Three days course and contact seminar focusing on international cooperation, class/student exchanges, and Erasmus+ within lower secondary school education – pupils age 15-17.

Official welcome to The Royal Danish Embassy in Berlin
Ambassador Thomas Østrup Møller

Keynote: 

EU – what now?
Lykke Friis,director of Think Tank EUROPA and Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations The EU is facing its greatest crisis since World  II – with conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, inflation, low growth, and growing polarization. Unlike previous crises, this one is characterized by Germany also being in crisis and being led by a government that has long lost its majority in the polls. While the EU must maintain internal unity, it is increasingly challenged externally, notably by China but also by a United States where Donald Trump looms in the background again. On top of external challenges, the EU is also grappling with members such as Poland and Hungary, which suddenly question a cornerstone of Western democracies, the separation of powers. And with European Parliament elections ahead, which could turn the power dynamics in the EU upside down. Drawing on her role as a leading EU and Germany expert, Lykke Friis provides perspective on the latest developments and offers her insights into where Europe is heading – all with anecdotes from her many encounters – including as climate, energy, and equality minister – with top politicians and international figures.

How to work with sustainability in schools?

Michael Thagaard, principal at Langelands Efterskole and sustainability coordinator the Danish Efterskole Association. “The next generation of young empathetic rebels are going to save the world” as quoted by a Danish futurist and what an inspiration for educational institutions. Let us bring them tools to fulfill that task. When we talk about sustainability, it often comes down to things that we are not allowed to do. The climate crisis calls for a new pedagogy and we should see it as an opportunity to act critically, think new and innovate. 

The Future of Europe in the Mirror of Five Crises: Climate, Migration, Economy, Covid, and Russia’s War in Ukraine

Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna.

Over the past 15 years, Europe has confronted five major crises. The climate crisis forced Europeans to imagine a world without them. The global financial crisis made Europeans doubt that their children would live better lives than their own generation. The migration crisis triggered an identity panic that called into doubt the benefits of multiculturalism. The pandemic demonstrated the speed and scale of change in our everyday lives. And the war in Ukraine shattered the illusion that a major war was no longer possible on the European continent and that military power no longer mattered. Which of the five crises has been most critical in shaping Europeans views of the future? How does the crises shape European politics?  

We visited two lower secondary schools in Berlin. Klax Schule and Deutsche Skandinavische Gemeinschaftsschule .