ignore them as a relevant part of political competition.
Photoalbum from Berlin workshop
DownloadTwo interesting on-site visits took place during the program. The first one was to a small social centre Morus 14 where the participants learnt more about the integration of immigrants living in Neukölln which is a part of Berlin and belongs to places with the highest unemployment rate in Berlin. The employees of the centre stressed that the most crucial part of their work is to teach children with foreign background to structuralize their day to day life and assist them with school duties. This was followed by the guided excursion of a refugee camp in Alt Tegel in a central part of Berlin. The motivations of people on move, first experiences with new life in Germany and state policy towards refugees were high on the agenda.
Above mentioned issues has been discussed in one of the leading Czech newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes of April 9, 2016 and written by CGYPP 2016 participant Jana Šafaříková.
The last part of the seminar was dedicated to the internal workshop of the CGYPP participants dealing with their proposals and demands for speakers and issues to be discussed in Prague, Dresden and Liberec.
The project is organized by the Association for International Affairs (AMO) and European Academy of Berlin (EAB) and co-funded by Czech German Fund for Future and German Federal Foreign Office.