The Governing Board of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation has approved the appointment of Rebeca Grynspan, the Ibero-American Secretary General, as new member of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste, at a meeting held this morning in Mérida.

Grynspan was appointed Under-Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) in 2010 and Assistant Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She was the UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean from 2006 to 2010 and Vice-President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. As a renowned advocate of human development, she was also a UN delegate at the Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti, a group composed of officials from the Haitian government, the ex-President of the United States, Bill Clinton, and other important international partners. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Extremadura.

Other members of the Academy are: the painter Antonio López; the politician Marcelino Oreja; the theologian Hans Küng; the cardiologist Valentin Fuster; the pianist Maria João Pires; the historian Maria del Carmen Iglesias, and the politicians Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra and Federico Mayor Zaragoza.

The new Regulation of the Academy was also approved at the meeting. It seeks, on the one hand, to reactivate this body so that it may be more agile and make it a reference forum for the encounter and discussion among its academics, the Alumni Network of Yuste and university students who attend the international courses of Campus Yuste, where problems affecting Europe and Ibero-America may be dealt with. On the other hand, it seeks to achieve an intergenerational academy.

The European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation is a meeting space, where intellectuals, artists, scientists and politicians are called to exchange opinions and where they are made public.

This was the first meeting held by the Governing Board once the European Academy of Yuste and the Extremaduran Centre for Studies and Cooperation with Ibero-America, (CEXECI) merged together. This union has taken place in order to comply with the government’s commitment to restructure foundations and public entities and as a result of a new way to work applied by Extremadura’s foreign policy, which goes from a vertical to a horizontal and transversal plane.
The Action Plan for 2018, including more than 100 activities related to Europe and Ibero-America, has also been presented in detail at the meeting held by the Foundation’s Governing Board. The Campus Yuste Programme, which includes international summer courses organised by the University of Extremadura; Aula-Iberomamérica, which consists on lectures by experts; Aula Abierta, which comprises encounters and sessions in Extremadura and Costa Rica, as well as several symposia on Extremaduran important figures in America that will be held at different locations in the region, stands out.

There will be cultural and awareness programmes, such as the Emperor’s Concerts, the cinema award, the cinema workshop, and the school programmes on Europe and Ibero-America. The Yuste Foundation will continue publishing the existing of book collections, now adding the collection “Entre dos mundos: América y Europa desde Extremadura” (“Between two worlds: America and Europe from Extremadura”). Moreover, activities related to European and American networks, such as the Asociación de Universidades Latinoamericanas (Latin-American Universities Association) or the Encuentro Triangular Estratégico América Latina y el Caribe, Europa y África (Strategic Triangular Encounter, Latin-America and the Caribbean, Europe and Africa), will be carried out.

Moreover, the Foundation’s Governing Board has approved the regulation for the “Carlos V European Award”, as well as the call for the twelfth edition of the Carlos V European Award; an award delivered to people, organisations, projects, or initiatives that have contributed to the general knowledge and enhancement of Europe’s cultural and historical values or to the unification of the European Union. The award will be delivered on the 9th of May, on Europe Day, by His Majesty the King.

Italian professor Sofia Corradi, Mamma Erasmus, winner of the Carlos V European Award, gave the opening speech at the doctoral seminar entitled ‘Peace and European Values as a potential model for integration and progress in a global world’ held at the Royal Monastery of Yuste from Monday 24 until Wednesday 26 July, as part of the Campus Yuste academic programme.

The seminar brings together the ten researchers selected to receive a research and mobility grant in European studies to present their work to other researchers and professors. The work will subsequently be published by the Foundation in the ‘Cuadernos de Yuste’ (Yuste Notebooks) collection. The researchers will go on to join the European Yuste Alumni network, now made up of some 80 people from all corners of the world, in many cases in important posts at European institutions.

