70 years of CIFE

1954 - 2024 : CIFE celebrates its 70th anniversary!
"Afin de répondre à un besoin qu'il est désormais impossible de méconnaître, l'Union Européenne des Fédéralistes vient de fonder un Centre International de Formation Européenne"... Paris, 5 November 1954.

"Pendant quelques années, on a pu caresser l ’espoir de "faire l'Europe" rapidement, à la faveur des circonstances apparemment favorables et des professions de foi enthousiastes jaillissant de tous bords : ce n ’était qu’une illusion, les évènements l'ont prouvé. Ni les Etats-Nations, ni leurs représentants et mandataires, ni les bénéficiaires du désordre établi ne sont enclins à se faire hara-kiri sur l'autel de l'Europe Unie. Pour aboutir à la Fédération Européenne, il faudra livrer un long et difficile combat contre les "conservateurs", de tous les partis et de toutes les classes de la société. Un tel combat ne saurait être mené jusqu'à sa fin victorieuse sans la mobilisation progressive des forces vives qui, dans tous les pays, aspirent à un nouvel ordre, politique, économique et social s il importera que ces forces prennent conscience de lour mission, qu'elles s'organisent, qu'elles se coordonnent, qu'elles soient canalisées vers les points vulnérables du front que nous opposent les ennemis déclarés ou camoufles de l'Europe ; il faudra qu’elles apprennent à manoeuvrer, à se défendre et surtout à attaquer. Nos mouvements ont pour tâche d'éveiller ces forces, de les aider à se développer, de leur fournir, tout au moins au début des éléments d'orientation et des cadres. Mais il faut avoir le courage de reconnaître que jusqu'ici nos mouvements eux-mêmes, à quelques heureuses exceptions près, ne sont pas encore suffisamment préparés à l'accomplissement d'une telle tâche.
C'est pourquoi l'Union Européenne des Fédéralistes a décidé de fonder un Centre de Formation Européenne qui, dans notre esprit, devrait devenir une institution permanente. Pour commencer, cette Ecole débute, plus modestement, par des stages de formation d'une huitaine de jours. Le premier de ces stages aura lieu en janvier 1955 : d'autres suivront, en raison d'un et de deux par mois. Chacun des stages de formation doit permettre, dans notre esprit, de réunir - dans un cadre propice à l'étude et au recueillement, en même temps que favorable à la vie et au travail en commun et aux échanges d'idées - une soixantaine de participants. Pour des raisons pratiques, faciles à comprendre, le lieu de réunion étant fixé aux environs de Paris, la majeure partie des stagiaires sera fournie par la France. En outre, c'est sans doute en France, en raison du rôle qu'elle joue, que l'effort tenté est appelé à avoir la plus grande répercussion. Il est prévu que tout sera fait pour que chaque fois, un quart des places au moins soient réservées à d'autres Européens. Il est superflu d'insister sur les avantages d'une telle formule, enrichissante pour tous les participants. Le Centre International de Formation Européenne permettra aux stagiaires de suivre des cours et de participer à des travaux pratiques ; ils auront aussi, mais dans des limites restreintes, la possibilité de se détendre et de se distraire"...

New Programme:
Joint Master in European Cultural Governance (EUCULTURE)

"Culture is something we are, not something we have" - Umberto Eco.
We're proud to announce the launch of our 8th Master programme, the Joint Master in European Cultural Governance (EUCULTURE), organised in cooperation with our long-standing partner, Luiss School of Government.
With this new Master, students will live in Rome, Berlin and Nice and learn how the intrinsic relationship of Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Development and the Digital Transition can contribute to a constructive transformation of 21st century society.

EU*Connect – An Interactive Digital Campus for Participants from Ukraine, France and Germany
"The new generation in Ukraine must be able to learn about what the European Union was, what it is and what it wants to become. Most of their lives will take place in that European framework", stated CIFE President Herman Van Rompuy in his opening speech for EU*Connect, our new interactive learning platform for participants from  Ukraine, France and Germany. With our new learning platform EU*Connect, CIFE reaches out to participants from Ukraine, France and Germany.
The programme, funded by the Franco-German Youth Office, is 100% digital and free of charge. For EU*Connect, CIFE partners with the Educational and Scientific Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service  (IPACS) of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the Young European Federalists of JEF Sachsen Anhalt.

