Dear colleagues

A further reminder to colleagues of the forthcoming EIA/EIPA 
Conference 'Keep ahead with European information 2', which will 
take place in Maastricht on 22-23 November 1999.

As a result of the changes in the Commission during this year 
there have been a few changes to the programme:

The keynote speech on Monday 22 November 1999 will now be 
given by Mary Preston from the Secretariat General of the 
European Commission, who will talk about the overall direction of, 
and emphasis on, information, openness and transparency in the 
new Prodi Commission. She will also discuss some of the specific 
initiatives she is responsible for in connection with access to 
documents and information about funding from the EU.

Then in a dual slot we have two speakers who will talk about 
aspects of disseminating information about EU activities: first of all, 
Reijo Kemppinen, the Information and Press Officer from the 
Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU, will discuss the 
information strategy of the current Finnish Presidency, including its 
impressive and significant Presidency website. Then, Geoff Meade, 
the Head of Office at The Press Association in Brussels, will talk 
from the perspective of the journalist. Many of us have found Geoff's 
articles in European Voice over the years very observant and wise 
but also very humorous, and we look forward to his talk to the 
conference.

The final speaker in the morning of 22 November 1999 will be 
myself  - I will be talking about the new web-based information 
product Know Europe, which will be officially launched in Brussels  
on 24 November 1999 - and, hopefully, giving a practical preview 
demonstration.

After lunch we have a session where three people responsible for 
information matters in Directorates-General of the European 
Commission will talk about the information policies of their 
departments: Georges Katzourakis from the DG for Employment 
and Social Affairs; Jens-Nymand-Christensen from the DG for 
Health and Consumer Protection and Styliani Zeroundaki from the 
DG for Agriculture.

To end the first day of the conference we have Frans-Jan 
Mulschlegel, the Documentalist from the newly established EU 
agency EUROPOL (European Police Office), to discuss the work of 
the agency its information strategy.

On Tuesday 23 November 1999 we have three speakers talking on 
key topics: Marlene Cattelain, responsible for the Management and 
Development of the EUROPA site, will discuss the future 
development of EUROPA; Philippe Lebaube, the Head of Unit' 
Electronic Publishing and Internet Dissemination at the Office for 
Official Publications, will speak on `EUR-LEX - future challenges' 
and finally, Eva Sodomova, Deputy Head of Information at the 
Council of Europe will talk about the information policy of that 
organisation.

Altogether we think we have planned an extremely strong, 
stimulating and valuable programme and hope to see many of you 
there in the efficient, friendly and relaxed Maastricht environment.

Further details of the conference can be accessed on EIPA 
webpage at:

http://www.eipa.nl/activities/99/11101/

Best wishes

Ian



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Ian Thomson                      Tel: 44-(0)29-2087-4262
European Documentation Centre    Fax: 44-(0)29-2022-9740
Cardiff University               E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
PO Box 430
Cardiff CF10 3XT
United Kingdom

Manager, European Documentation Centre, Cardiff University
Information Consultant, Wales Euro Info Centre (WEIC)
Editor, European Access
President, European Information Association
Chairman, UK European Documentation Centres

Creator of `Europe on the Internet':
http://www.europeanaccess.co.uk
See also: http://www.knoweurope.net
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