2024-03-21 09:43:15
Karolína Lískovcová has been living in Jordan for half a year, where she was chosen as a junior diplomat of the European Union for the Czech Republic. In the Middle East, she works with refugees, helps women and coordinates projects to democratize society. Although she did not choose the country or region, she considers her two-year stay a unique experience. In the Europe in Context podcast, she explains what her job looks like.
Photo: EU
The European Union is not a state, yet it has “embassies” abroad in the form of European delegations. However, travel documents are not issued here. European delegations speak with a unified EU voice and coordinate cooperation between individual member countries. There are already more than 140 of them around the world.
“I function as a link between Brussels and local partners,” Lískovcová describes her role in Jordan. For example, the young diplomat is in charge of cooperation with the United Nations, which helps manage several refugee camps in the country. The Middle Eastern kingdom has taken in over a million Syrian refugees since the start of the war in Syria.
Lískovcová recently saw a refugee camp in Jordan with her own eyes when she accompanied a delegation of MEPs. “A personal visit to our projects is always a great experience for me, it opens my eyes,” he describes.
The war between the Hamas movement and Israel also had a strong impact on Jordan. “I arrived at the end of September, so I had about a week to get used to it before it started,” says the diplomat. Huge demonstrations in support of Palestine were seen in the streets and people started boycotting mainly American brands.
“There are now a lot of new drinks, for example Matrix Cola instead of Coca Cola and the like,” describes Lískovcová. Although she was apprehensive at first, she quickly learned that despite the current conflict, Jordanians are very friendly and enthusiastic about welcoming foreigners to the country. “The local economy is heavily dependent on tourism,” explains Češka.
You can listen to the entire episode of the Europe podcast in connection with junior diplomat Karolína Lískovcová at the EU mission in Jordan in all podcast applications. In it, she explains, among other things, how the selection process for the position of junior diplomat took place and how Jordan affects her.