Wer ist Walter? A European Research Project about Resistance against Nazism in Europe
Over two years, historians and curators from France, Germany, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina will work together on the history and individual stories of resistance against Nazism during World War Two in Europe, thus aiming to contribute to the development of a European memory space. The project is funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) and the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) as part of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice. The four partner institutions that will be in charge of defining the aims and activities of the project and its organisational implementation are crossborder factory in Germany, the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Jasenovac Memorial Site in Croatia, and CIFE in France. So, who is Walter? Join us on a journey of discovery about this key historical figure and other stories of resistance to Nazism in Europe. If you want to find out more, follow us as we delve deeper week by week!
You will find regular updates about the research findings on the website of the project www.weristwalter.eu and on our social media channels on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

CIFE launches its second TEDx event - http://www.tedxcife.eu/
After its very first TEDx in October 2017, the second CIFE TEDx event took place on October 16, 2021 in Nice, with the participation of:

http://www.tedxcife.eu/ 

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of our friend Ferdinand Kinsky on Sunday 22 November in Vienna (Austria) as a result of Covid-19.
"After studying political science and sociology at the University of Munich and the University of Frankfurt (where he had been a student of Adorno, of which he was very proud), Ferdinand joined CIFE in 1964 following a meeting with Alexandre Marc during a European training course organised by the latter. The following year, he moved to Nice, where the Institut européen des hautes études internationales had just been created, and where he would be one of the regular teachers and main instructors until his retirement. Invited in 1969 as an associate professor at the University of Indiana, he returned to take up a post as director general of CIFE, at the request of Alexandre Marc, who had chosen him as his successor. In this position, which he held for almost a quarter of a century, he worked tirelessly to develop CIFE and to consolidate the natural links established with the European institutions since the origins of the organisation in 1954. In particular, he sought to strengthen cooperation with Germany and to bring CIFE into the restricted circle of higher education institutions recognised by Brussels and as such regularly supported by the European Commission. 
But Ferdinand was much more than a responsible leader and a listened-to teacher, and friendship now prescribes paying homage to the man he was, or more precisely, the person he strove to become throughout his life. Ferdinand was European and a federalist.
He was a convinced European and the many books and articles he wrote about the adventures of European unity still be built bear abundant witness to this. But, above all, he was constitutionally convinced"...

Claude Nigoul, Former Director of the Institut européen des hautes études internationales

Joint Master in EU trade & Climate Diplomacy
CIFE and the School of Government of LUISS Guido Carli are pleased to associate, once again, their renowned researchers and experienced professionals in an innovative Joint Master programme in EU trade & Climate Diplomacy.
Students will live together one year of a lifetime experience, studying in Rome, Berlin and Nice. The EUDIPLO Master provides analytical and negotiation skills through evidence-based studies and practical project work in the three major topics of the programme: Sustainability & Climate, Trade & Investment, Digital Cooperation. The programme starts in October 2020. More information...

On October 8th, Herman Van Rompuy, former President of the European Council, Belgian Minister of State and President of CIFE, held the inaugural lecture for the opening of the academic year 2019/20 at CIFE in Nice. 
An abridged recorded version of his lecture, "The EU and the World in the Storm" can now be watched online here. 
Herman Van Rompuy is the President of CIFE since January 2018. He succeeded to Philippe Maystadt (CIFE President from 2015 to 2017) and Jean-Claude Juncker (President of CIFE from 2005 to 2014). Herman Van Rompuy has enjoyed a brilliant career in both Belgian and European politics. A former economist at the National Bank of Belgium, he began his political career in 1973 as national vice president of his party's youth movement. He has held various posts within his party and in the Belgian Parliament, serving in turn as Senator (1988-1995) and Member of Parliament (1995-2009). He has also served in Belgium as Speaker of the House of Representatives (2007-2008) and in several government positions, including that of Deputy Minister and Budget Minister (1993-1999), Minister of State (2004) and Secretary of State for Finance and Small Businesses (1988). Herman Van Rompuy was Prime Minister of Belgium when he was elected first permanent President of the European Council in November 2009; he took office when the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009. In 2012, he was re-elected for a second term, starting on 1 June 2012 and running until 30 November 2014. Today, Herman Van Rompuy also chairs the European Policy Centre (EPC) and the Francqui Foundation and is a visiting professor at several universities.

