Slovene Member of the European Parliament, Ivo Vajgl (Zares/Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) came for a working visit to Centre for European Perspective (CEP). The institution and its work was presented to him by CEP management and he was also asked for help in looking for support and additional financial resources for the European Group on Training (EGT) consortium at the European parliament.

European Parliament member Vajgl was welcomed by CEP Executive Director Elvin Klobas, Secretary General Andrej Vrčon and Programme Director Andreja Dolničar Jeraj. CEP is a member of the EGT consortium, which endeavours to build EU training capacities in the field of crisis management in the framework of the European Commission project Training for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management. EGT connects training organisers with EU member states ministries, competent for recruitment and education of trained civilian experts as well as for maintenance of expert databases.

CEP’s goal is to acquire certificate for training of Slovene public officials for secondment to civilian missions and therefore it supports the continuation of the EGT financing, for which the financing by the European Commission was provided only for eight years of operation.

Already in April 2009 the members of the European Parliament Monica Frassoni, Andrew Duff in Hannes Swoboda wrote a letter to the Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner to draw her attention to the report, in which the European Parliament asks European Commission to continue with financial support for trainings on civil crisis management at EU level also after 2009. In the letter they emphasized that further financing is not provided and that therefore further development of the civil crisis management is jeopardised. The European Parliament members stressed that the Federation of European Training Institutes for Civilian Crisis Management, Peace-Building and Post-Conflict Reconstruction should be financed by the European Commission and asked the Commissioner for support in seeking a permanent financial basis for ensuring this proposed EU-training initiative.

The Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner mentioned in her reply that the mid-term evaluation of the relevant civilian training activities showed that relatively few of the trained experts had subsequently taken part in EU level missions. She believed that a serious assessment of past and current training efforts and mechanisms in the field of crisis management should be carried out and took note of the proposal regarding the establishment of the Federation of European Training Institutes for Civilian Crisis Management, Peace-Building and Post-Conflict Reconstruction. She promised proper consideration of this proposal, although the establishment of the Federation falls outside the competence of the Commission.

CEP supports an overall overview of past training efforts in the field of crisis management and advocates forming of general guidelines on future activities and financing in this field in accordance with the EC financing regulations as an underlying principle. As a member of EGT, CEP is willing to actively participate in preparing the overall guidelines for implementation of civil crisis management activities at EU level, considering the development of national strategies and future institutional structure following the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon. As an EGT member CEP is concerned about the sustainability of the Consortium achievements, if EGT will not be able to continue with its efforts.

Vajgl expressed support for the continuation of the project and its financing by the EU. He commended the EGT and CEP efforts and promised to discuss the issue with his colleagues in the European Parliament, which paid less attention to it during the mandate change. Vajgl also supported the establishment of the Federation of European Training Institutes for Civilian Crisis Management, Peace-Building and Post-Conflict Reconstruction.