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It was a peculiar Y Vote event, with no politicians this time. Location: Trieste, for its border position, the perfect place to talk about EU enlargement.
4 were the countries taken into exam: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. We had Croats, Serbians, Slovenes, Bosnians, – including Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs – but also Slovenian minority from Italy and Italian minority from Croatia represented.
Thanks to prof. Pilotto, there were also Political Science students both from Trieste and Gorizia taking part in the event. The interchange between the youngsters worked marvellously. The speakers were pleased and amazed by the interest of the Italian students, for whom it was a precious opportunity to get in touch with the issue in such a direct way.
The ex-Yugoslavian speakers (mostly AEGEE members experts about the topic) prepared their presentations wonderfully, giving an exhaustive and personal insight of the situation in their countries, with focus on the issues connected with EU enlargement. The debate and the workshops which followed were rich and productive. It was an amazing learning experience for everybody, with no exception.
Led by Veronika Braun of the Y vote team, we could not miss crazy street actions! Many Triestinians, now proud Y Vote balloon or bracelet-carriers, were informed about EU parliament elections and convinced to vote.
The beauties of Trieste, the sea and the sunshine made the weekend even more special.
The event included a very typical evening featuring special guest Tiziano Bole with his guitar. Balkan songs, quite predictably, were often overtaking the scene to Italian and English ones.
Of course, everybody wants to join AEGEE now! :)
It was also a network development occasion: with Amel from Bosnia, with whom I was already in touch before, we had now more concrete talks about founding AEGEE-Mostar, and even the idea of an AEGEE-Tuzla came out with Merima.
What a pleasure attending such an event… Although an organizer, I feel restored!