Simulation FEUTURE

On 9 and 10 January 2019 CIFE organised a two-day simulation of a Summit of the European Council tackling the future of Europe with a special focus on EU-Turkish relations. The simulation took place in the framework of the HORIZON2020 Project FEUTURE.
The following topics were on the Agenda:
Internal and External Dimension of Migration -  Is the EU-Turkey-Agreement still appropriate or does it need to be revised? - Can it be seen as a blueprint for other neighbouring countries? - How to combine responsibility and solidarity in the Dublin reform? Enlargement - Should the EU adjust its enlargement policy in response to recent developments in Turkey? - Are the EU institutions ready for further enlargement? - Does the pre-accession assistance need to be revised? - If further enlargement is to happen, which countries should join and what would be the time frame for accessions? - Economic Policy in the EU and its Member States - What should be the EU’s economic policy? - Should states stick to the principle of austerity or should it be abandoned in favour of expenditure-led growth? - Must countries stick to reforms imposed on them? - How to deal with current economic issues in the Member States? - Institutional Reform - How should European integration proceed?  -  What can be done to counter Euroscepticism? - Should the EU institutions get additional competencies? - Should the member states retain their powers, or should they even reclaim powers from Brussels? Should possible reforms apply to all Member States or should there be more flexible integration?
36 participants represented 12 actors (the Presidency of the European Council and 11 Member States) and engaged in a lively debate about the future of relations between the European Union and Turkey in particular. The simulation was preceded by two weeks of pre-negotiations via an online-platform and was moderated by the simulation game experts of planpolitik. The presence phase of the simulation phase in Nice was introduced with an insightful lecture of Dr Funda Tekin, FEUTURE Project Leader and Director of the Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP), Berlin.

Challenges in the South: Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation
On December 14th 2018, CIFE – with the support of NATO Public Diplomacy Division – organised a conference in Nice on ‘Challenges in the South: Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation’. Diplomats, scholars, journalists and students took this opportunity to come together and ponder the priorities of the Alliance in the South, exploring the possibility for new cooperation networks.The event was organised in response to the July 2018 Brussels Declaration concentrating on NATO’s determination to fully implement its Framework for the South and develop the full capability of the Regional Hub for the South, enhancing NATO’s ability to anticipate and respond to crises, improve capabilities for expeditionary operations, and project stability through regional partnerships and capacity building efforts. Participants agreed that the decision of Alliance to do more to help allies to tackle terrorism at home and provide support to its partners is of high significance. They also examined the European Union’s steps to further develop its defence policy, finding these actions to be complementary to NATO’s role and even having the potential of contributing to further security in Europe. Topics: The War in Syria: From Revolution to Regional Crisis. NATO and Challenges in the South. The New Security Environment in the Mediterranean. Regional Stakes in the Mediterranean.

Inaugural leçon. The European Democracy Conundrum
Prof. Renaud DEHOUSSE, President of European University Institure (EUI), Florence 
On 15th October 2018,
we were pleased to welcome Professor Renaud Dehousse, President of the European University Institute in Florence, to give the inaugural lecture on the topic of the ‘The European Democracy Conundrum.’
Professor Dehousse’s comments provided ample food for thought and we thank him for sharing his insights. 

JOINT MASTER IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
CIFE and the School of Government of LUISS Guido Carli are pleased to associate their renowned researchers and experienced professionals in an innovative Joint Master programme in Global Economic Governance and Public Affairs: Students will live together one year of a lifetime experience, studying in Rome, Berlin and Nice, and learn how, today more than ever, Governance is a game changer in the global economy. The Master programme will be focused on how to assess, manage and enhance private and public institutions’ governance with a wide range of economic and digital intelligence tools. It will combine on-site teaching, case studies, consulting missions, research thesis, and distant learning tools. The programme starts in October 2018.

