Wednesday, 29 October, was dedicated to European Integration Office at the EU’s Book Fair stand in Hall 4. The Office promoted new smart phone app “Europe to go”. Publications “How, why, whether, when… EU?” and “The ABC of European integration” were also promoted, whereas the visitors were able to test their knowledge in an online quiz on European Union and had a chance to win European Integration Office’s promotional packages.
Smart phone app is part and parcel of the project “Europe to go – raising youth awareness on European Union and process of European integration”, implemented by Belgrade Open School supported by Serbian government’s European Integration Office.
Main goal of the project is to raise citizens’ awareness on European Union and the process of accession of the Republic of Serbia through provision of readily available, timely and user-friendly information.
Android app “Europe to go” enables younger audiences to stay up to date with current European developments, open calls for formal and informal educational programmes, scholarships, internships and projects, as well as with technical information that would allow them to plan a trip, a visit to Member States or network with their peers and different organisations within EU.
“Europe to go” can be downloaded via the following link.
Brochure “Get to know EU” was presented to students who visited EU’s stand by the EU Information Centre’s Marina Rakic, who also answered their questions.
Writer Srdjan Tesin, and Head of the Sector for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Culture Mladen Veskovic discussed the issue of “Preserving country’s cultural identity: How can EU promote national identity?” with Law School and International Relations students.
Europe will get to know us to the same extent in which we get to know Europe, because neither are our arms open wide nor have we accepted everything that comes from Europe, said writer Srdjan Tesin adding that, because of the isolation of Serbia and “waiting outside consulates (for visas),” his generation was denied for all sort of things.
Once the borders opened and we started travelling, we realised that we had a chance of finding our own place in the sun, said Tesin during the debate at EU’s stand.
Veskovic said that Serbia was an EU Member State in the field of Culture.
According to him, in June 2014, Serbia joined Creative Europe 2014-2020, a programme worth EUR1,5 million.
Veskovic said that up to and including September, 450 applications were submitted in the call for translation of Serbian authors into foreign languages, the call that was aimed exclusively at foreign publishers.
Vast majority of publishers hails from EU or EU membership candidate countries. Translations of contemporary authors are indeed being published, but Ivo Andric still occupies the first place on the list of most translated authors, Veskovic said.
