Foreword by Carla van Baalen
November 2010
"Dear fellow members and colleagues,
As the New Year approaches, I think the time may be right to look back on past initiatives and suggest a few ideas for the future:
Past initiatives
EuParl.net started out in 2007 with four members and has in the mean time developed into a network of research organizations from 13 European countries.
What has been done so far?
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-Four working conferences were held, two in The Hague, one in Berlin and in London.
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-Four full meetings took place: in Athens and Tangermünde in 2008 and twice in Berlin in 2009 and 2010. These conferences were organized by one of the EuParl.net members with active contributions (speakers, moderators) from other partners.
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-In September of this year the first combined research project was lifted off by Dr. Andreas Biefang and Dr. Marij Leenders (KGParl, Berlin and MI, The Hague). It concerns a project about Erich Salomon (1886-1944) as parliamentary photographer in Berlin and The Hague in the period 1918-1940; a comparison of the public sphere and the visual culture in the Netherlands and Germany.
Some suggestions for the future
To ensure continuity and to turn EuParl.net into a successful and thriving network over time, it is in my opinion first of all necessary to hire a professional coordinator (preferably a parliamentary historian, and initially for a about one day a week). Since we are all fully occupied with other responsibilities, he/she will be put in charge of some important practical matters concerning the implementation and coordination of Euparlnet activities, such as
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1.the organization of working conferences by the Euparlnet board;
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2.the (co-)organization of symposia, conferences and possibly even ‘summer schools’;
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3.coordination of, and editorial work on publications that result from the conferences and/or other meetings;
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4.the solid formulation of joint research plans for which funding can be sought from ‘Brussels’.
The big question is, of course, who is going to pay for such a Euparlnet coordinator?
One possibility would be that we all ‘chip in’, so to speak, that is, that each institute would contribute a sum to pay for the coordinator. A better option, in my opinion, would be to apply for funding directly from the EU. Apart from the fact that it would save us all money, it would have the distinct advantage to find out whether ‘Brussels’ would be interested in the kind of research we have in mind. Obviously, such a request for financial support would have to be accompanied by a sound and convincing motivation of the importance of a European-wide coordination of research projects in the field of parliamentary history. In brief, ‘Brussels’ would have to be convinced of the importance of the ‘Euparlnetwork’ and its efforts to set up joint projects.
Assuming that you share my views, I would like to ask for your help to come up with ideas on the subject. I think we all agree that there exists an European interest in furthering the general (and even specific) knowledge about the historical development of our respective democratic political systems and organizations. In the extraordinarily complicated political entity of a divided and yet joint Europe, it is obvious that such knowledge would help to clarify, and thus further understand our common roots, national differences and shared (or diverse) ambitions.
As I know from the working conferences, many of us have exciting ideas on joint projects on a variety of aspects involving European parliamentary history. In order to take stock of these ideas and mould them into a proposal with which we could then apply for funding in ‘Brussels’, I’d like you to ‘outline’ them and send them to me. Please note that it is not (yet) necessary to formulate these research proposals in full detail (although, if you have them lying around, they are, of course, welcome), but merely to provide a rough draft on what you have in mind. If necessary, I’ll contact you for more details. Depending on your reactions, I will then make an inventory of the proposals and write a corresponding draft for a funding request directed at ‘Brussels’.
I hope to hear from you before 15 January 2011.
For now, I wish you all pleasant Christmas holidays and a good start in the New Year!
Yours sincerely,
Carla van Baalen"