The Royal Olivaint Conference of Belgium NPO is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

independent, multilingual leadership organisation and debating union for students founded in 1954. It is the only student organisation in Belgium operating in both official languages (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

& French). The slogan of the association is 'Teaching governance today, growing leaders for tomorrow'. Its aim is to educate its members for public life. Its focus is on training in public speaking, debating, writing and leading conferences with top politicians, academics and business executives. The Olivaint Conference of Belgium was founded on the model of the

Conférence Olivaint The ''Conférence Olivaint'' is a French youth association, recognised as being of general interest. Founded in fall 1874, it is the oldest student association in Franc Its mission is to provide young people with training in public life, notably ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Candidate members must submit a written application and undergo an interview by the Conference's

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

. The Conference limit its membership to 50 persons per

academic term An academic term (or simply term) is a portion of an academic year, the time during which an educational institution holds classes. The schedules adopted vary widely. In most countries, the academic year begins in late summer or early autumn and ...

. Membership is limited to two years. The association is a member of the Politeia Community, an international network of similar organizations like Olivaint Conférence and Studentenforum im Tönissteiner Kreis. The Olivaint Conference of Belgium is a sister organisation of the

Oxford Union Society The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

Activities

Its main activity is organizing bimonthly thematic workshops. These meetings take place at the

University Foundation The Belgian University Foundation (French: ''Fondation Universitaire''; Dutch: ''Universitaire Stichting'') was founded in 1920. The goal of the Foundation, as was put forward by Emile Francqui, is to promote scientific activity at Belgian univer ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

on Saturday afternoons. During these meetings, the students hold oral speaking exercises following the

Chatham House Rule Under the Chatham House Rule, anyone who comes to a meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any particular comment. It is designed to increase openness of discussion. The rule is a system for h ...

. Those public speaking exercises allow students to become acquainted with effective speech techniques. These exercises are judged by an experienced corrector, which enables the student to significantly improve his/her speech level. After those exercises the members have the opportunity to meet with prominent actors of the Belgian socio-economic, political, academic and cultural scene. In addition to the thematic workshops, members have to contribute with written articles to the

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

“Contact”. An eloquence contest, sponsored by the InBev-Baillet Latour Fund, among its members is organised once a year. The event is opened to former and non-members. At the end of each academic year a study session abroad, under he patronage of the national and regional ministers of Foreign Affairs, is organised. After the trip, a report is published.

Weimar Youth Forum

The Olivaint Conference of Belgium is a participant of the Weimar Youth Forum. This is a yearly meeting of the Studentenforum im Tonissteiner Kreis (Germany), the Centrum Inicjatyw Miedzynarodowych (Poland), the Olivaint Conference of Belgium and La

(France). The organization of the Forum follows the example of the ‘

Weimar Triangle The "Weimar Triangle" is, loosely, a grouping of France, Germany, and Poland. The group is intended to promote co-operation between the three countries in crisis zones. It exists mostly in the form of summit meetings between the leaders of these ...

’, regrouping France, Germany and Poland on international affairs matters, first hold in 1991 after the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

. The Forum was first organized in 2004 in Warsaw. Since then, it has been held every year, promoting debate on economic, social and political issues in Europe. The Forum thus allows discussing these matters, confronting them with the European integration project. All of this is done in an independent spirit.

50 years of existence symposium

In 2005 the conference celebrated its 50 birthday by organising a symposium at the

Egmont Palace The Egmont Palace (french: Palais d'Egmont, nl, Egmontpaleis), also sometimes known as the Arenberg Palace (french: Palais d'Arenberg, link=no, nl, Arenbergpaleis, link=no), is a Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical palace in Brussels, Bel ...

. The event attracted many alumni and prestigious guests, including his Royal Highness the Prince Philippe of Belgium, former prime minister and Olivaint alumni

Jean-Luc Dehaene Jean Luc Joseph Marie "Jean-Luc" Dehaene (; 7 August 1940 – 15 May 2014) was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1992 until 1999. During his political career, he was nicknamed "The Plumber" and "The Minesweep ...

, minister

Armand De Decker Armand De Decker (8 October 1948 – 12 June 2019) was a Belgium, Belgian politician and member of the French-speaking liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR). De Decker studied law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and practised law. He w ...

, viscount

Étienne Davignon Étienne, Count Davignon (born 4 October 1932 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Belgian politician, businessman, and former vice-president of the European Commission. Career After receiving a Doctorate of Law from the Catholic University of Louvain, ...

and many more.

Notable Former Members

The conference also organises few activities for the more than 1,100 alumni. *

Jacques van Ypersele de Strihou Jacques Marie Joseph Hubert Ghislain van Ypersele de Strihou (born 5 December 1936), was the ''Principal Private Secretary'' to the King of the Belgians (1983–2013). When Albert II of Belgium succeeded his brother Baudouin I of Belgium, he kept ...

