Sunday, February 27, 2005

My "non-business card"

ex-Newsboy

ex-Business School teacher

ex-Owner of travel agency

ex-Head of EU’s office in Denmark

ex-Director of Communications in the Commission

Now a FREE man - with an appetite for new exciting challenges

And certainly available for social functions

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

35 Avenue de l'Europe, B-1330 Rixensart, Belgium

Tel 00 32 2 652 0812 - GSM 00 32 474 747 040

E-mail niels@skynet.be - Blog http://kimbrer.blogspot.com

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Interview: UNDERSTAND EUROPE

UNDERSTAND EUROPE

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen will never finish communicating the never finished European project, but from March 1 it will be as a private person after 32 year on important positions in the EU

He comes early and goes home late. If some people think that EU officials get a very high salary, then it is true. But about Niels Jørgen Thøgersen one can say that his average salary per hour has been significantly reduced by the many hours, which he throughout 32 years has put into the European project. Now he wants to stop – on February 28 he will leave. That’s the end of being a full-time official, but it is not the end of being a fully committed European with a permanent drive to communicate about the Union, its tasks, the ideas behind it, the project.

The music has been booked for Feb. 28 at the end of the day. Then one of the first (and greatest) Danish contributions to the European institutions will go home from the Berlaymont building as ex-director for lots of communication activities, and he looks very happy about it during the good-bye interview. He does not hide that he was very happy when one of the collaborators of communication Commissioner Margot Wallström asked: “Why in the hell are you leaving NOW?!”

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen’s reply was that he now has finalised his most important projects. The EU has come closer to the citizen, and if anybody says that the EU is far away he replies that the EU is never further away than the nearest telephone:

00800 6 7 8 9 10 11 gives answers on all official languages. This service is called EUROPE DIRECT and is free of charge from any of the 25 member states.

He is very proud of many of the obtained results, f.ex. “Europe by Satellite” and the EUROPA server, but most proud of the telephone, which moved the Union closer to the citizens than anybody had imagined.

A private person, but active for the EU

Q: You leave at a moment when many people say that the mood in the Commission is worse than ever before?

A: I do not feel it that way…. It is a very positive experience that the new member states have entered the EU. New colleagues, who are very well trained and very motivated have influenced the climate very positively. But it is clear that the fall of the Santer Commission started a range of internal reforms….

Q: - which made it all more bureaucratic?

A: Perhaps there is now a mood .. a belief that people want to cheat and therefore it is necessary to keep an eye on them at all times. In my view we have gone too much in the direction of control and not enough based the work on confidence

Q: So it is now more troublesome for the officials?

A: Yes – but this is not why I leave now – if that is what you are fishing for…..

Q: Ok – then why?

A: Because I want to live the second half of my life more intensely and also because it became possible in connection with my 60 years birthday on January 22. And because – as I already said – I have finalised my most important projects.

Q: Are you really able to stay in-active in a period, when the next referendum in Denmark is approaching?

A: It is not sure that I will be quiet. Now I will have more time to look at the substance in many areas – and more time to do things and give my contribution as a private citizen

Q: Concrete plans?

A: No. But I am always stimulated by the debate, so I expect to be very active, especially if I hear or see people spreading false and incorrect information.

About loving the European Union

Q: You leave exactly at the moment Swedish Margot Wallström as the Commission’s Vice-President wants to give the Commission a new profile?

A: Yes. I am convinced that she is very strong and that she can do it. It is great to see that all the plans she so far has put forward are in line with what I have been working for. She wants to communicate, not only to inform. She wants to listen. She represents the good communication.

Q: What is this?

A: To talk with people about topics which are relevant for them.

Q: She has also written a book, where she explains why it is not possible to make people love the EU. Isn’t that what you have tried for 32 years?

A: To love the EU is a political matter. I and my colleagues have tried to make them understand the EU. To make people understand that the EU is a continuous process – a process which makes the EU new and different every day. You will never finish communicating Europe – and I will never fish communicating it.

