Brussels Premiere of Europe At Sea at Bozar

There was a great atmosphere at the Bozar in Brussels on March the 9th for the first ever show of our hard hitting documentary “Europe At Sea” on the big screen. The Wake Up Foundation, ARTE TV, Friends of Europe, EURACTIV and the Brussels Press Club joined forces to organise the sold out event which saw more than 250 people in attendance. Among the audience’s special guests there were the EU top diplomat Federica Mogherini, whose work is the focus of the film, Claudia Bucher, the ARTE GEIE commissioning editor and executive producer of the film, and the director and producer Annalisa Piras. The screening was followed by a lively discussion moderated by Friends Of Europe Director of Geopolitics Shada Islam, and questions from the audience. Federica Mogherini commented on how “Europe At Sea” managed to capture some of the complexity of her work as the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policies, especially when it comes to the long term engagement in tackling the interconnected nature of migration in Africa and from Africa. “ There is no silver bullet, but there is also no alternative in keeping working together as Europeans”. The discussion moved then unto the current international security environment and how the EU has become more relevant as a reliable and cooperative power. To the question on “what keeps her awake at night?” Mogherini reassured the audience that she sleeps very soundly at night, as otherwise she would not be able to fulfil her demanding job, but she did express concern at what she sees as a” deterioration of common sense”. A question from an international relations student from Bangladesh asked Mogherini words of encouragement to budding female diplomats and whether there is a different approach between male and female diplomats, to which she replied: "There are good diplomats and bad diplomats, the gender does not always matter, but it is true that I have noticed that sometimes female diplomats don’t see diplomacy as a zero-sum game and try to find a win-win situation".