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

and former chief of staff king

Baudouin of Belgium Baudouin (;, ; nl, Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, ; german: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav. 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), Dutch name Boudewijn, was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his de ...

and king

Albert II of Belgium , house = Belgium , father = Leopold III of Belgium , mother = Astrid of Sweden , birth_date = , birth_place = Stuyvenberg Castle, Laeken, Brussels, Belgium , death_date = , death_place = , signature = Albert II of Belgium Signat ...

François-Xavier de Donnea François Xavier Gustave Marie Joseph Corneille Hubert, Knight de Donnea de Hamoir (born 29 April 1941 in Edegem, Antwerp) is a Belgian politician and a former mayor of the City of Brussels and Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region. ...

, a Belgian politician and a former mayor of the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...

* Philippe Haspeslagh, dean

Vlerick Business School Vlerick Business School ("Vlerick") is a Belgian business school with campuses in Ghent, Leuven and Brussels. It is a result of a merger of the MBA programmes of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and of the ''Instituut Professor Vlerick voor ...

* Alexia Bertrand, non-executive director at Ackermans & Van Haaren and politician for MR *

,Jean-Luc Dehaene obituary: Politician who fought hard to keep Belgium together and went on to lead Uefa’s Financial Fair Play initiative

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

. Retrieved May 27, 2014 former prime minister of Belgium and

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

* Henri Tulkens, professor

Université Catholique de Louvain The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...

* Gregory De Clerck, Managing Director at

DOMO Group DOMO Investment Group is a Belgian holding group. The holding consist of 3 parts, DOVESCO, DOMO Chemicals & Alinso Group. The company's head office is located in Zwijnaarde near Ghent. In 2006 the company had a turnover of 993 million euro and ...

Francis Delpérée Francis, Baron Delpérée () is a Belgian politician and a member of the cdH born on 14 January 1942 in Liege. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2007. During his studies at the Université catholique de Louvain he was a memb ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and professor of the

Université catholique de Louvain The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...

* Philippe de Buck van Overstraeten, director

BUSINESSEUROPE The Confederation of European Business, shortened BusinessEurope, is a lobby group representing enterprises of all sizes in the European Union (EU) and seven non-EU European countries. Members of the confederation are 40 national industry and emplo ...

Bernard Lietaer Bernard Lietaer (7 February 1942 – 4 February 2019) was a Belgian civil engineer, economist, author, and educator. He studied monetary systems and promoted the idea that communities can benefit from creating their own local or complementary cu ...

, the author of The Future of Money: Beyond Greed and Scarcity * Luc Willame, former CEO

AGC Glass Europe AGC Glass Europe is an international glass manufacturing group based in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, and the European branch of the AGC Inc. Group. AGC Glass Europe currently employs some 14,500 people.

* Philippe Lambrecht, secretary-general at the

Federation of Belgian Enterprises The Federation of Enterprises in Belgium ( nl, Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen, VBO, french: Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique, FEB) is the only Belgian non-profit organization representing companies in all three regions of Belgium. Its ...

* :

Cambridge Union Society The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debatin ...

* :

* : Studentafton * : Grimshaw Club (LSE) * :

The Durham Union Society This is a list of social activities at the University of Durham, including details of clubs, societies and other common leisure activities associated with Durham University. Over 200 student clubs and organisations run within Durham Students' Uni ...

* :

Berkeley Forum The Berkeley Forum, referred to simply as the Forum, is a prominent, non-partisan student organization at the University of California, Berkeley. Founded in 2012, the Forum hosts debates, panels, and talks with distinguished speakers on various t ...

* :

Yale Debate Association The Yale Debate Association (YDA) is Yale University's only competitive intercollegiate debate team. Founded in 1908, it is the most prolific winner of the American Parliamentary Debate Association's Club of the Year award. The YDA was also the fir ...

* : Olivaint Conférence * :

Debattierclub Stuttgart The Debattierclub Stuttgart (DCS), also known as the Stuttgart Debating Union, is the debating society of the University of Stuttgart. It holds debates in both German and English. It was founded in 2004 and is now one of the internationally most su ...

* : Studentenforum im Tönissteiner Kreis * :

Common Sense Society Budapest Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

* :

Queen's Debating Union The Queen's Debating Union is the debating society of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It was founded as Canada's first debating society in 1843 and became one of the four founding organisations of Canadian University Society for ...

* :

Calliopean Society The Calliopean Society (the Fraternity of Phi Epsilon Mu) is a literary and debating society at Yale College founded in 1819. Its name refers to Calliope,chief of the muses and muse of epic poetry, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory). Hi ...

External links

Website Olivaint Conference of Belgium (OCB)

Facebookpage OCB

LinkedIn group OCB

References