Can you tell us what is your motivation to teach in the EU*Connect programme? What distinguishes it from other online courses?
From the very start, I wanted to join the programme. I saw that CIFE and the Franco-German Youth Office were the first to offer an education programme after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I hoped that this would create bonds between people and organisations – and it has.
My main aim is to respond to questions and demystify the Union. Participants come to the course motivated by interest and curiosity. Whether living in an EU country or in Ukraine or Moldova, they see the Union as their future. On top of the high-level academic input from the professors, they also want to see how it works in practice and what it looks like on the inside. As I live in Brussels and I’m frequently in the institutions, I can show the scenes “behind the curtain”. I don’t hide the Union’s weaknesses and failures. I hope I can bring an angle that you don’t find in most other courses.
EU*Connect wants to contribute to supporting the training of Ukrainian and Moldovan pro-Europeans. After now four years of the Russian war on Ukraine, how is the sentiment among participants?
I think we have opened a unique channel of communication. Not long ago, most EU people didn’t know where to find Moldova on the map and they didn’t understand the historical or modern relationship between Russia and Ukraine. On the Ukrainian and Moldovan side, the EU was seen mainly as a club to be joined for political and security reasons. I hope that most people who have done the course now see more dimensions and more detail than before. On another level, I think the dialogue between participants has shown that we have common values and interests. Our numbers started small, but they have risen steeply every year. Many small streams create a big river.
The programme promises interaction/exchange between Ukrainian, Moldovan and EU students. Can you give us a few examples of how this works concretely, as participants meet online?
I generally have two guests in every session. I invite Ukrainians and Moldovans working on the EU scene in Brussels. I also invite young EU professionals who were in my CIFE classes in previous years and who now work in the Commission, Parliament, Council or other bodies. Once the guests introduce themselves, we have an open conversation without a script. We talk about how Moldova and Ukraine are seen from Brussels (and vice versa). We hear career stories from young professionals. We talk as much about “my day in the office” as we do about the week’s political developments. I just sit back and listen – and learn!
What do the students from Ukraine and Moldova take away after 5 months of courses?
I hope our students discover that the Union is more than a protection from Russian aggression. In fact, the Union has no defence competences. I hope they discover that it is an economic and political union, with its own currency, its own directly elected parliament, with a single market, an area for free movement of people and many other common policies. I hope they see that accession, in normal times, is a lengthy process of alignment of law and institutions. But these are not normal times, so creative thinking is required to ensure that accession is both speedy and effective.
And what do EU students learn?
I hope they also learn about the nature of the Union, like their Ukrainian and Moldovan classmates. In addition, I hope that our exchanges of views communicate the reality of daily life under Russian military attacks – the sense of insecurity, the fragility of things we take for granted in the EU part of the classroom: power, warmth, internet, sleeping comfortably. I sense this and I’m sure the EU students do, too.
What do you as a teacher possibly take out of it?
For me, every session is a discovery and a learning experience.
You have been teaching in the EU*Connect programme since the beginning. Can you tell us how the programme has evolved since the start? Have there been changes?
Firstly, there was a transition from what I thought I should teach to what participants told me what they wanted. Following a course on-line in the evening requires effort and concentration, so it needs to be interactive. I have a clear plan of learning objectives but the path to our destination is shaped by the participants. Secondly, I attribute most of the success to my guests. They are generally of the same generation as the participants. They describe “Brussels” like it is, either from the viewpoint of Ukraine and Moldova or the viewpoint of young EU professionals. They share the cultural and generational mindset of the participants. Frankly, they are the principal attraction. They have all my gratitude.
Do you have a wish for the future?
I hope that someday it will be possible for the course participants (past and present) to meet in person. Maybe just for a weekend, in a safe place. It would be wonderful.