The Maghreb and the European Union are not only neighbors sharing a common history but also enjoy a major geographical and cultural proximity. The transnational challenges that cross the Mediterranean reveal the interdependence of the different countries of the region and underline the importance of increasing the number of bridges between the two shores. In that respect, the KAS Regional Program South Mediterranean inaugurated 4 years ago the European Autumn Academy. Every year, for ten days, around thirty young students or social activists attend a training workshop on the EU institutions and the relationships between Europe and the Maghreb.
This year 29 participants from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia embarked on a training week on the European Union institutions and the EU-Maghreb relations. Besides a comprehensive introduction to the principles of the EU integration and the European political system, our participants touched upon key-questions for the two shores of the Mediterranean such as the importance of the EU-Maghreb cooperation on economic integration, the management of migratory flows as well as education and skills flows. Those exchanges took the form of roundtables during which our participants benefited from each other's experiences encountered on the field.
This training also constituted a great opportunity to visit major institutions that the Greater Luxembourg counts such as the European Parliament or the European Bank of investment. During those visits, our participants met European Union officials who gave them an insight into the everyday life of EU staff members. Also, our participants took the opportunity to visit Saarbrücken University and had the chance to exchange with students from the General Students Committee and discovered the different possibilities to study in Germany.
