EurActiv marks Enlargement with special coverage and launch of partner portals in new EU countries

EurActiv.com also carries special interviews with leading personalities, including  Bernard Giraud, Executive Director of CSR Europe, on enlargement and CSR;  Henryka Bochniarz, President of the Polish Employers' Federation, on the future of the Lisbon process after enlargement; Pavol Rusko,  Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic and Chairman of a liberal party in government on Slovakia's approach; Professor  Jaak Aviksoo,  former Minister of Education of Estonia, on the educational implications of enlargement for a new Member State;  George Vassiliou,  Cyprus' EU Chief Negotiator and former President of Cyprus, on the island's post-enlargement prospects; and MEP Philip Bradbourn on the Trans-European Networks.

As part of Enlargement, EurActiv.com is also partnering with six national organisations launching EurActiv versions in their own languages.

EurActiv's   Hungarian partner publication ( www.euractiv.hu ), launched in co-operation with Bruxinfo, has been online since January 2004.

The Slovak-language version, at  www.euractiv.sk , went online in September 2003 and was officially launched in March 2004.

The new Czech-language portal, at  www.euractiv.cz, was opened on 3 May 2004. It is published by the Slovak i-Europa group, which is also in charge of the Slovak language version. 

"After very good experiences with EurActiv.sk in Slovakia,we have decided to launch the Czech version. Our confidence is so strong also thanks to our partner, the Institute for European Policy (Europeum) in Prague, which is responsible for the content of EurActiv.cz", said Ivan Stefunko, the publisher of EurActiv's Czech and Slovak versions.

Three more partner publications are scheduled to go online in May:

1.        The Romanian-language version of EurActiv, at  www.euractiv.ro , is published by the Bucharest-based  Asociatia Actori Europeni. 

2.        The Slovene version, at  www.euractiv.si , is produced in cooperation with the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce. 

3.        Bulgaria 's Dnevnik Online European Perspectives, at  www.dnevnik.bg/evropa .

" Dnevnik Online is targeted at the most progressive and active part of Bulgarian society who view the process of European integration as an opportunity. Therefore  our cooperation with Eur A ctiv is a logical development for us related to our expanded coverage on EU policies " , said Editor Kristina Hristova.

"EurActiv decided right from the start to make enlargement coverage a priority, and indeed one third of our readers come from Central Europe.    We then developed a network of portal partners in the East: they each get great readership once launched, and will help make the first European elections there more relevant. Our team is proud to be at the core of renewing the EU ", according to EurActiv.com's Publisher Christophe Leclercq. 

EurActiv is extending its CrossLingual network of EU policy portals to the EU's new Member States. Under a project co-funded by Microsoft as CrossLingual sponsor and  by the Commission, EurActiv concludes partnership agreements with established media publications or NGOs in the new Member States for portals on EU policy information.

Note to the editor:  

EurActiv.com is the leading private sector portal on EU Affairs. With more than 1 million page views per month, the site is an important working instrument for the majority of EU Actors (institutions, industry federations, NGO's, think tanks, the press and others) involved in defining or influencing EU policies. 

General sponsors of the EurActiv portal are: the European Commission's eContent and IST programmes, CEPS, Microsoft, Toyota, DuPont, Honeywell and Turkey in Europe. Section sponsors of EurActiv are:  BP,  Bulgarian Mission,  Edelman , EDF,  Eucomed,  ExxonMobil,  Gallup , Hydro ,  Lockheed Martin, Pfizer , Solvay,  Squire Sanders & Dempsey , US Mission . Plus special support from DG Education and Culture, and ERT - The European Round Table of Industrialists.  

EurActiv also has 60 "content partners" (NGOs & think tanks) as well as ca. 500 "contributors", providing their policy positions for free publication, up to the editorial team. Input welcome:  editor@euractiv.com .  

Within the CrossLingual project, EurActiv's content in three languages is available for syndication to "EU Actors"' websites and intranets. Central and Eastern European partners have also started translating and localising EurActiv news for their national audiences. The CrossLingual project is supported by Microsoft Europe and the eContent programme of the European Commission, DG Information Society. It is prepared in cooperation with Systran, DB Scape, Telelingua, the Centre of European Policy Studies, the International Federation of Journalists and seven policy portals in Central and Eastern Europe.  

EurActiv policy sections are open to further sponsoring, either by corporations wishing to enhance their reputation as constructive EU Actors, or by service providers conveying their specific expertise. For more, see  www.euractiv.com/en/sponsors .