Dear friends, we are forming new leaders for Europe. Would you like to know more about our project?
This edition of the Leadership post is dedicated to the European Leadership Programme (ELP) that has just opened new applications for next semester.
It is now possible to apply for the next semester that starts on October 1st of 2019 and finishes on February 28th of 2020. Applications are open from May 16th to August 15th – 2019.
Applicants must be European citizens, or European Economic Area (EEA) residents, or Swiss residents, scholarships are available, to find out the requirements here.
In this current edition, the ELP fellows met with the former president of the European Council Herman van Rompuy, as you can read in this article. They discussed peace, vocation, Christian and democratic values as well as domestic and foreign policy.
Talking about populism, Van Rompuy stated that “Populism is not only a political phenomenon, it’s also a moral problem. It lifts people away from their responsibilities by always finding new enemies.” Solutions to populism can only be found in an intellectual battle. “We must use our constructive values – he said – against their disruptive vision.”
We, at JESC, are doing our part and our vision goes beyond the EU institutions. Therefore, we found enlightening, our chat with Charlie Chilufya SJ the Social Apostolate Coordinator and Director of JENA (Justice and Ecology network in Africa). He is forming African leaders in Nairobi. He remarks, “Africa loses 50 billion dollars net a year to the western countries in tax revenue not paid. The money produced by companies in mines and exploitation of African resources remains in Europe.” Africa and Europe are strongly interconnected, not only on the migrant issue. It was very encouraging to discover that there is an African version of the ELP.
Not far from Africa, we also talked to Francisco Borja, Director of International Relations at the Loyola University of Andalucia: “We are the southernmost university in Europe – he stated – and we want our students not to feel marginalized. Quite the opposite, we make them feel connected not only to Brussels but to the rest of the world.” A good Ignatian leader is someone who knows himself and uses this self-knowlege to walk with others and not necessarily ahead of them. A good leader applies the Magis “to do more and better.”
We would like our leaders to be excellent, especially in dealing with humanity.
Enjoy the Leadership Post.
By Peter Rožič SJ, Director
Susan Dabbous, Communication Assistant
