Formation 2010 Region served Europe | Headquarters Vienna President Philipp Depisch | |
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Type Non-governmental organization Purpose Central European cooperation | ||
The Initiative Pro Mitteleuropa - Middleeuropean Initiative (in short "IPM") is an international NGO, based in Vienna. President of IPM is Philipp Depisch from Austria.
Contents
History
The foundation took place in Vienna on Nov. 20th 2010 and was supported among others by Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz.
On January 12, 2012 IPM was a co - organizer of a Central European - Russian dialogue forum, which was attended by representatives from 14 states. Among the speakers: Erhard Busek, coordinator of the South-Eastern Cooperative Initiative (SECI) and Alexander Babakov, former Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma.
From Aug. 23rd to Aug. 25th 2013 IPM International and IPM Slovenia conducted the first "local event" of YEPP together with the "Youth of the Slovenian Democratic Party" (SDM) in Ptuj/Slovenia. There the participants from Hungary, Austria and Slovenia discussed the topic of youth employment.
IPM again co-hosted a large international conference on July 2, 2014 in Vienna. 110 guests from 16 nations discussed the issue of "European natural gas and energy policy". Among the panel speakers: Hungarian vice minister for foreign affairs Péter Szijjártó, deputy director of the Russian energy agency Leonid Grigoriev and Vassil Todorv, president of the Bulgarian chamber of commerce. On the margins of the conference Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary made a declaration of intention to intensify the cooperation among the areas of economy and energy.
IPM completed its focus on "Energy" in 2014 with a conference in Fürstenfeld/Austria on Oct. 10th. Among the participants: Dr. Reinhold Lopatka M.P. chief whip of the Austrian People's Party, Franz Majcen, President of the Styrian Parliament and Wolfgang Neumann, initiator of Energy Globe Award. The conference was preceded by an article of Austria's second largest newspaper Kleine Zeitung, introducing IPM and its president.
Nine months later on April 23, 2016 IPM celebrated its five-year anniversary in Klosterneuburg together with Johannes Schmuckenschlager, president of the Austrian winegrower federation.
Together with DEMYC the Middleeuropean Initiative conducted an international congress on "Migration - Challenges and Opportunities" on July 2016 in Graz/Austria including almost 70 participants from 20 different countries (among others Armenia, Irak, Israel, Russia, Ukraine). During this congress both organisations adopted a joint resolution against a possible membership of Turkey in the European Union.
General meeting and elections again took place on March 11th 2017 in the Austrian Parliament. During this event the "Middle-Europe-Award" was introduced. With this IPM wants to award special peoople who have gained earnings to the European peace project.
Self-image and structure
The IPM sees itself as a "network platform", sets up environmental priorities and supports events in the fields of politics, culture and sports. Along with the main board there are national branches in Germany, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. The main board is based in Vienna.