SEMINAR ON "HOW THE EUROPEAN UNION OPERATES"

The Staff Development Organisation in the Prime Minister's Office has organised a seminar on the 22-23 May, 2001 titled How the European Union Operates.

This seminar was targeted at the newly-appointed Directors, Office of Review—the change managers in the Public Service. Besides other tasks, these Directors will be responsible for addressing the changes and initiatives to be undertaken to enable each Ministry to prepare itself for EU accession.

In particular, each Office of Review Director will (i) make preparations for the Ministry to be in a position to avail itself of EU structural funds; (ii) make recommendations on, and manage, the Ministry's participation in EU action programmes; and (iii) explore the possibility of strategic alliances and twinning opportunities with similar entities in Member States.

The objectives of this seminar may be classified as short-term and long-term. The short-term objectives were to help participants understand how the EU works; how to obtain funding for initiatives; and how to identify and interpret EU information. The long-term objectives are to obtain maximum benefit from the EU.

This seminar was facilitated by Dr Sean McCarthy from Hyperion Ltd, Ireland. Hyperion specialises in the design and development of EU-related activities, and Dr McCarthy has facilitated similar seminars in EU candidate states.

Expenses related to this seminar, as in several activities related to the EU integration process, were borne by the EU Commission.