Taking part in the opening were Chief Executive of External Action and President of the Foundation’s Executive Committee, Rosa Balas; Vice-Chancellor of Quality at the University of Extremadura, Juan Carlos Preciado; Lucia Barbato, Head of the Academic Office at the Italian Embassy in Spain; Jürgen Elvert (Jean Monnet Lecturer in European History at the University of Cologne (Germany) and Seminar Director; and José María Hernández, Mayor of Cuacos de Yuste. The seminar also had collaboration from the Extremadura Development Cooperation Agency and the Government of Italy – the award winner’s home country.

During the opening ceremony, the President of the Executive Committee of the European Academy of Yuste Foundation handed over the Gran Cruz de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio (Grand Cross of the Order of Alfonso X, Alfonso the Wise) that she collected in Sofia Corradi’s name on 27 February. The award is granted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport to individuals, legal bodies, and other entities from Spain or overseas for their outstanding achievements in the fields of education, science, culture, teaching, and research, or for providing outstanding services in those fields in Spain or internationally.

During her speech, the Chief Executive reiterated how the new European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation aims to unify the “double vision of Europe and America that Extremadura has”, alluding to a phrase uttered by MEP Elena Valenciano at a course held last week on the integration of the European Union and Latin America, saying how thanks to the Erasmus programme young people would no longer see themselves in wars”. For Balas, this phrase sums up “the spirit of the best 60 years of Europe and our history”.

Balas explained how since the beginnings of the Erasmus programme in 1987, almost five million students have travelled to another country. It also has an indirect effect on their families: once they know the destination country their interest in all that happens there grows, which ends up leading to “a greater and better understanding of Europe”.

For the Director General, a country’s lack of opportunities and socioeconomic development are the main causes of armed conflict and inequality. “Extremadura, which has solidarity in its DNA, contributes to socioeconomic development projects in priority countries in both Africa and Latin America, an essential region of our overseas focus”.

Rosa Balas recalled how Sofia Corradi had told her of her desire for the Erasmus programme to be as prominent in Latin America as it is in Europe, asking her to utilise the figure of Carlos V, through the Foundation, to encourage this union to take shape. “From Extremadura we are contributing to this integration through the America Campus programme, giving 120 grants to encourage exchanges between students at the University of Extremadura and Latin America”, she explained.

Lucia Barbato, Head of the Academic Office at the Italian Embassy in Spain, highlighted the Foundation’s work to give recognition to the values of the Old Continent through “culture, training, and research”, demonstrating its “effective commitment to the essence of humanist ideals of western civilisation”. The process of European integration “owes a lot to the transnational mobility of European students – made possible and strengthened by Mamma Erasmus’ fruitful project. In her opinion, Erasmus students and professors in Italy and Spain constitute “a surprising network of relationships, an impressive force in bilateral actions for cooperation between the two countries, on the path towards the constitution of a more and more united Europe”.

Lucía Barbato gave a heartfelt tribute to the Erasmus students who were victims of the terrible accident in Tarragona on 21 March 2016, especially the seven Italian students. To pay tribute to them the Italian Ministry for Education, University, and Research together with the University decided to dedicate seven doctoral grants in memory of the tragedy, to “look to the future of our young people and our world because our commitment is to keep building a better Europe and a better world”.

Lastly, Italian professor Sofia Corradi – Mamma Erasmus, Carlos V European Award holder, gave the inaugural speech of the doctoral seminar saying how since the start of the Erasmus programme, “five million students from some five thousand European higher educational institutions” had benefited from the project: this year some 300,000 students are taking part.

For Sofia Corradi, Erasmus is not all about learning or achieving mastery in foreign languages, nor is it just for outstanding students, and “more than a privilege for the few, it is an opportunity for the many” because it is not focused on academic excellence. “An engineering student who joins the Erasmus programme does not become a better engineer, they become a better person”, she said.

The truly important thing about Erasmus is not studying abroad, but “the experience of total immersion in a different culture; of being immersed in a different way of life, direct, personal interactions in day-to-day experiences with people of the same age and educational level, confronting the same practical issues of university life but in another country”. What we now call the “Erasmus effect” comes directly from the immersive experience, without the use of theoretical paradigms. Simply put, students learn by living.

