The organising association


The organising association "European Citizens' Seminars e.V." was founded in Erfurt (Germany) on 7th May 2006, and registered under German law on 6th June 2006 with the number VR 2345 in the association registry of Erfurt ("Amtsgericht Erfurt").

The acronym "e.V." stands for "eingetragener Verein", means "registered association" and is the standard status for associations in Germany.

Why was the association founded in Erfurt?

Erfurt, and the German "Land" of Thuringia were chosen because of their very central position in Europe (being at less than 1 000 km from Paris, Stockholm, Warsaw and Rome), and because, since they belong to the Eastern part of Germany, they are a bridge and a transition between Eastern and Western Europe. Erfurt and Thuringia also are of great historical and cultural importance for Europe, having hosted Luther, Goethe, Liszt, Kandinsky, the Bauhaus school of design...


The role of the association is to organise the seminars. A network of active members is being set up in all the Member States of the European Union. The tasks of the association are:

  • to collectively define the issues to be discussed in the seminars, in relation with work programme of the European Commission
  • to recruit participants for each seminar across Europe
  • to participate in the on-line discussion of the issue with the participants, prior to the Seminar itself
  • to physically organise and facilitate the seminars in Erfurt
  • to disseminate and propagate the results of the seminar (the Public Policy Proposals) in the global European media and to the European institutions, as well as in each individual country.

Become a member of the organising association

The association Board

  • Jan Beddeleem: Facilitation of the seminars. Relations with sponsors and partners. Ordinary Member of the Association Board belgium@citizenseminars.eu
    Jan Beddeleem (1969) has a bachelor in social work and has been engaged in different ONG's since 1991. He was working for different organisations in the field of immigrants and asylum seekers and since 2000 he has definitely chosen to focus on citizens participation and the rights of the children. He was president of the European Alliance with Indigenous Peoples (1996-2000). He is currently working on integral youth care and as an independent consultant on participative working with large groups. He speaks Dutch, English and some French.
  • Marilena Di Stasi: Public and press relations, spokesperson. Vice-President of the association Press@CitizenSeminars.eu

    Marilena Di Stasi (1979) has a Masters in Political Science from the University of Salerno (Italy), a degree in international trade and a (forthcoming) MBA in lobbying & business representation from the United Business Institute in Brussels. She works in the cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the service in charge of international trade, of WTO negotiations and European issues. She speaks Italian, French, English and Dutch.
  • Jan Klink: Ordinary Member of the Association Board

    Jan Klink (1985) received his MSc degree in Management and Economics at the Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Together with his family he owns a dairy farm in the northern part of the Netherlands. He worked as an advisor in the European Parliament, the House of Representatives of the Netherlands and the ING. He speaks Dutch, English and some German.
  • Pedro Morgado: Treasurer of the association Finance@CitizenSeminars.eu
    Pedro Morgado (1977) is a lawyer with a Masters (Licenciatura) in Law from the Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique in Porto, and post-graduation studies in urban planning law, public municipalities law and European Banking, Insurance and Capital Markets Law. He speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish (Castellan), some French and Italian.
  • Laurent Zibell: Recruitment of and relations with the participants to the seminars. President of the association Animation@CitizenSeminars.eu.

    Laurent Zibell (1966) has an engineering and economics background (École Polytechnique, École des Mines de Paris, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), worked as an engineer, a venture capital investor and an innovation consultant and performs research in innovation economics. He has been active more than 10 years in the fields of European citizenship and democracy. He speaks French, English, German, and has some practice of Spanish, Russian and Esperanto.

The association founding Members, in addition to the Board, are the following:

  • Magdolna Csath
  • István Orbán, in charge of the moderation of the association's blogs
  • Eric Manneschmidt.

Some association members and partner organisations have the responsibility of specific geographic areas:

  • Jan Beddeleem: Belgium belgium@citizenseminars.eu
  • Dragos Buhociu: Romania romania@citizenseminars.eu

In addition, the association benefits from the collaboration of Dr. Susana del Rio Villar, Academic advisor in the fields of communication with citizens and participation.