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Dear friends and readers, a week ago we asked you to support us in a difficult moment for the future of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. It is not only about important work places, but about the capacity of our project to continue being what it has been up to now, and maybe even more.

Thousands of you answered, signing our plea. These months have been very difficult for us. Your support has given us a strong sign guaranteeing energy and enthusiasm, and dignity in the work we have been doing in the past 15 years.

So first of all thank you and a virtual (web) hug. We ask you to keep on supporting us. The legal dispute, in fact, is not over and it is still to be seen if the institutions that have supported us up to now will keep on doing it. All together, we can make it.

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso in danger

The first meeting of a labour dispute on the future of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso took place today in Rovereto, Trentino, Italy: on the table, the dismissal of a third of the employees, that would jeopardize a project built over the past 15 years.

OBC animates a wide community of hundreds of thousands of people who care about the European integration, citizenship rights and pluralism. It believes that knowledge sharing is a tool for the construction of an open and democratic Europe.

OBC was about to begin his sixth European project and is now in danger of being unable to play its part at local, national and international level. We ask the institutions from Trentino (Italy) to continue investing on quality, to not renounce to an excellence, and to reconsider the cuts undertaken.

We ask YOU, our community, to be vocal and to support OBC. It will help continuing together to narrate, and deepen an enlarged Europe, across its borders.

Please, subscribe our plea to Mr. Ugo Rossi, President of the Autonomous Province of Trento and to Mrs. Sara Ferrari local Minister for university and research, youth policy, gender equality and development cooperation.

You can help us by filling out the form at this link or by sending an email with your full name and affiliation to sostieni@balcanicaucaso.org.

Thank you for the support you have never failed to give us, in the long journey we made together.

The staff of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso

Raising awareness on press freedom violations in 11 countries has been the aim of the 12 European partners engaged until last January in the project "Safety Net for European Journalists", led by OBC and co­funded by the European Union and the Autonomous Province of Trento.

On January 28th we presented the closing event at the European Parliament, the seminar "Je suis Charlie. Media Freedom in the EU and South­Eastern Europe". All audio-files can be found here.

This is the analytic report "Building a Safety Net for European Journalists" by Eugenia Siapera, professor at Dublin City University, and the handbook for threatened journalists "Safety Net Manual" published by SEEMO (both free downloadable).

What stands in the way of media freedom, journalistic safety and independence and how to defend citizens' right to information in Europe? Public seminar within the project 'Safety Net for European Journalists'

Je suis Charlie. Media Freedom in the EU and South Eastern Europe

Brussels (BEL) Meeting Room ASP 5E1, European Parliament

You are kindly invited to RSVP your presence by 26th January to segreteria@balcanicaucaso.org and provide all necessary details for the EP badge

#JesuisCharlie

In the aftermath of the dramatic attack to the French weekly, Osservatorio wishes to express its solidarity to the staff of Charlie Hebdo, their families and friends. We strongly condemn the politics of terror directed against free media and freedom of expression, and stand united with our fellow media organizations in this time of mourning

JOIN the new Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso ONLINE DEBATE

25th November - 5th December 2014

and tweet: #UkraineEu

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was launched in 2004 for strengthening the prosperity, stability and security of the enlarged EU and its neighbours. In recent months, however, a dramatic conflict has been escalating in Ukraine. Does the ENP have its share of responsibility in this crisis?

Two Members of the European Parliament will present their positions on the issue at stake:

Jacek Saryusz-Wolski – MEP, Deputy President of the European People's Party, Rapporteur on Ukraine

Helmut Scholz – MEP, Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left

chair:

Paolo Bergamaschi – Advisor on Foreign Affairs at the European Parliament

Have your say and join the discussion here in English or Italian!

The Balkans Approaching the EU

Read the latest OBC papers published in the frame of the ISPI study "The Balkans Approaching the EU": The Ongoing EU Enlargement and the Public Spheres in the Western Balkans , by Luisa Chiodi; Kosovo: Beyond the 'Brussels Agreement' , by Francesco Martino, and Bosnia-Herzegovina at a Stalemate? , by Andrea Rossini

The Balkans Approaching the EU

Read the latest OBC papers published in the frame of the ISPI study "The Balkans Approaching the EU": The Ongoing EU Enlargement and the Public Spheres in the Western Balkans , by Luisa Chiodi; Kosovo: Beyond the 'Brussels Agreement' , by Francesco Martino, and Bosnia-Herzegovina at a Stalemate? , by Andrea Rossini

Job Opportunity!

Our colleagues of The Index on Censorship are seeking 8 regional correspondents for a year-long project, which is expected to end by January 2015. Correspondents will be compensated.

Tasks:
– Monitor and report on violations of media plurality and freedom
– Review and research crowd sourced information for verification
– File at least three editorial pieces about media plurality and freedom in assigned countries per month for publication on IndexonCensorship.org and related websites in consultation with Index on Censorship staff
– Evangelise media plurality and media freedom reporting tools to media professionals and citizen journalists

Interested applicants should apply to web@indexoncensorship.org with two recent examples of their work and their CV

The present newsletter will be the last one for 2013. We will be back on 10 January, 2014. We would like to take this opportunity to wish our readers all the best for the next Winter Holidays and a Happy New Year!