On Friday, 5 February from 11:00 to 12:00 CET, we held the fifth edition of Talking Europe organised in partnership with the European Commission. This series of online events launched in 2020 aims to discuss the EU’s work and how it affects all Europeans.

Our guest, Themis Christophidou, Director General of DG for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, discussed recent exceptional measures implemented to support education, culture, youth, and sport in light of the challenges posed by Covid-19. The discussion particularly focused on inclusion, mobility and digital learning, pointing to the paradigm shift in Higher Education in these exceptional times. Of particular importance in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, although temporarily overshadowed by the crisis, we also touched upon the novelties and areas of focus of the new Erasmus programme. This event was also be a chance to discuss the new Creative Europe programme specifically aimed at supporting the mobility of artists and the cultural sector more generally.

It is more important than ever to highlight that deeper cooperation across borders, disciplines and cultures is the only way to recover from the crisis and to build resilience.

A recording of the livestream is available here :

We encourage participants to join the discussions on Twitter using the hashtag #TalkingEurope. When tweeting, please use the handles @EMInternational and @EU_Commission.

The event is the fifth of a series of discussions entitled ‘Talking Europe’, organised in partnership with the European Commission with the aim to foster debate on the European Union’s work and its affect on the everyday lives of citizens, involving stakeholders from civil society, political institutions and the wider European community.