Between Standstill and Fresh Awakening – Environmental Policy in the New Europe

International Annual Conference of Öko-Institut – Institute for Applied Ecology – on 22 and 23 April in Berlin

On 1 May 2004, ten new countries are due to join the European Union. Doubtlessly European politics will experience change in many respects. But what will be the particular consequences for environmental policy? Is there a risk of standstill or will there be a fresh awakening? Öko-Institut – Institute for Applied Ecology, the leading independent environmental research institute – will devote its 2004 annual international conference in Berlin to this theme. The goal of the conference is to highlight environmental policy consequences, identify opportunities and warn of risks.

The conference’s title is

“Between Standstill and Fresh Awakening – Environmental Policy in the New Europe”

It will be held on

Thursday 22 and Friday 23 April 2004,
in the Embassy of the Czech Republic,
Wilhelmstraße 44,
10117 Berlin, Germany

Registration and information:
Romy Klupsch
E-mail: event@oeko.de
Phone +49-761-45295-0

or online at:
www.oeko.de/

Closing date for registrations:
8 April 2004

Registration fee:
200 Euros (reduced rate: 100 Euros)

The full programme is available here for download.

Just days before ten new states officially join the European Union, the Institute’s scientists and numerous speakers from Germany and abroad will meet in Berlin to hear lectures, engage in debate and explore the issues in depth in three special forums.

Dr. Dr. h.c. Udo E. Simonis, research professor of environmental policy at the Berlin Social Science Research Centre (WZB), will present a keynote address on perspectives of European environmental policy. In a second presentation, given by Dr. Martin Bursík, the former Czech environment minister, the perspective will be switched from East to West. Dr. Bursik will explain what the accession countries expect, and in what respects old EU member countries can learn from the new ones.

“Standstill is impending!” or “Towards a fresh awakening!” – two provocative presentations by Dr. Felix Christian Matthes and Regine Barth, both of Öko-Institut, shall set the stage for intensive and controversial debate on the second day. This will be followed by three forums on energy and climate protection, agriculture and genetic engineering and, finally, the Aarhus Convention, in which participants will debate the issues and develop approaches to their solution. The conference will close with a vision for the future of a European eco-state.

We invite you most warmly to the conference as a media representative.

For journalists, participation is of course free of charge. Please register nonetheless, in order to facilitate our organizational procedures via the online registration form or at event@oeko.de

A press meeting is planned:

on Thursday, 22 April 2004, from 12.00 to 13.00,
in the rooms of the Embassy of the Czech Republic,
Wilhelmstraße 44,
10117 Berlin, Germany

You will receive an invitation to the press meeting well in advance.
To discuss prospective interviews prior to the conference please contact the Institute’s press officer Christiane Rathmann, phone +49-761-45295-22 or +49-160-5333355

Öko-Institut – Institute for Applied Ecology – is the leading environmental research institute in the field of applied ecology. It prepares scientific studies and advises politicians, NGOs, institutions and companies. The Institute has offices in Freiburg, Darmstadt and Berlin.