Herman VAN ROMPUY, former President of the European Council, is elected CIFE’s new President.
Former President of the European Council and Belgian Minister of State, Herman Van Rompuy, was elected President of the Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE) on 26 January. He succeeds Philippe Maystadt, appointed in January 2015 and deceased in December 2017, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of CIFE from 2005 until his election as President of the European Commission in 2014. The new President of CIFE has enjoyed a brilliant career in both Belgian and European politics. A former economist at the National Bank of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy began his political career in 1973 as national vice president of his party's youth movement. He has held various posts within his party and in the Belgian Parliament, serving in turn as Senator (1988-1995) and Member of Parliament (1995-2009). He has also served in Belgium as Speaker of the House of Representatives (2007-2008) and in several government positions, including that of Deputy Minister and Budget Minister (1993-1999), Minister of State (2004) and Secretary of State for Finance and Small Businesses (1988). Herman Van Rompuy was Prime Minister of Belgium when he was elected first permanent President of the European Council in November 2009; he took office when the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009. In 2012, he was re-elected for a second term, starting on 1 June 2012 and running until 30 November 2014. Today, Herman Van Rompuy also chairs the European Policy Centre (EPC) and the Francqui Foundation and is a visiting professor at several universities.
Press release   

Philippe Maystadt passed away.
L'Europe vient de perdre un grand européen.
Europe has lost a great European.
Europa hat einen großen Europäer verloren.
We are saddened to learn that Philippe Maystadt, CIFE president from 2015 to 2017, Belgian statesman, talented finance minister, and a convinced European, has passed away on 7 December 2017. We extend our condolences to his family and friends.

CIFE's first ever TEDx event in Nice on 7 October 2017. We are happy, proud and thankful for our first TEDx experience. Six dynamic speakers - five of them CIFE Alumni  and some of them coming from far away – tackled the topic “transition” from a multitude of points of view.
Nina Frauenfeld, coach in intercultural communication, spoke about the power of building bridges. George N. Tzogopoulos, CIFE Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, gave introspections into the transition of the Media. Anne Topenot, French trainer and mediator, tackled the role of personal life transitions as soft or sharp cuts. Fabian Luetzig, an experienced Life and Business Coach for Young Professionals, Entrepreneurs and Students who joined us from New York, discussed the challenges of a changing job market where manpower is replaced by robots. Petek Jinkins, CIFE Alumna of Turkish origins and experienced multi-expat, talked about the competence of reinventing oneself and re-adapting one’s professional competences to a new surrounding. Georgi Kamov, innovation consultant and design thinking coach from Bulgaria, concluded the event with his reflections on the EU’s potential of innovation.
Don't miss the videos on our Facebook page!

CIFE's new president

Jean-Antoine Giansily has been elected new president of CIFE after the resignation of Philippe Maystadt for health reasons.
After Philippe Maystadt's resignation from the CIFE presidency for health reasons, the Board of Trustees has elected Jean-Antoine Giansily as new President. Jean-Antoine Giansily, first vice president of CIFE, former vice president of the Committee on Budgets of the European Parliament, has served as senior civil servant in French public administration. He will be acting as President until the end of Philippe Maystadts statutory term.

The Board of Trustees expresses his gratutude to Philippe Maystadt for his decisive action in favour of CIFE.

