The Government announced this Wednesday that it will invest 208,000 euros to finance ten scholarships at the College of Europe in the next academic year, with the aim of improving academic training and combating the under-representation of the Portuguese in European institutions.
Scholarships for the College of Europe will be awarded at a ceremony that will take place on Thursday, at 6:00 p.m., at the Secretary of State for European Affairs, and which will include the intervention of Secretary of State Tiago Antunes.
According to the executive, the amount destined to finance the scholarships “is 3.2 times higher than assigned in 2021/22“.
For the next academic year, and as a translation of the Executive’s effort to strengthen European training and bring more Portuguese to European institutions, ten scholarships will be awarded, backed by 80% of their total value. In comparison with the year traded, the number of beneficiaries doubles (not last year for you delivered five bags) and the percentage of support per bag increases considerably (in 2021/22 the bags foram supported in 50%)”, it is a note of the government.
The Government also maintains that the total amount of aid “is the highest in history and is 4.3 times higher than the average registered in the last ten years, which stands at 47.5 thousand euros of annual aid. Until now, the largest amount granted had been 105 thousand euros recorded in two academic years: 2009/10 and 2010/11”.
This is a measure that aims, above all, to encourage students to opt for an academic training focused on the European Union and, in this way, prepare them to be able to work with European Institutions”, justifies the executive.
From the perspective of the Government, “there is currently a deficit of representation of Portuguese civil servants in the templates” of the European Union, “a problem that has been identified since the beginning of this legislature by the Secretary of State for European Affairs and that has immediately become a priority policy.
Only with the adequate representation of Portugal at all stages of the decision-making process at the European level can we guarantee the essential contribution that our country must make to determine the policies of the European Union,” the statement said.
The Government states that attending the College of Europe is considered a real “gateway” to the exercise of professional functions in the European Institutions.
It is, therefore, an immediate action that aims to reap its fruits in the future. Investing in specialized training in European affairs is a fundamental instrument to correct this deficit. But it is not the only solution”, warns the executive.
Along with this measure, the Government says that it is already working with the European Commission “on a strategic, structuring and long-term solution: a National Action Plan to increase the representation of the Portuguese in European institutions, which will be presented after the summer”.
In this sense, it is mentioned that Tiago Antunes, on his first official visit to Brussels, which took place between April 26 and 29, met with the commissioner responsible for Human Resources, Johannes Hahn, “to point out his concern as level of under-representation of Portugal in the staff of the European Union and emphasize the need to correct it.”
At that meeting, the European Commission recognized the problem and promised to work with the Government on the aforementioned National Action Plan, giving priority to a group of countries, which includes Portugal.
Source: Observadora