The winner of the Carlos V European Award and founder of the Erasmus programme confirmed that through experiencing the Erasmus programme the biggest goals are achieved in the terms of personal growth, the acquisition of leadership qualities, wisdom, and creativity. Erasmus creates a dialogic mindset that becomes a general and permanent feature for the individual, influencing all future relationships the individual will have when they meet new people. “I think we have the moral duty to carefully consider what better use we can make of these resources for the benefit of our global human family”.

The Chief Executive of External Action and President of the Executive Committee at the European Academy of Yuste Foundation, Rosa Balas, said this morning in Yuste that “Brexit has meant security and defence can advance more quickly in less than twelve months than in decades”, although she also demonstrated her scepticism about how some member states are confronting the refugee and migratory crisis in spite of measures taken by the Commission and Parliament. These statements were made during the opening of the course ‘Prospects, strategies and challenges of the European Union: the European dream in the new global context and challenges of a well-structured Europe’ organised by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation together with the University of Extremadura as part of the international summer course academic programme Campus Yuste.

Attending the opening ceremony were course director, Juan Manuel Rodríguez Barrigón, Senior Lecturer in International Public Law and International Relations at the University of Extremadura; Vice-Chancellor of the Digital University, Carmen García González; and the Director of the European Academy of Yuste Foundation, Juan Carlos Moreno Piñero.
The Extremaduran head of Exterior Action explained how over the three days of the course attendees will be learning, debating, and reflecting with the speakers, on themes from “recent measures adopted this year such as the creation of a European Defence Fund, to the ‘Reflection paper on the future of European defence’ and the three scenarios it offers, to geo-strategy”.

Lastly Balas outlined how the course would look at key themes such as “in spite of Brexit, the United Kingdom is key to protecting and guaranteeing peace for European citizens; the necessary combining of security and defence with diplomacy and cooperation to development to define the future, the necessary integration of European defence – and the cost of not doing so, and new threats stemming from technological change and cyberterrorism”.

During the course, which will finish on Friday, there will be an analysis of the European dream and the transformation of the European Union in light of the new global context; policies of migration and integration and potential solutions, and whether the exterior relations Europe has could lead to opportunity in the new world setting. Speakers include Nicolás Pascual de la Parte, Spanish Ambassador Representative on the European Union Political and Security Committee (PSC); Tomás Calvo Buezas, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Madrid Complutense University; María Angustias Caracuel, President of ADESyD, the Spanish Association of Graduates in Security and Defence, and Director of SWIIS (Spanish Women in International Security); Jonás Fernández, MEP; and Francisco José Dacoba, General Chief of the XI Extremadura Brigade, among others.

The European Academy of Yuste Foundation is holding its third international summer course included in the Campus Yuste academic programme with the course ‘The World of Carlos V: 500 years of Protestantism. The impact of the Reformation on imperial Europe and today’s Europe’, held on 12 and 14 July.

The course, designed from a historical and theological perspective, aims to clarify some of the most debated questions in the history of the Reformation, and to do so will interweave three geopolitical settings: Europe, Spain, and America, where the effects of the Reformation were felt to varying degrees.

Rosa María Martínez de Codes, co-director of the course, said in her speech than the figure of Martin Luther continues to be prominent 500 years after his death, “due to his enormous personal strength, his inner plight that is the key to his whole life, and the seriousness of the questions he posed so passionately, as well as for being the main instigator of a reformist movement that spread through different geographical areas and eras”, at the time that he spread “the seeds of division that would grow throughout the whole of history”.

Martínez de Codes talked about how if the church had been divided into two, it was because of the work of Lutheranism, the Swiss reformists, and the birth of Anglicanism leading to successive divisions and reunifications.

Finally, the co-director ended her speech recalling how the Joint Declaration between Catholics and Lutherans on the Doctrine of Justification in Augsburg on 31 October 1999 was “a huge leap in the dialogue between both communities after five centuries of rupture about reaching agreement on the doctrine of justification, a central theme of Protestantism”.

