Citizens' Weekend Praha
25 - 27 November 2005

by Lyusyena Irshenko (Kyiv, Ukraine)

From the 25th to 27th November 25 active Europeans gathered to share their ideas, thoughts and plans in one of the most beautiful and inspiring cities in the center of Europe – Prague. The initiator of the meeting was the European  activists’ network Citizens of Europe. The main goals were the development of new projects and ideas, evaluation of previous activities and, of course, discovering Prague.

The meeting started Friday evening with the participants welcoming. The participants came from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine and Romania, Germany and Belgium. The next day was divided in two parts. The first theoretical part entitled "imagine..." was about working out best online tools, scientific seminars and project trainings. The second practical part "realise..." was about realization the developed ideas and action planning.

I participated in the workshop about developing ideas for future projects. The discussion opened some core questions such as why are we dealing with European issues and what it means to be European. Everybody had their own point of view and different approaches on these problems. Finally, our group developed several ideas for future realization.

Other groups discussed the better usage of internet tools in our network and concepts for training events by Citizens of Europe. In the afternoon we worked on current projects such as our film contest “My Europe”, our euratlantic project “E(U)SA 2020” and our media  project “Polylog” aiming to give a contribution to Europe-wide political debates. We developed a concept for a “Convention of European Citizens” to take place in Berlin in 2006. Also the idea of a seminar in Ukraine appeared.

In the evening we explored Prague by night: visited some cafes, tried special Czech knedliky, drank Czech beer and enjoyed the fascinating city atmosphere. On Sunday the organizers and participants presented the results of working in groups. The place for the next Citizens meeting was discussed, as well. It was decided for Zielena Gora in Poland. The meeting was a success: it brought new ideas for the Citizens network and gave a chance to make new contacts and even friends.