To mark its 20th anniversary, the Bruges Group – representing European public television stations which broadcast internationally – organized a reception at the European Parliament in Brussels on 14 June 2011.

In the past 20 years, the Bruges group has expanded from its six founding broadcasters: BBC, Deutsche Welle, 3sat, RAI, RTPi and TV5, to now include more than 20 member stations from all over Europe along with some of their international partners.

The members of the Bruges Group are part of the EBU family as a result of their close association with existing Members of the EBU.

Among the speakers at the event: Mr Jose Lopes de Araujo, President of the Bruges Group, Mrs Rodi Kratsa-Tsagoropoulou, Vice President of the European Parliament, Mrs Doris Pack, Chairwoman of the Culture Committee of the European Parliament, Mrs Juana Lahousse-Juarez, Director General of DG Communication at the European Parliament, Mr Erik Bettermann, Director General Deutsche Welle, and Mr Philippe Cayla, President of Euronews.

Ingrid Deltenre, Director General of the EBU, also gave a short speech at the beginning of the event highlighting the importance of public service stations that broadcast internationally. "We look forward to reinforcing our cooperation with the Bruges group, and further working together to promote public service media and its values across the world", she said.