Posted on 24 September 2020
On 21 September, the HAEU hosted the training workshop for journalists: “Quo vadis Europa? 70 anni di Pace ed una Next Generation: leggere l'Unione attraverso gli Archivi digitali. Grande depressione e Grande confinamento: Una nuova Messina e Barcellona per una sovranità delle Istituzioni del cambiamento.” The workshop was part of a training series that keeps journalists up to date on important European issues. Ahead of the workshop, guided tours to the Archives had been organized to inform the journalists about the mission and archival holdings deposited at the HAEU.
The HAEU has taken part in this initiative coordinated by Prof. Pasquale Lino Saccá and hosted the seminar for the first time at Villa Salviati. Partners included the University LUMSA, the Ordine dei giornalisti della Toscana e Lazio, the Unione Giornalisti Scientifici Italiani (UGIS), the Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE), the Jean Monnet Chairs Network, and the University La Sapienza. Speakers included experts from universities and from the European Commission.
The seminar focused on three topics. The first concerned the economic, environmental, health and digital issues facing Europe and the role of EU institutions in this context. The second topic focused on the idea of Europe and the notion of sovereignty in the digital era. The third subject concerned the role of science and innovation in times of Covid-19 and the role of research in health development and well-being. The seminar concluded with a session highlighting the role of archives, information and knowledge diffusion in a globalized world.
On the occasion of the seminar, the HAEU installed an exhibition celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, which had originally been conceived for Europe Day on 9 May 2020, but then had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 crisis. Cesare Protettí, representative of UGIS, said:
“The Archives are like an unexplored mine. Let us just think about women with the universal suffrage that was celebrated last year. Let us think of what so many women in Europe have done to affirm not only gender rights but also common criteria of civilization, which have been acquired thanks to their commitment. Given the Archives’ many initiatives with schools, it is important that from an early age children can understand what the values of the European Union are, what the European Union can do for them, and what they can do for the European Union".
Prof. Saccá has recently deposited his private papers at the HAEU. The papers document his extensive teaching for Italian students, journalists and officials on European policies and include an important collection (‘Euro Consulente‘) of video recordings of workshops, which offer a rich educational source on European topics since the late 1970s. According to Prof. Saccá:
“The documents offer a learning methodology on how to read the European Union, in the sense of putting together EU documents based on the decisions of the EU institutions. This is essential so that the student, or in this case the informant, is able to reflect on how to read up. Next to this, we put the press review. Thus, those who read EU documents can also read the comments of the journalist who followed, for example, the European Council in Brussels, distinguishing between the journalist that represents and the journalist who does so from his workplace, because here there is a big difference that can be noticed. The relationship between documents, reality, and whoever makes the article is therefore fundamental. By transmitting this methodology, whoever wants to know more, goes to consult the archives and there will know more. And how to read the archives? The archives make it possible to connect the future with the past… The documents have a development logic; they tell the story of Europe experienced since the first elections, a few years before 1979, it is in that context that all the initiatives we have carried out develop."
Discover photos from the event on our Facebook page.