CIFE and chinese Universities

Dr. Michael MEIMETH, Director of CIFE´s Overseas University Programs (OUP) visited China from March 8 to March 17, 2017 to introduce CIFE to major Chinese universities in Shanghai and Kunming (Yunnan Province, Southwest China). During his 10 day stay in China he visited the Shanghai University of Science and Technology (USST), the East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL), Shanghai, the Shanghai University and the Yunnan University in Kunming to promote CIFE´s EU-China Winter and Summer School programs. All these universities showed a strong interest in developing institutionalized relationship with CIFE and will actively promote CIFE´s EU-China Winter and Summer School programs at their various university campus. Even more important, Chinese students who have already participated in previous years in CIFE´s EU-China Summer and Winter programs will spread the information about these programs among their fellow Chinese students. With this, these „alumnis“ will actively support the recruitment for 2017 EU-China Summer School in Greece (15.07.-05.08.2017) and the 2018 EU-China Winter School which will take place from January 30 to February 13, 2018 at the European Academy Otzenhausen (EAO). CIFE is very glad to welcome the Chinese students for both of these prestiguous CIFE European Studies Abroad Programs!

Death of Jean-Pierre Gouzy, vice-president of CIFE
It is with great sadness that we learned of Jean-Pierre Gouzy's death on Friday, February 17,2017 in Paris, at the age of 91, two months before his 92nd birthday. Jean-Pierre has been involved in all the battles for Europe since the Second World War. Convinced of the need to build Europe, and a European militant since 1947, he took part in all the major federalist actions on our continent, without ever hesitating to look at them lucidly. So he was both an actor and a great witness of that time. As a young journalist, he was commissioned to cover the congress in The Hague in May 1948, when he also participated as a French delegate. It was at this time that he met and followed Alexandre Marc. He was the first secretary general of CIFE from its creation in 1954 until 1982. He was later appointed Deputy Director of CIFE, then Vice President until 2015, when he decided to take a well-deserved militant retirement. This did not prevent him, as an honorary member of CIFE, from participating in the Board of Directors and General Assembly of December 2016. Jean-Pierre had also been editor-in-chief of our magazine, Europe in Formation, before becoming its political director, where he had published numerous articles. Since 1965, he had been working under the rubric of "political life", in which he presented every month and then every quarter, with a critical approach, but with constant enthusiasm, European and international news. When CIFE moved from Paris to Nice in the early 1960s, Jean-Pierre, who remained in Paris, became CIFE's representative in the capital. From then until the beginning of this year, he never failed to call us, at least twice a month, to participate in the decisions of CIFE, and to support them by its action. He was particularly fond of Europe in training, both as a journalist and as the founder of Europe. Having always refused to write his memoirs, he had nevertheless published in 2009 a "History of Europe 1949-2009", presenting a federalist testimony of the half century that had passed. We will remember from Jean-Pierre the figure of one of the great founders of CIFE, with constant fidelity and European federalist militancy tied to the body, but also the generous and faithful friend, the one we met around a good meal in order to exchange joyfully on the most diverse themes.
 Goodbye, Jean-Pierre! In memoriam  

Our  Executive Master in EU Studies 
has started in October in Berlin with a great intake of highly motivated fellows and professors.

We are looking forward to interesting and challenging study years.

Master in Global Energy Transition and Governance - Understanding the complexity of current energy transformations in Europe and worlwide
The Master in Global Energy Transition and Governance aims to give a deep understanding of the complexity of the current energy transformations in Europe and worldwide. The programme offers a unique, multidisciplinary approach which distinguishes it from other Master’s courses in the field of energy studies: It analyses the links between the different levels of energy governance, from an international to a local level, offering problem-focused learning at the crossroads of theory and practice. The one-year Master’s programme stretches over four terms and takes place in two study locations: Nice and Berlin. The curriculum includes the following five modules:

• International energy governance
• International energy governance
• European energy governance
• Energy and territories
• Methodology modules and simulations

Launch of the PhD Support Programme EUCACIS for students from Central Asia and the Caucasus
“The EU, Central Asia and the Caucasus in the International System” (EUCACIS).
CIFE and the Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP) start the PhD Support Programme “The EU, Central Asia and the Caucasus in the International System“ (EUCACIS). Funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Erasmus+ Programme, it offers scholarships for three years to excellent postgraduates who are working on a doctoral thesis in political science, contemporary history or economics on a topic of the programme’s focus at a university in the Southern Caucasus or Central Asia (including Afghanistan, the Kashmir region in India, and the autonomous region Xinjiang in China).