On the second day of the course there was in-depth examination of the reception of the Protestant doctrines and the Spain of Carlos V, his followers and detractors, and the last day focused on America, offering a counterpoint of the projection of the Reformist movements in overseas territories.

The course also included two panels for debate and reflection. With their choice of course content the directors and speakers wanted to contribute to a clarification of the factors that made the Lutheran revolution possible, the triumph of Protestant reform, and the changed era it brought in – from Medieval Christianity in decline, to flourishing Modernity “where political factors such as grievances from the German nation against the Roman Curia, and the awakening of ecclesiastical nationalisms also brought about the right climate for the outbreak of this major religious crisis” explained Martínez de Codes.

The course was organised by César Chaparro, lecturer in Latin Philology at the University of Extremadura and Rosa María Martínez de Codes, lecturer in the History of America at Madrid Complutense University. Professors on the course included experts such as Gustaaf Janssens, member of the European Academy of Yuste, and Juan Gil Fernández, from the Spanish Royal Academy, as well as speakers from the University of Seville, Strasbourg, Leuven, Argentina, Salamanca, and Alcalá de Henares.
Students on the course came from the Universities of Burgos, Granada, Seville, Malaga, Jaén, Rey Juan Carlos, Cádiz, Extremadura, Pablo de Olavide, Valencia Polytechnic, Córdoba, Valladolid, Pompeu Fabra, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid Autonomous, and Madrid Polytechnic.

José Ángel Calle Suárez, Director of AEXCID – Extremadura’s International Development Cooperation Agency, opened the course ‘Europe facing global challenges, from cooperation to development. The eradication and prevention of endemic diseases: malaria’ which is part of the Campus Yuste academic project from the European Academy of Yuste Foundation.
In his speech, the director talked about how “cooperation is the best tool for bringing about equality, and healthcare is a good instrument to help achieve it”. Health is part of AEXID’s roadmap because “it brings about equality of opportunity and the redistribution of wealth” as well as forming part of the Sustainable Development Goals. It needs resources dedicating to it because “endemic diseases continue to be a great hurdle we can’t get over”, he said.

As Ángel Calle sees it, if other global illnesses have been eradicated which we would not have thought possible 25 years ago, and almost all children in the world now receive schooling, “we can also get rid of malaria”. To do so, we can use tools such as cooperation, it being a “driver for equality in healthcare, and defending the role of healthcare workers because they play a structural role in development policies”.

For the speakers, the main cause of malaria in the world is directly related to poverty, but in order for it to be eradicated, it is also essential to invest in research and innovation. The fight against malaria in Spain officially began in 1920 and by 1935 students from different parts of the world had already been trained at the Navalmoral de la Mata Institute of Hygiene, an important advance at that time. Another of the details highlighted was the eradication of native cases of malaria in Europe.
The course is being sponsored by AEXCID and is part of the first ‘Europe Facing Global Challenges from Cooperation to Development’ project activity, which aims to examine in-depth, from Extremadura, the role of the European Union as a region facing major internal challenges within a global context of crisis and transformation. At the same time it is committed to Sustainable Development as a global challenge in which cooperation between public, private, and civil society agents, as well as between regions and countries, is key to achieving shared objectives.

The course is being directed by Quique Bassat, ICREA Professor of Research at the Barcelona Global Health Institute and María Teresa Blanco Roca, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Extremadura, and has additional support from the Spanish Foundation for International Cooperation, Health, and Social Policy at the Ministry of Health, Social Services, and Equality, and the Carlos III Health Institute, among other institutions.

The European Academy of Yuste Foundation launched its Campus Yuste training programme today with the opening event on ‘From the Treaty of Rome to the Maastricht Treaty. Ongoing advances in the process of European integration’ which is on until Friday at the Royal Monastery of Yuste.

The opening speech was given by Ramón Jáuregui, President of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat) who said that anti-European sentiment is due to “anti-grass roots measures being put into action” and this, in turn, is linked to what is possibly one of the most prevalent ideas in European culture, that “the paradigm of progress has fallen down”, adding that many of Europe’s citizens look to the future with uncertainty. In Jáuregui’s opinion, there is potential for Europe, a Europe which will stride ahead with urgent necessities such as “energy, digital, banking, monetary, and social union, among other things”.

