The new version of our web portal is now online. TransEuropa and a responsive web design are the main novelties
From today, we are finally online with a new version of our web portal. It is high time and we are very excited to launch it!
The first big news: we have decided to add TransEuropa to our name. For 16 years, we have been committed to building a Europe of civil societies. Today, unfortunately, this idea seems, more than ever, to go against the flow.
Hence we choose this new designation, OBC TransEuropa, because we want to counterpose the wave of euroscepticism which now surrounds us; we want to reaffirm the importance of recomposing Europe, split by the Cold War, and we want to do it by building a common political space, democratic, informed and participatory.
In our view, the contribution of civil society networks is crucial to the consolidation of the European public sphere and to the democratization of international politics.
As a matter of fact, now more than ever, a careful debate is needed on Europe and on the interdependence of the world in which we live. Compared to the past, today we discuss the European Union to a larger extent - although mostly to criticise its ineffectiveness and to highlight the crisis affecting it. But there is an inherent lack of knowledge regarding the laborious deliberative processes within the Union, easily labeled as obscure and unnecessarily bureaucratic. Yet, the problem is often to be identified in the policy-makers of the member states, who are concerned to achieve consensus at all costs.
To regain the ability to cope with complex scenarios, we need to build transnational civil-society networks.
OBC TransEuropa, therefore, conveys our bottom-up commitment for Europe to become an actual democratic power capable of carrying out decisions and mediating between conflicting interests and visions, always living up to its founding principles.
The second news is that we have a new cover for our content. It is new from a visual point of view, but above all, it is technically improved. Our website now has a responsive design, conceived to automatically adapt to all navigation devices (PC, tablet, smartphone). Whether you are on a small or large screen, long or narrow, our website will adapt, thus allowing for an easy reading of the contents. To sum up, a novel shape which suits everyone's needs.
While we wish you a relaxing summer and, at least in part, quality time away from electronic devices, if you really cannot help it but visit our website from your smartphone while lying on the beach, you will now be able to access much more easily all the articles, posts and photo galleries, which we will continue to post. Whether you want to read an article from our Turkish correspondent Fazila Mat or a story by Azra Nuhefendić on Bosnia, you will no longer need to zoom in your screen!
Along with these great new features, there are also many small changes, including the promotion of our national and international media partners on the homepage, as a contribution to the growth of the European public sphere; a handier section devoted to our training activities and resources; improved access to our papers, as the contribution of OBC TransEuropa to research. All that and much more, which we hope will meet your interest!
