JEAN MONNET SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

In his written statement, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis stated that the programme established in 1989 by the agreement between Turkey and the European Commission, was one of the most colourful and exciting dimensions of Turkey-EU relations and was a very special programme aiming to train EU specialists from every section of the society.

Bagis stated that, in the direction of this goal, about 1180 people consisting of civil servants, private sector representatives, college students, academicians, representatives of non-governmental organisations and local administration officials had the opportunity to specialise in EU related issues and served the country for 20 years and would continue to do so.

Bagis stating that human force trained in EU acquis was one of the most important priorities of Turkey in the negotiation process said the adoption of the EU legislation was a process of radical change involving different sections of the society.

Stating that a new Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme was announced when Turkey was passing through an important period in the accession process, Bagis said during 2010-2011 Academic Year about 100 scholarships would be granted under the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme which was open to everyone working at different sectors such as the public agencies, private companies, universities and NGOs and intended to be specialised in EU acquis.

Bagis pointed that the accession process would be understood more correctly as the number of persons in Turkey specialised on subjects related to the EU increased and said "the Scholarship recipients, beyond everything, will be the flag carriers of the objective of reaching to the level of contemporary civilization set by the Great Ataturk."

Bagis, in that respect, invited young people from different sectors such as the public agencies, private companies, universities and NGOs and wanted to do graduate study on EU acquis to apply for the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme the details of which were announced by the EU General Secretariat.

Source: AA