Fundamental Rights, Climate Change and the Environment - How to Tell Stories About Them?
BlueLink 03-10-2025.
International Workshop for Journalists and Opinion Leaders in Budapest, Hungary, November 25 - 27, 2025. Apply now!
Justice and Environment (J&E) and BlueLink host an international workshop for journalists and opinion leaders in Budapest, Hungary, on November 25 - 27, 2025. This three-day long workshop is part of the implementation of the project Strategic Litigation for Environmental Rights (STELLAR Rights).
Workshop purpose and outline
In line with the STELLAR Rights project objective the workshop will provide legal and procedural knowledge and creative identifying of human interest/journalistic angles to:
- access to information,
- public participation,
- access to justice,
- strategic litigation
that ensure the implementation of effective energy and climate policies, in connection with EU fundamental rights commitments. The workshop will demonstrate EU-level policy and good practice analyses as well as findings and experience of STELLAR Rights project partners
Participants and experts will collaborate in sharing knowledge and facts on court cases and procedures where fundamental rights interact with environmental and climate policies; exchanging story tips and professional approaches of watchdog journalism; and establishing editorial and ethical norms in journalism and digital communications.
Workshop participants will investigate the landmark June 2025 ruling by the Hungarian Constitutional Court which declared the country's Climate Protection Act unconstitutional on human rights grounds. Similar cases from Austria, Slovakia and other EU member states will be discussed in detail. A Constitutional Court Judge of Hungary, Sirpa Raupio, Director, Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU will address the participants.
Experienced environmental journalist and trainer Pavel Antonov, BlueLink Executive Editor (Hungary/Bulgaria) will lead the workshop, along with Nagy Réka, Member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), a climate communication consultant, environmental writer and podcaster, TEDx and public speaker. Resource speakers: Csaba Kiss, an environmental attorney at the Environmental Management and Law Association (EMLA) in Budapest; Theodoros Alexandridis, an international human rights law expert and senior legal counsel of the Greek Helsinki Monitor; and Gregor Schamschula, an environmental lawyer with ÖKOBÜRO - Alliance of the Environmental Movement in Vienna, Austria; among others.
After the workshop participants will be expected to investigate and publish investigative/watchdog climate rights stories in their home media. Resulting articles will be promoted by STELLAR Rights project partners and through the Justice and Environment Association's website and social media platforms. Selected articles will be published in English by the BlueLink Stories e-magazine for Central and Eastern Europe where possible.
Participants profile - who should apply?
Active journalists, either employed by mass media or free-lancers, with solid professional exposure to environment and climate issues, as well as digital communicators and opinion leaders are invited to join the workshop. Participants are welcome from all EU member states. Priority will be given to participants working on cases, covered by STELLAR Rights project partners in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia, as well as other EU member countries in which Justice and Environment Association members operate: Germany, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
Ability to communicate professionally in English language is required. Participants can then work in other preferred languages.
Selection
Participants will be selected by a J&E and BlueLink committee based on the quality of application, geographic diversity and potential for future reporting in the workshop’s topic area, demonstrated by the applicant. J&E and BlueLink do not discriminate among candidates on the basis of race, gender, age or any other differences. Priority will be given to equally qualified applicants with disadvantaged and minority backgrounds or journalists at risk.
Application
Applicants are asked to complete the application form and provide information about their experience and interest in the workshop by completing the workshop application form, deadline EXTENDED by the end of the day of Sunday, November 2, 2025. Please, demonstrate your instututional affiliations and ability to publish your work in your country after the workhop.
CLICK HERE TO APPLY NOW
Confirmation emails to the accepted applicants will be sent as soon as they have been approved by the STELLAR Selection Committee, to the email addresses provided in this form. Applicants are asked to provide a contact telephone number for verification or selection-related queries.
Logistics and travel
Workshop dates: November 25 - 27, 2025, Tuesday to Thursday.
This is a face-to-face workshop held in the English language. No translation to other languages will be provided.
Participants need to arrange their travel in order to arrive to the workshop venue at Hotel NH Budapest City by 13:00 hours on Wednesday, November 25, 2025, to be able to register and join the workshop’s opening at 13:30. They may depart after 12:30 pm on Thursday, November 27, following the workshop’s closing session.
Accommodation in single rooms in Budapest will be provided by BlueLink for the workshop's duration for a total of 2 nights in the Hotel NH Budapest City. Participants may stay longer in Budapest for further work at their own expense.
Meals will be offered to participants for the duration of the workshop.
The organisers will also cover economy transportation costs to and from Budapest within about 200 Euros per trip. BlueLink encourages participants to use environment-friendly rail and/or road transport options if feasible.
Participants refusing to have the costs for their travel, accommodation and meals covered by the project, need to indicate that.
Organizers
Justice and Environment (https://justiceandenvironment.org) is a network of green law non-profit organizations located in several EU countries and beyond. J&E has 11 full members and 4 associate members who often serve as environmental law service points in their countries, handling cases, participating in legislative processes and sometimes providing legal analyses and consultations for national governments. J&E lawyers are seasoned environmental law experts, experienced within their national legal systems, familiar with challenges faced by their respective communities and well aware of the EU legal framework.
Support by the EU for a united Europe of citizens
Eight J&E members from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Czechia, and Poland, joined to implement STELLAR Rights - a project focused on how exactly people can rely on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in the climate and energy-related policies of the EU and how to raise the awareness of the target audiences to be able to apply legal instruments including strategic litigation in order to defend their Charter rights.
The the project Strategic Litigation for Environmental Rights (STELLAR Rights) is co-funded by the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme that supports and develops open, rights-based, democratic, equal and inclusive societies based on the rule of law. That includes a vibrant and empowered civil society, encouraging people's democratic, civic and social participation and cultivating the rich diversity of European society, based on our common values, history and memory.