Study in Nice, Tunis and Istanbul - Master in Advanced European and International Studies - Mediterranean branch
Memorandum of Understanding signed between UIT (Tunis) and CIFE (France) - Tunis, 10.2.2015
The Université Internationale de Tunis (UIT) and the CIFE have signed a "Memorandum of Understanding“. In a trilateral cooperation the French and the Tunisian institutions will establish together with Bilgi University in Istanbul, Turkey, an interdisciplinary postgraduate study programme that travels around the Mediterranean during one academic year. According to the unique motto ‚living and learning the Mediterranean’ a group of 15 international students will study the challenges of the region in a „mobile class-room“. The „Master in Advanced European and International Studies“ is an itinerant programme: it will be divided into three trimesters and take place in three different study locations. The programme will be launched in Nice, France, continue in Tunis, Tunisia, and conclude in Istanbul, Turkey. „Future decision-makers of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation shall not only become regional experts, but should establish lasting networks of trust “, says UIT Vice-President Maher Tebourbi. „This is our contribution to the Union for the Mediterranean“, explains CIFE’s General Director, Matthias Waechter. „With this programme we would like to enhance interregional education, research and cooperation across the Mediterranean.“  The Master students study the challenges of the Mediterranean region in four Modules:
  Conflict Management and Peace Keeping
  Sustainable Development and Climate Action
  Regional Integration and Transformation
  Mediterranean Politics and Societies.

Philippe MAYSTADT has been elected CIFE President.
Philippe Maystadt, former Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), was elected President of the Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE), in Brussels on 20 January 2015. He succeeds Jean-Claude Juncker who was president of CIFE since 2005. Besides his brilliant political career, mainly in economic and financial affairs, Philippe Maystadt has been professor of public economic law at the Catholic University in Louvain. Currently, he is the President of the Academy of Research and Higher Education (Académie de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur ARES) of the federation Wallonia-Brussels.
CIFE has just celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding and is one of the six institutions of excellence to receive an operating grant from the European Union in the framework of the ‘Jean Monnet Activities’. Presse release 

Workshop and Conference in Almaty 
Third semester’s kick-off workshop and international conference on the EU – Central Asia relations took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
From 23 until 30 August 2014, the third workshop of the online master programme, Studies on the EU and Central Asia in the International System“ (EUCAIS) took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It was the kick-off for the programme’s third semester and, at the first time since the launch of the programme in 2010, took place in a Central Asian town. The workshop has been attended not only by the programme’s current students, but also by EUCAIS alumni students, who benefitted from the workshop’s lectures and contributed to the networking among the present and alumni students and experts. Apart from the workshop and conference programme, students, alumni and conference participants discovered Almaty and its surroundings, as for most participants the visit in Kazakhstan was a premiere. Insofar, the event also contributed to the cooperation and understanding in between Central Asian countries.

"The EU, its Eastern Partnership and Georgia"
First step of the Joint Project "The EU, its Eastern Partnership and Georgia - 2014, the year that changed all?" organised by the Office Franco-Allemand pour la Jeunesse (OFAJ/DFJW) in cooperation with the Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE), the Youth Association DRONI and the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen. 24 very motivated participants from France, Germany and Georgia met together with representatives of German Think Tanks, German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Georgian and French Embassies.
Joint Projet  OFAJ/DFJW

Danube Summer Institute in Berlin 
The participants of the Danube Summer Institute (DSI) arrived in Berlin last week after they concluded the Istanbul opening week before. They will get to know the city, meet decision makers, visit institutions and learn from prolific experts of economics, political science and law.
Until 10th of August the group will also travel to Poznan, Vienna, Budapest and Prague, always in the spirit of intercultural exchange and improving the transatlantic relations, while learning about local, regional and European characteristics. The DSI is a cooperation of the Texas A&M University and CIFE.

MAEIS: On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of  CIFE
and of the 50th anniversary of its European Institute IE.EI,
CIFE had the pleasure of inviting its Alumni to the dinner which took place in Brussels, in the presence of the students of the 2013-2014 class (trilingual and anglophone branches of the Master programme) on Wednesday 12 March 2014, at the ‘taverne La Brouette’.