José Ángel Camisón Yagüe, professor of public law at the University of Extremadura and course director, looked back from the start of European construction in 1992. He concluded, “Europe is not a perfect model to follow: it needs to keep improving in the future”.

The course will examine the legacy of the Maastricht agreement; the ongoing challenges Europe faces; cooperation on criminal justice; the role of citizens in the process of European integration; the role of Europe in the world 60 years later; perspectives on the future of Europe in the global context, and other themes.

Speakers on the course include Teresa Freixes Sanjuán, Jean Monnet “ad personam” lecturer and lecturer in Constitutional Law at the Autonomous University of Barcelona; Araceli Mangas, ‘Jean Monnet’ lecturer in European Studies; Elisabetta Holsztejn, Political Affairs advisor at the Italian Embassy in Spain; Matthijs Van Bonzel, Dutch Ambassador in Spain; Susana del Río, member of the EU Commission on Citizenship and Governance; Alejandro Cercas, Co-Director of the Jean Monnet EU-Hope European Integration module at the University of Extremadura; Ignacio Ubaldo Vega, spokesperson, Judges for Democracy; José Ignacio Sánchez Amor, member of the lower house in the Spanish Parliament and Socialist spokesperson on Brexit for the Courts.

Twenty-seven students are attending the course from the Universities of Valladolid, Seville, Salamanca, Castilla–La Mancha, Valencia, Rey Juan Carlos, Complutense, Alcalá de Henares, Extremadura, Carlos III and Barcelona.

Juan Carlos Preciado, Vice-Dean of Quality at the University of Extremadura; Juan Carlos Moreno Piñero, Director of the Foundation; José Ángel Camisón, professor of Public Law at the University of Extremadura; and José María Hernández, Mayor of Cuacos de Yuste, all took part in the opening.

CAMPUS YUSTE

The aim of the Campus Yuste programme is to put on specialist courses and meetings aimed at encouraging debate and reflection in university students, researchers, and professionals, on the process of European construction and integration, as well as current issues in Europe and other themes related to the history and memory of Europe and the founding principles of the foundation. This is all examined from a multidisciplinary perspective and in the unique setting of the Royal Monastery of Yuste, which facilitates contact and exchange between students and speakers sharing their reflections with subject experts and first-rate academic, political, and social personalities, making this ultimately a space for reflection, thought, culture, and science.

The aim of the Campus Yuste grants is to raise awareness of the training programme, and get as many people involved as possible, including those from beyond our national borders, with the grants making it easier for university students, researchers, experts, and professionals interested in the study areas to participate and attend.

This summer’s theme is broad and diverse, and will examine from a multidisciplinary and international perspective, global challenges from cooperation to development, and how to eradicate and prevent endemic diseases such as malaria, a course sponsored by AEXCID – Extremadura’s International Development Cooperation Agency.

Other courses will look into the socio-economic, political, and cultural effects of thirty years of Spain and Portugal’s integration with the European Union; the impact of the Reformation in the era of Emperor Carlos V and his stance on Protestantism, and its impact on Europe now, coinciding with 500 years since the publication of Martin Luther’s Reformist Theses; as well as relations between, and challenges facing, the European Union and Latin America in the present day. In addition, continuing Campus Yuste’s work on analysing the main challenges facing the European Union, this year will see an analysis of the role of Europe in terms of migratory movements, the European Union’s role in the world, and its relations with other global powers, including Ibero-America.

The Campus Yuste programme will continue in October with three seminars looking at: the migratory and financial crises which have hit Europe; the role of the media as a tool to safeguard liberties and human rights and its role as a speaker for the challenges facing institutions; and finally, a seminar on the need to mainstream a gender-based approach at all levels of society to fight against violence and discrimination towards women , as well as promoting equal rights and opportunities, under the framework of the ‘Europe facing global challenges from cooperation to development’project, funded by AEXCID.

