March 14, 2024 – 🏆 Launch of the Prize of the Consular Corps of the Province of Namur: A New Era of Academic Diplomacy ✨

The Consular Corps of the Province of Namur has officially launched the first edition of the Consular Corps Prize 🎉. This initiative, born from our collaboration with the Department of Political, Social and Communication Sciences of the University of Namur , underlines our desire to promote the interest of our young students 🎓 in diplomatic functions in particular linked to the role and missions of the FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation .

The Consular Corps Prize will be awarded for work completed within the framework of the Introduction to Diplomacy course. This course illustrates the pedagogical innovation of our academic partner and underscores the importance of training future diplomats from the very beginning of their academic careers.

The winner, announced at our conference in 2025, will benefit from an exceptional opportunity: to join the Consular Corps and participate in its activities for a year 🤝. This immersive experience will offer the winner privileged access to the world of diplomacy, enriching their academic and professional career.

This announcement concluded the conference of March 14, 2024, where the Consular Corps of the Province of Namur , with the University of Namur , UCLouvain - Catholic University of Louvain , and Infor Jeunes , welcomed Didier Reynders 🇪🇺.

More than 350 participants came to discuss with the Commissioner for Justice, European Commission , the European challenges 2024 - #Climate 🌱, #Democracy & Rule of Law ⚖️ as well as the enlargement of the European Union (EU) 🇪🇺.

Thanks to Rector Annick Castiaux, PhD , and to Mr. Governor of the Province of Namur , Denis Mathen , Honorary President of the Consular Corps of the Province of Namur, who brilliantly introduced the subject and the speaker.

The objective was to focus on the issues for first-time voters 🗳️, all those who will have the chance to go to the polls for the first time on June 9, with the particularity of including, for the first time in the history of our democracy, young people aged 16 and 17 who will be able to participate in the election of our representatives to the European Parliament 🇪🇺:

👥 Human Rights and Rule of Law

💼 Economic and Social Justice

🌍 Climate Change and Justice

📚 Education

The conference hosted by François-Xavier Fievez and the interactive votes via Wooclap made it possible to identify the major concerns regarding European policy:

👉 climate issues

👉 international politics

👉 training and education issues

Thank you to all participants, speakers, and partners for your commitment. Together, we are building the future of diplomacy and education 🚀. Stay tuned for the announcement of our winner in 2025!

Here is the speech given on this occasion by our President Magali Dugardin:

When I prepared this speech, which was short, I began, as is customary, by writing the formal greetings.

And certainly, protocol is important, in diplomacy as elsewhere, because it establishes a commonly accepted and shared framework. It promotes social cohesion in human interactions. It helps maintain a respectful environment where everyone feels valued and taken into account. That's no small thing!

But there you have it! As I conclude this conference, I want to rewrite this protocol. Just rewrite it. Starting by thanking you, the young people, you who came in such large numbers, to inform yourselves, to equip yourselves to exercise this fundamental right that is the right to vote, an intrinsic characteristic of democracies and states governed by the rule of law.

I am proud of you, we are proud of you.

We have confidence in you and in the way you will continue to build and evolve our society around shared values that allow us to live together, inclusively, with the highest common denominator as our goal.

Because, today, there is a great temptation to fall into simplistic approaches, communitarian visions which make us define ourselves against each other, where we exclude, where individualism and particularism make us lose common sense and prevent the implementation of essential solutions to meet the major issues, I would even say, the challenges we face.

We wanted to focus on the issues for first-time voters, all those who will have the chance to go to the polls for the first time on June 9, with the particularity of including, for the first time in the history of our democracy, young people aged 16 and 17 who will be able to participate in the election of our representatives to the European Parliament.

👥 Human Rights and Rule of Law

💼 Economic and Social Justice

🌍 Climate Change and Justice

📚 Education

These are, among other things, the major issues, for them, as for us, the oldest, accustomed to an exercise in democracy whose meaning and value we sometimes forget.

So, Mr. European Commissioner for Justice, thank you for taking the time to speak to us. For shedding light on these major issues:

Democracy and the rule of law as we feel the pressure from the extremes growing and have moved from a state of tension on the international scene to a state of conflict, including on the doorstep of the European Union

The enlargement of this European Union, created to be a vector of peace, stability and economic and social development, to which is added today the urgency of integrating climate and environmental dimensions at all levels of our national, European and international policies.

Excellencies; Madam and Gentlemen Ambassadors, Mr. Governor of the Province of Namur, Honorary President of our Consular Corps, Mr. President of the Provincial Council, Mr. President of the Board of Directors of the University of Namur, dear Honorary Consul Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen in your capacities, thank you for supporting this initiative with your presence.

Madam Rector of the University of Namur, Yes, you're only just arriving now, another breach of protocol. Thank you for the trust you've shown us, which allows our Consular Corps to develop this partnership with your University. This partnership is part of our academic diplomacy missions, and it's up to us to play our role as facilitators and open our networks to you.

Thank you to the entire organizing team at the University of Namur, in collaboration with those at the Catholic University of Louvain and Infor Jeunes, for the quality of this event. I won't name any names, but everyone will recognize the sincerity of these thanks.

Finally, thank you to our moderator François-Xavier Fièvez, Vice-Rector for Social and Student Affairs, for the dynamic he brought to the discussions.

This collaboration with the University of Namur, with the Department of Political, Social, and Communication Sciences, is not a one-off. Last year, we organized a conference on the Status of Honorary Consuls with Professor Jérémy Dodigne.

There were about fifty of us, more than half of whom were students. This year, there are nearly 400 of us. At this rate, Jeremy, we'll have to think about the logistics for our 2025 conference!

And it is during this 2025 conference that we will present the Consular Corps of the Province of Namur prize, the first edition of which we are officially launching today.

This prize will be awarded to a first-year bachelor's student in political science based on work organized as part of the Introduction to Diplomacy course. Oh yes, did you know that the University of Namur is the only one to offer this introductory diplomacy course from the first-year bachelor's level? The terms of organization of the prize will be defined soon, but we have already decided what the winner will receive.

In addition to the public reading of his work at our 2025 conference, we will offer the Laureate the opportunity to accompany our Consular Corps and participate in its activities for a whole year.

Invitation to The Economic Diplomacy Day – our economic diplomacy event which, last year, brought together 53 foreign ambassadors, heads of post, and 300 participants from the diplomatic, economic, and institutional worlds.

Over the course of two editions, The Economic Diplomacy Day has established itself as the largest private economic diplomacy event. This year, the third edition will take place on June 2. It's already shaping up to be a very promising event.

The winner will also be invited to the Ambassadors' luncheon hosted by the Governor of the Province of Namur at the Provincial Palace on the third Saturday of September, as part of the Wallonia Festival. More than 70 Ambassadors will attend in 2023.

She or he will have the opportunity to participate in our other events, our General Assembly, and meetings with our twinned consular corps, two so far – the Association of Honorary Consuls of the Quebec Region and that of Hauts-de-France.

So it's more than just money we want to offer. It's time, attention, and the openness of our networks.

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is high time for me to conclude by wishing you an excellent evening and hoping that, in the aftermath of the June 9 elections, there will be only two winners: democracy and the rule of law.