“The big topic today, which unites us and crosses over national borders, is interculturality. Human life should be lived with the desire to know the other, the desire to emphasize the common rather than the differences”, said the Vice President Margarita Popova at the opening of the Second International Summer Academy for Strengthening Democracy in the Euro-Med Region. The event is an initiative of the Bulgarian School of Politics “Dimitry Panitza”, and is organized in cooperation with the Tunisian School of Politics and Citizen School of Political Studies in Morocco.
“I believe that part of our responsibility is to share common values. Uniform understanding of ethics and morality is the key to our common future”, said Dr. Irina Alexieva, the Executive Director of BSoP.
The Summer Academy is supported by the South Programme II “Towards Strengthened Democratic Governance in the Southern Mediterranean” (2015-2017), which is funded by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe. The leading theme of this year’s Summer Academy is “Security and culture”. The participants of the Academy are 18 young political and civic leaders, who are alumni of the three Schools of Political Studies.
The first day of the program included meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria Daniel Mitov, the deputy Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean Ambassador Delfin Borione and the programme coordinator of the Southern program 2 Hristo Hristov.