The European Academy of Yuste Foundation is offering 120 grants to fund enrolment fees, accommodation, and subsistence for candidates attending various international summer courses organised by the Foundation in collaboration with the University of Extremadura. Candidates will be selected through a public grants call which will look at applicants’ academic transcripts.
Current university students, or those who have finished their degrees in the two years preceding the call (an official degree from an EU university) are eligible to receive the grants. The deadline for applications is Thursday 29 June, with registrations open for non-grant enrolments until the day before the course starts (or until places are filled). The courses are also open to the general public with free registration at the following web page: https://www.fundacionyuste.org/campus-yuste/inscripcion/

Courses offered this summer are:

28-30 June, Royal Monastery of Yuste
CAMPUS YUSTE OPENING SEMINARS 2017. FROM THE TREATY OF ROME TO THE MAASTRICHT TREATY, AND ONGOING ADVANCES IN THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Students will be selected for these seminars on a strictly first-come first-served basis. Includes enrolment, accommodation, and subsistence.

5-7 July, Royal Monastery of Yuste
EUROPE FACING GLOBAL CHALLENGES, FROM COOPERATION TO DEVELOPMENT. ERADICATING AND PREVENTING ENDEMIC DISEASES: MALARIA
Under the framework of the ‘Europe facing global challenges, from cooperation to development’ project funded by AEXCID.

10-12 July, Palacio de la Generala (Generala Palace), Cáceres
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: A SUMMARY OF 30 YEARS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

12-14 July, Royal Monastery of Yuste
THE WORLD OF CARLOS V: 500 YEARS OF PROTESTANTISM. THE IMPACT OF THE REFORMATION ON IMPERIAL EUROPE AND EUROPE TODAY

17-18 July, Royal Monastery of Yuste
RELATIONS BETWEEN EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA IN THE NEW INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

19-21 July, Royal Monastery of Yuste
THE EU’S PERSPECTIVES, STRATEGIES, AND CHALLENGES: THE EUROPEAN DREAM IN THE NEW GLOBAL CONTEXT AND CHALLENGES OF A WELL-STRUCTURED EUROPE

24-26 July, Royal Monastery of Yuste
DOCTORAL SEMINAR. PEACE AND EUROPEAN VALUES AS A POTENTIAL MODEL FOR INTEGRATION AND PROGRESS IN A GLOBAL WORLD

With financial support from the Italian government and organised under the framework of the ‘Europe facing global challenges from cooperation to development’ project funded by AEXCID.

CAMPUS YUSTE

The aim of the Campus Yuste programme is to put on specialist courses and meetings aimed at encouraging debate and reflection in university students, researchers, and professionals, on the process of European construction and integration, as well as current issues in Europe and other themes related to the history and memory of Europe and the founding principles of the foundation. This is all examined from a multidisciplinary perspective and in the unique setting of the Royal Monastery of Yuste, which facilitates contact and exchange between students and speakers sharing their reflections with subject experts and first-rate academic, political, and social personalities, making this ultimately a space for reflection, thought, culture, and science.

The aim of the Campus Yuste grants is to raise awareness of the training programme, and get as many people involved as possible, including those from beyond our national borders, with the grants making it easier for university students, researchers, experts, and professionals interested in the study areas to participate and attend.

The Campus Yuste programme will continue in October with three seminars looking at: the migratory and financial crises which have hit Europe; the role of the media as a tool to safeguard liberties and human rights and its role as a speaker for the challenges facing institutions; and finally, the need to mainstream a gender-based approach at all levels of society to fight against violence and discrimination towards women under the framework of the ‘Europe facing global challenges from cooperation to development’ project, funded by AEXCID.

The European Academy of Yuste Foundation has opened pre-registrations for international summer courses from the University of Extremadura as part of the Campus Yuste training programme held throughout June and July at the Royal Monastery of Yuste.

This year’s theme is broad and diverse, and will examine from a multidisciplinary and international perspective, issues such as ongoing developments in Europe since the signing of the Treaties of Rome and Maastricht Treaty; global challenges from cooperation to development; and how to eradicate and prevent endemic diseases such as malaria, a course sponsored by AEXCID – Extremadura´s International Development Cooperation Agency.

