Long-standing partners the Luxembourg Government and the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) have signed a new agreement to strengthen their cooperation and consolidate the presence of EIPA in the Grand Duchy.
This agreement was signed by Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Cecilia Wikström, President of the Board of Directors of EIPA, Marco Ongaro, Director General of EIPA, and Peter Goldschmidt, Director of the European centre for the magistracy and legal professions of the EIPA in Luxembourg.
The main mission of the EIPA, which is based in Maastricht, is to provide all professionals involved in EU public and regulatory affairs with a combination of in-depth knowledge and practice on EU policies and governance. The institute's Luxembourg branch specialises in the implementation, interpretation and application of European Community Law.
The Directorate of European Affairs and International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs has been cooperating for many years with EIPA Luxembourg to support the integration efforts of countries applying for EU membership. In this context, the ministry is currently offering through EIPA targeted technical assistance programmes to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. The cooperation covers different aspects of technical assistance, including the training of officials and members of the judiciary, advice on the transposition of EU law into national legal systems, training of trainers as well as combined training and study visits to relevant national and European judicial bodies and other public institutions in Luxembourg and the Greater Region.
Since 2017, the ministry has also offered annual scholarships to a limited number of young professionals from partner countries currently benefiting from technical assistance to enable them to follow the proposed master's programme in European Studies specialising in European Union law, offered by EIPA Luxembourg. The new agreement establishes regularised cooperation with the EIPA to develop and deliver tailor-made training, as well as other capacity building services, to Luxembourg officials active in the field of European affairs.