Q: So if I give this interview the headline “Understand Europe”?

A: That’s fine. My wish is that the lasting result of my work is that more and more people understand the EU

Q: They probably also do so because we today have much more available information about the EU than in March 1973, when you started as head of the Commission’s information office in Copenhagen? 10, 100 or a thousand times more?

A: Yes, thousand times more. At that time we were happy, if we managed to produce a brochure or a magazine

Q: Who created the real Openness in the EU?

A: Sweden

Q: Not the Danish No to Maastricht in 1992?

A: I don’t remember it that way. The Swedish membership gave it the real push. Denmark contributed

The weight of Europe and the world

Q: If we look at other areas than your work with the media and with communication, what is then the political development, which over the years has been most positive seen by an old “European” like you?

A: The weight and importance of Europe. We are now on the political map with our common European values – our influence has increased a lot since the time we were 9, 12, 15 and now 25. It is our common policy towards the outside world I am talking about – and in many areas such as foreign policy, environment, etc. We are a magnetic attraction for the countries around us. This shows in my view that we have not been totally wrong in what we are doing.

Q: And if we talk about disappointments during your years?

A: My biggest disappointment clearly is that the debate on the EU in Denmark is as if we still live in 1972.

Q: Who’s fault is that?

A: Everybody’s

Q: Has it been a problem for you personally as a European official that Denmark has been and is a member state outside several important EU activities?

A: No. But I find it regrettable

Q: Giving difficulties for Danish EU officials?

A: Some Danish colleagues here think so. But I don’t. The only occasion where my Danish passport played a role was at my daily morning meeting right after the Danish no in 1992. More colleagues than my whole own staff turned up, because they wanted to see, if I could explain the result!

Jacques Delors and Gundelach

At the question who the Danish official has seen as the best Commission President and the best Danish Commissioner the replies come swiftly.

A: Jacques Delors had visions and was able to communicate them

Q: But he was the man, whom people in Denmark (and the prime minister) called a European official – to mark the distance?

A: Yes, I think so

Q: And the Danish member of the Commission……

A: Finn Gundelach – not because he was the Commissioner who hired me – but because je was a master in everything here, and he was very active in the Danish debate

Q: The later Danish Commissioners have not done that?

A: Yes, Henning Christophersen did it too – to be honest

Q: The EuroBarometer with opinion polls from all over the EU is still one of your areas of responsibility. What does the Barometer show today?

A: That nice weather is on its way – hopefully not because I leave, but because Margot Wallström sees it as her key task to make us Understand Europe. Let’s say that a high pressure is approaching Brussels – and I am very happy about that.

Q: Also because you and your family stay in Brussels?

A: Yes – efter 17 years HOME is here.

Interview by: journalist Poul Smidt

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Kimbrerne: Who are we?

THE CIMBRIANS

Who were they? Who are we?

“Kimbrer” is what I am. Or “Cimbrian” in English. What is that? Where did they come from? And where are they/we now? Listen:

A “Cymbrian” belongs to a very brave and energetic tribe in the north of Denmark. From the part of Jutland called Himmerland – or rather “Kimbrerland”. Our first appearance are traced back to several centuries before year 0. While the Romans grew stronger in the south of Europe we Cimbrians grew bigger and stronger up north. Our symbol was – and is – a BULL. A strong one!

One sunny day – about 105 B.C. – our chief Cimbrian declared: “Let’s conquer Rome!!” Off we went – thousands of us. Heading south. With men, warriors, women, children, animals, equipment – and a strong will. A colourful crowd, which got bigger and stronger and more determined as we approached the Romans. One Roman Legion after the other was beaten up and destroyed. In the Gallic area (now France), in the south of Germany and Austria. The Roman Empire was in panic! Also when they saw our Cimbrian warriors use their shields as huge sledges down the Alps! When the Cymbrian approached Rome from the north the last Roman legion under the command of Marius did nothing. It let the thousands and thousands of Cimbrians pass. And the Romans were especially uneasy, when the Cimbrian worriors shouted at the passive Roman soldiers: “We will say hello to your wives in Rome, when we get there”!