Other courses will look into the socio-economic, political, and cultural effects of thirty years of Spain and Portugal’s integration with the European Union; the impact of the Reformation in the era of Emperor Charles V and his stance on Protestantism, and its impact on Europe now, coinciding with 500 years since the publication of Martin Luther’s Reformist Theses; as well as relations between, and challenges facing, the European Union and Latin America in the present day. In addition, continuing Campus Yuste’s work on analysing the main challenges facing the European Union, this year will see an analysis of the role of Europe in terms of migratory movements, the European Union’s role in the world, and its relations with other global powers, including Ibero-America.

Pre-register for the courses here: https://www.fundacionyuste.org/campus-yuste/inscripcion/

OTHER COURSES

The Campus Yuste summer programme will finish with a doctoral seminar bringing researchers to Yuste who have received Research and Mobility Grants in European Studies Carlos V European Award – Sofia Corradi – Mamma Erasmus, who for three years have examined the theme ‘Peace and European values as a potential model of integration and progress in a global world’. This seminar will also be sponsored by AEXCID.
Courses will continue in October with two more workshops which will look into the financial and migratory crises that have hit Europe; and the role of the media as a tool to safeguard liberties and human rights, and its role as a speaker for the challenges facing institutions. In November there will be a workshop looking into the need to mainstream a gender-based approach at all levels of society to fight to change equality of rights and opportunities, and fight against violence and discrimination suffered by women.

CAMPUS YUSTE

The Campus Yuste programme puts on specialist courses and meetings aimed at encouraging debate and reflection in university students, researchers, and professionals, on the process of European construction and integration, as well as current issues in Europe and other themes related to the history and memory of Europe and the founding principles of the foundation. This is all examined from a multidisciplinary perspective and in the unique setting of the Royal Monastery of Yuste, which facilitates contact and exchange between students and speakers sharing their reflections with subject experts and first-rate academic, political, and social personalities, making this ultimately a space for reflection, thought, culture, and science.

© European Commission

The Encounters event will offer a multi-disciplinary perspective of current transitions in progress, mainly in Ibero-America, and experiences of transitions to democracy in light of new global challenges.

The European Academy of Yuste Foundation is opening its programme of educational activities with the 8th edition of the “Transition Encounters” with the title “The lengthy process of European integration (1982-1996). The annual conference held at Yuste aims to take stock of how perceptions of the transition have changed over time to the present day in Spain, Europe, and the world. The course will take place from 30-31 March, with the first day being held at the Royal Monastery of Yuste and the second at the School of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Extremadura, at its Cáceres campus.

The course will reflect on the decade of the 1980s being one of the most turbulent periods of Spain’s recent history, and from there will analyse the period from a historical and multi-disciplinary perspective. Significant social, economic, cultural, and political milestones took place throughout these years, allowing the consolidation of the democratic process in Spain, which had just approved a new constitution. Some of these events were: growing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union; the fall of the Berlin wall, and developments in the European Communities which were at the time turning their gaze towards the south. This last development is one of the main themes to be debated in the year commemorating 60 years since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, and 25 years since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, or the Treaty on European Union.

This will be the first year we will examine not only Spanish transition, but also current transitions in progress, paying particular attention to those in Ibero-America, and to how experiences of transitions to democracy can help us tackle the challenges of an increasingly uncertain future in light of major global challenges.

The Encounters will also examine the process of Spain’s membership to the Council of Europe 40 years ago, which was a key milestone for cultural development and the advancement of human rights in Spain.

Speakers at the event include Anna Bosch, TVE journalist; Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, Ex-President of the Regional Government of Extremadura and member of the European Academy of Yuste Foundation; Pilar Barraca, from the Sub-Directorate General for the Protection of Historical Heritage for the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport; Alejandro Cercas, Ex-MEP; Susanne Gratius, researcher for the Foundation for International Relations and Foreign Dialogue (FRIDE), and  University of Extremadura professors Enrique Moradiellos and Mario Díaz Barrado, with the latter being in charge of managing the Encounters.

