A two-week intensive seminar on the European Union finishes today at the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG), in the southwestern town of Blagoevgrad.

The seminar targeted middle level civil servants involved in the implementation of European legislation. It also looked at European Integration activities as a part of the pre-accession efforts of the EU candidate countries from the larger Southeast European region.

The range of topics covered the political, socio-cultural, legal, and institutional aspects of European integration. It also focused on the EU internal market, competition policy, justice and home affairs, among other policies.

"Our main purpose is to provide officials with an insight of the main policies of EU as a part of the preparation for membership with a practical approach," said professor Jorg Monar from the University of Sussex, UK. According to him, the biggest problem of candidate countries was to catch up with the legal measures which they must implement.

The group of civil servants participating in the project included 40 Bulgarians and 20 people from Croatia, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Macedonia. Mimi Yotova, a trainer in European integration from the Institute for Public Administration and European Integration, found the seminar extremely helpful because of its focus was on a specific target group.

"Institutions like ours do not have many possibilities for such education," she said. Yotova found the 15 lecturers to be well educated and with great practical experience. No one had done something on such a level before, she said, and expressed hope that this initiative would continue in the future.

The event was organized by AUBG, the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium, the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, and the Institute for Public Administration and European Integration in Bulgaria. The British Embassy, the EU PHARE program, and the Delegation of the European Commission in Bulgaria were sponsors.