The 10th Annual Summer School on National Minorities and Border Regions Has Started

The tenth edition of the Annual Summer School on National Minorities and Border Regions co-organized by the ECMI and Coppieters Foundation has been officially opened and is now running. The participants arrived safely in Flensburg yesterday and were welcomed by the Summer School Team during the introductory meeting at the ECMI Headquarters.

The specific topic of this year’s Summer School, is “Minorities and Referendums: Shaping or Being Shaped?". This puts the Summer School on the list of the regional events focusing on the 100th anniversary of the plebiscites which redrew the border between Germany and Denmark, wherein minorities influenced and were affected by the outcome.

"The referendums of 1920 had more far-reaching consequences than the simple definition of the borderline. Ultimately, they are the reason why the ECMI is based in Flensburg today – an institution that is of great importance to us," said the Lord Mayor of Flensburg Simone Lange, who welcomed the Summer School participants today at the Danish Library in Flensburg where most of the Summer School events will take place. She was followed by Marta Bainka who welcomed the participants on behalf of the Coppieters Foundation as a member of their Bureau.

The first day will continue with lectures by the ECMI staff, namely Prof. Vello Pettai (Ethnicity, Nationalism and Ethnopolitics: a Framework for Analysis), Caitlin Boulter (Old and New Minorities: an Interdisciplinary Debate), and Dr. Ljubica Djordjević (Protection of National Minorities in International Law between Bilateralism and Multilateralism). Many lectures on the following days will be held mostly online as several lecturers are not able to come to Flensburg due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions. Similarly, the Team has made sure that all the social distancing and hygiene rules are followed during the Summer School’s events, and the number of participants has declined due to last-minute cancellations. On the other hand, this situation will allow the Team to experiment with new learning formats and prepare for more online based learning in the future.

*** This summer school is a joint initiative of ECMI and Coppieters Foundation. This event is financially supported by the European Parliament. The European Parliament is not liable for the content of the conference or the opinions of the speakers. ***