Pulse of Europe – Media Trips to the EU project kicks off

In the next two and a half years, journalists from Serbia will be able to feel the pulse of the European Union through the Media Trips project, which the EU Delegation in Serbia continues to support.

Representatives of the media, the Prime' Minister cabinet, Ministry of European Integratio, non-governmental sector, and the diplomatic corps attended the ceremony for the new phase of the project. The Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Ambassador Sem Fabrizi sees the media visits as an instrument for non-Serbs in Serbia to get to know EU countries better and a useful opportunity for journalists to gain new experiences.

“The project is part of a broader effort to meet the needs of the media community in Serbia. Empowering journalists, investigative journalism, professionalism and media independence are goals that fit into our agenda,”  Ambassador Fabrizi said.

The project team leader Marina Rakic gave the overview of the plan of project activities and explained the basics of the project, what are the priorities and expected goals.

“We entitled the project The Pulse of Europe in order to briefly summarize its basic messages and goals, which is to bring European integration closer to the citizens of Serbia and to Europe through media coverage from European countries, on topics that are now the focus of our country. supporting the media through their reporting to feel the pulse of Europe and learn more about the process of European integration but from the perspective of impact on citizens’ daily lives,” Rakić said.

The Pulse of Europe project is a new cycle of this type of EU support to media in Serbia, after the project Media Trips was implemented from 2015 to 2018, which also enabled journalists to pay working visits to the EU countries.

“Nedeljnik” weekly journalist Ana Mitic, who has twice visited EU countries with the help of this project, points out that despite her many commitments, there will always be time to socialize and visit tourist sites, and says that she had complete freedom to choose topics and angles from which will watch them.

The two-and-a half year project is funded by the EU and implemented by the Goethe Institute in cooperation with the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia and the Center for Cultural Decontamination.