There are a limited number of spaces available on the course, and places will be allocated to students on a first come, first served basis. It is free to register and you can sign up on the Foundation’s website: www.fundacionyuste.org

The “Transition Encounters” are organised by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation, the University of Extremadura and the King Juan Carlos University, with additional support from Histipres Research groups, CRINI y FRAMESPA, the Extremaduran Centre for Study and Cooperation with Ibero-America (CEXECI), the European Union’s European Fund for Regional Development, the University of Nantes, the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, the University of Almería, National Heritage, and the Spanish Government’s Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport.

The European Academy of Yuste Foundation has started its course entitled ‘Hispanic kingdoms from Fernando the Catholic to Carlos V: European and American political and cultural projection’. It explores, amongst other themes: the consequences and repercussions of the last testament of Fernando the Catholic, signed in the Extremaduran town of Madrigalejo in 1516; his grandson, Carlos I’s governing of Hispanic kingdoms that same year; and the latter’s coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in 1520. These were the events which led to the union between Europe and the New World when the Emperor inherited the rights to the Indies. The course also covers political inequalities in Spanish kingdoms during the transformation of Western Europe; the Empire’s governance of the New World; and cultural influences and relationships in the Spanish American Empire.

Rosa María Martínez de Codes, Professor of American History at Madrid Complutense University and course director took part in the opening, as well as Miguel Ángel Martín Ramos, the Foundation’s delegate for European Affairs in Brussels, who explained that the course was one of the events planned for the commemoration of the death of Fernando the Catholic in Madrigalejo organised by the town hall. The course, he said, “examines a historical period in which Spain, Europe and the New World united”. He added how this was important because it “reminds us of the Emperor, teaches us about history and his values, and brings him closer to today’s society”. Martín Ramos went on to explain how one of the objectives of the Foundation, located at the Monastery of Yuste where Carlos V died, is “to promote European initiatives and values”.

The University of Extremadura’s Vice-Chancellor, Maribel López, said that the courses put on by the University and the Foundation “honour” the spirit of Extremadura because “we are interested in European projection, to border countries such as Portugal, and to America”. The Vice-Chancellor urged students “to be critical and to provoke” so that teachers can see subjects in a new light: it results in “us all constructing a European citizenship together, based on knowledge and culture: it’s a way we can advance and all become better citizens”.

The Prior of the Royal Monastery of Yuste, Padre Pablo Stepkowski, discussed the Hungarian Pauline Order’s confirmation of evidence linking their Order, Saint Paul the Hermit, with the “evangelisation of the New World”: proof found in a letter kept in the Lisbon public archive with a request from Queen Isabel I of Castille to the Hungarian Hermit General, Tomás Szombathelyi, to send “new religious workers” to the New World.

The Prior added that it is a great source of pride for his Order that Carlos V’s ideas “continue to inspire new generations of teachers and students in the search for the spiritual and intellectual roots of Europe in the twenty-first century”.

Speaking at the event are: José Manuel Calderón, archivist and librarian from the Casa de Alba Foundation; Gustaaf Janssens, professor emeritus from the University of Leuven, honorary archivist of the Royal Brussels Palace archive, and European Academy of Yuste academic; Agustín Bermúdez, President of the International Institute for the History of Indian Rights; Manuela Mendonça, President of the Portuguese Academy of History and member of Yuste Academy; César Chaparro, Director of CEXECI; María José Rebollo, Doctor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Extremadura, and others.

The course has been organised by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation and the University of Extremadura, with collaboration from CEXECI (The Extremaduran Centre for Study and Cooperation with Ibero-America) and is being put on as part of the events planned to commemorate the fifth centenary of the death of Fernando the Catholic in Madrigalejo.

The European Foundation of Yuste Academy has given 30 grants for university students coming from Seville, Madrid Complutense, Salamanca, Oviedo, Alicante, Extremadura, Malaga, and Santiago de Compostela Universities.