European Forum

Third Promising Politicians seminar 2009 in Tirana

Between 5 and 7 March of 2010 Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in cooperation with Alfred Mozer Stichting and the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity organized a seminar for young and promising politicians and members of social democratic parties from the countries of former Yugoslavia and Albania.

The seminar, in which 26 participants participated, took place in Albanian capital Tirana and can be considered a great success. Especially the module on negotiations skills which consisted of a short theoretical part and two simulation games were considered as very useful. The seminar ended with lecturers and discussion on EU integration of Albania and Western Balkans conducted by Prof. Dr. Paskal Milo, former Minster of Foreign Affairs of Albania and President of the Social Democratic Party of Albania and Zoran Thaler, former Minster of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia and member of the European Parliament for the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

Since 2003 the seminar has been organized three times annually and the course includes seminars on ideology, media and communications skills and EU integration. The aim of the course is to introduce young politicians to the various aspects of political leadership, governance and the dynamics and structures of party policies. In addition, the organisers aim to create a network among young and politically active persons and to improve their knowledge on the political developments of countries in the region. It was concluded during the evaluation by the participants that a strong network has been created as young and promising people from the region have boosted their cooperation and have organised many exchange programmes.

A full and detailed report on the seminar will be published on our website on short notice.