From 25 till 28 August a workshop took place in Maastricht to prepare a film and a publication for the AEJ congress in November. Subject was one of the mainthemes of the congress Cross boarder cooperation : what can we learn from each other? Koos van Houdt (Dutch AEJ section) was in the lead. Together with Koos 6 AEJ colleagues (Livia Losonczi-Hungary, Luigi Cobisi-Italy, Pedro Gonzalez-Spain, Shane Harrison-Ireland, Horst Keller-Germany and Thomas Vrba-Czech Republic) were present to work on a publication and a film. The last evening of the workshop the AEJ delegation met with the Mayor of Maastricht, Gerd Leers (see picture).
Living in peace and harmony with each other, across borders between member-states, is not very new. But hardly anybody knows while it becomes more and more a relevant part in European policies. Working at one side of the border, living at the other side; companies, working together on both sides of borders; how to connect in terms of public transportation or by car? A whole new area of activities is growing within the 52 so called Euregions across the European Union. Therefore, we as European journalists not merely working in Brussels of Strasbourg are discovering a whole new area, where journalism becomes more and more relevant.
In the upcoming AEJ Congress (19-22 November in Maastricht) we will spend part of the time at this subject. Around Maastricht, living together with nearby German and Belgian regions, Euregional (or: cross-border) cooperation is a good pilot for this developments. Together with several colleagues from Euregional media over there, a group of seven AEJ-members prepared a ‘Production’, to be published during the Congress, about concrete themes about cross-border cooperation. Koos van Houdt (from the organizing Dutch section) was in the lead. The city of Maastricht is not only the sponsor of the AEJ Congress but also sponsored the Workshop.