The Altiero Spinelli Institute for Federalist Studies has been organising an international seminar on the island of Ventotene for over 40 years, since 1982.This is the island off the Italian coast where Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi, authors of the Ventotene Manifesto, were confined during the Second World War.
Each year, young federalists gather here with leading experts from the European and World Federalist Movement (WFM), to explore federalist thinking on European and global issues. In 2021, the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, honored us with his participation in the seminar (see the video).
The seminar is a unique and intensive experience in European and Federalist studies, making it the most important federalist seminar in Europe and the world. At least one session of the international seminar is dedicated to global issues and world federalism. There is space for 30 young applicants to the 2024 event, taking place from 1stSeptember to 6thSeptember.
The Spinelli Institute will select up to a maximum of five young participants coming from Associated Organizations and Member Organizations of WFM (from outside Europe), and has allocated a total of €3000 to be shared between the selected participants towards travel expenses as detailed below(*).
This has been funded by a grant from World Federalist Movement, Union of European Federalists Italy, Centro StudisulFederalismo, and Centro Einstein di StudiInternazionali (CESI).
All participants will receive free full board and accommodation from lunch on 1st September to lunch on 6th September (inclusive).
A deposit of €100 needs to be paid in advance by both European and non-European participants, once selected, in order to confirm their participation. The full amount of €100 will be returned to each participant at the end of the seminar, if they attend all sessions(**). Instructions for paying the deposit will be given in the notice of acceptance.
You can download the brochure here
Applicants must be 35 or younger in September 2024.
The deadline to apply to the international seminar is June 25, 2024.
In April 2022 the European Commission recognized the cultural role of Ventotene and its Manifesto, which became a common heritage of European and global citizens. In the same month, the European Parliament approved a resolution on European civic education, in which it recognised Ventotene as the historic capital of the moral and intellectual construction of European values. It is thus evident that the 2024 Ventotene international seminar offers a unique opportunity for young federalists to develop their ideas on world federalism.
_____________________
(*) The percentage to be reimbursed to each participant will be calculated in this way:
PERCENTAGE = AVAILABLE FUNDS / SUM OF THE TRAVEL COST OF THE FIVE SELECTED PARTICIPANTS
For example: if we have 5 participants (P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5) with the following travel costs:
P1 = €1500 | P2 = €500 | P3 = €1000| P4 = €2000 | P5 = €0. The sum of the total travel costs is €5000. The expenses of P5 could be funded by other organisations.
Percentage = €3000 / €5000 = 60%. Each participant will receive 60% of the travel cost.
P1 will receive €900 | P2 will receive €300 | P3 will receive €600 | P4 will receive €1200
(**) The deposit might be returned to participants who eventually will not take part in the Seminar, provided they communicate to the Altiero Spinelli Institute their impossibility to participate before 30th July.