By the end of January 2023, it will be final: the Strasburg office of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) will close its doors. This is a decisive cut for education as the Strasburg office has traditionally been the one responsible for this field. The two staff members currently located in Strasburg will end their work for CEC. It remains unclear at this moment to which extent the topic of education will be part of CEC’s portfolio in the future. The closing of the Strasburg office is part of a larger restructuration process undertaken by CEC. Further decisions are expected to be made by the General Assembly, coming together in Tallin on 14 – 20 June 2023.

In the past three years, an important task of the Strasburg office was the coordination and the support of two Thematic groups, one of them on ‘education, democracy and diversity’. These groups are now also coming to an early end.

Read more about the reflections of the Thematic group on education.

Furthermore, the staff of the Strasburg office has been responsible for taking part in activities and groups of the Council of Europe. There, CEC is registered as NGO and has an observatory status in the education committee. Only last year, Sören Lenz, CEC executive secretary in Strasburg, initiated a new committee on interreligious and interconvictional dialogue, which has been focusing on education programmes in this area.

Read more about the Committee on interreligious and interconvictional dialogue.

How the Brussels office of CEC can continue this important work of interest representation remains to be seen. ICCS and other organisations in partnership with CEC, which are working in the field of education, seek contact with those responsible for the restructuration to discuss future possibilities.