Students from the following countries can participate in the competition: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the former Yugoslav, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

An essay competition is being sponsored by the Bank and the College of Europe for people between 19 and 25 who reside in a European country, whether students or not. Three essays selected by the judges will be published. Their winning authors will receive paid Bank internships in Paris, prizes of 2,000 or 1,000 euros, and field visits to Bank projects.

The topic:

Radically Reducing World Poverty: What Role for Europeans ?

You are free to develop your essay in the way you find most convincing. However, we would appreciate you being original, innovative and to put forward some concrete and thoughtful proposals for outlining the role of Europe and Europeans towards old and new challenges given by poverty and development worldwide. We encourage you to address this topic by taking into account different perspectives and questions, such as (the following are just ideas):

-How to mobilize people and energies to reach the Millennium Development Goals?

-What new mechanisms could be designed to finance the development and poverty eradication effort ?

-How to allocate aid and focus assistance to the poor ?

-How to encourage European countries to do more for the developing countries ?

Deadline for submissions is February 29, 2004
Website: http://www.essaycompetition.org/