During the 2019 EFC conference in Paris, French illustrator Plantu showed us a shrewd vignette with a clear message: “Before 1989 one could not even meet, today everything is possible.” In times past it was the Berlin Wall that divided people in Europe, now we see walls being constructed… Read More
Are we doing enough? And are we doing enough of the right thing? Writing this blog, I began to reflect on the passage of time – how much changes, how much stays the same. Thirty years was enough for 17th century Europeans to fight an extended and disastrous religious war,… Read More
The blog below is based on the acceptance speech of Barrow Cadbury Trust’s CEO, Sara Llewellin, for the prestigious Compass Award at the 2019 European Foundation Centre (EFC) Annual General Assembly in May 2019, in Paris. I am a great believer that awards and honours are symbolic of the achievements… Read More
MAVA is reaching the half way point on its final strategy covering 2016-2022. As we enter our final chapter, there are some inherent challenges any foundation in such a situation would face. From some partners who still believe funding will continue, to persistent high levels of partner dependency, MAVA staff… Read More
My first concrete contact with the EFC occurred six years ago when I attended their Annual Conference and General Assembly in Copenhagen in 2013. At that point, I had been working at Kone Foundation for several years, first as a Scientific Secretary and for a year as Head of Cultural… Read More
In 1989, when the Berlin wall fell – and the EFC was created – I was 16. I belong to the first generation of Italian young people who became massively passionate for Europe. Feeling a strong bond of solidarity, we discovered Hungary, Poland, and Russia, backpacking with InterRail on a… Read More
Happy 30th Birthday EFC! Thirty years have passed since the start. Any signs of a 30-year crisis?? You know, doubts about the past, questions about the future, reflections on your identity. Torment over what has been achieved, about what could have been done differently, or better. Wondering if you are… Read More
A version of this blog was published in the UK in April 2019 It may be a bit of a cliché to suggest that the world moves a lot faster, that the pace of change is greater now than 30 years ago, when the EFC was founded. I’m… Read More
In February 2019, hundreds of diplomats, heads of state, cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, and high-ranking military officers gathered in Germany to discuss the fractured state of geopolitics and the daunting question it poses: Who will pick up the pieces? This was the theme of the 2019 Munich Security Conference, an annual… Read More
At the EFC’s Annual General Assembly and Conference 2019, in Paris, Körber-Stiftung announced that they will gift their share of Philanthropy House to the EFC, as part of the celebrations for the EFC’s 30th anniversary. I would like, in this short anniversary blog, to… Read More