But victories without defeats: all of a sudden the mean Romans attack from the back – where all the women and the children were. Thousands were tortured and killed. The Cimbrians were in total panic, and on that day – 101 B.C. – the Cimbrians were totally defeated. Rome was saved.

Only a few thousand Cimbrians managed to escape. Up north into the Dolomites! And they are still there – or rather their descendants! About 70.000 of them – with fair hair, blue eyes and a language which certainly has direct links back to the language of the Cimbrians at the time. The place – about 50 km north of Verona – is called Ljetzan (or Giazza in Italian). I visited Ljetzan in April 2004. A beautiful place in a beautiful nature. And with a very nice Cimbri Museum – telling this story.

Have a look at this site: www.rcvr.org/cittaepr/cimbri/welcome

Living history. Visit Himmerland (see: www.europe-today.com/denmark/himmerl.html ) - and Ljetzan!

PS: A thousand years later many of the strongest VIKINGS sailed from Himmerland to conquer England and Normady. The descendants of the Cimbrians!

Niels Jørgen: a 21st – February 19, 2004

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Niels Jorgen Thogersen's CV (English)

CURRICULUM VITAE

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

Born:

22nd January, 1945 in Grynderup, Denmark

Education:

1970, Political Science at the University of Aarhus, Denmark

Studies at universities in the U.S., Germany and the U.K.

Special fields:

Communication; Media; European affairs; East European and Soviet affairs; international organisations

Occupation:

1967-70

Teacher of Social Sciences in Herning, Denmark.

1970-73

Assistant Professor in European Studies at the "Aarhus School of Business Administration and Modern Languages", Denmark

1971-72

Campaign leader for the referendum on Danish entry into the EC

1973-88

Head of the Copenhagen Office of the European Commission responsible for Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland

Developing the Office; creating communication instruments such as Team Europe, Relays, school activities, etc Running campaigns such as the campaign for The Single Act

September 1988

Director of Information in the European Commission, Brussels

Responsible for the Offices in the Member States and for information outside the EU

Reform of the Information Offices

March 1994

Director of Communication, European Commission, Brussels

Creating the Commission's Internet Site EUROPA; Intranet site EUROPAplus; TV agency "Europe by Satellite"; relays "Info Point Europe"

Also responsible for the EU's relations with Sports organisations

August 1997

Director of Communication, European Commission, Brussels

Also responsible for EXPO 98 in Lisbon and EXPO 2000 in Hanover

March 2000

Responsible for "Dialogue on Europe" - a political debate across frontiers on the future of Europe, especially related to the IGC, enlargement, etc.

February 2001

Responsible for the European Commission's participation in "The Future of Europe" operation (large scale debates, Web Portal, etc.)

Also responsible for part of the "European Governance" activity

April 2001

Director of Communications, Media and Services, European Commission, Brussels

March 2005

Independent consultant in communication, media, democracy, and European affairs

Languages:

Danish and other Scandinavian languages, English, French, German

Publications:

"Yes or No to the EC?" (Danish) 1971

"The European Community: Alphabetical Dictionary" (Danish) 1974

"Politics Today" (Danish) 1978 and 1986

"700 Words about the Community" (Danish) 1987

Numerous publications of articles on European affairs and on communication

Organisations:

No party political affiliations

Memberships:

"International Public Relations Association"

"International Round Table of Public Information Directors"

“Club de Venise” (Directors of Information and Communication of the Member States of the European Union)

Private hobbies:

Politics; History; European Affairs; Modern Communication; Media; Genealogy; Music; Travels

Address:

35, avenue de l’Europe

B-1330 Rixensart, Belgium

Tel. 00322 652 0812

Mobile : 0032 498 999 099

e-mail : niels@skynet.be

February 2, 2005