This weekend the CD house in Brussels was bursting with ideas from a very motivated group of people. They travelled from Athina, Groningen, London, and Sofia to set up AEGEE’s newest project: Democracy in Practice.

The idea of Democracy in Practice was built around some central questions: how does one practice democracy? What are the ingredients of a healthy and sustainable democracy?

The answer was clear: to promote the participation of young people in their communities, they need to be aware of the role of human rights as the basis of a healthy democracy. However, the reality is different. In many countries democracy is not functioning as well as it could, and many citizens are wondering how to make it work better. The Democracy in Practice project wants to contribute to the Civic Education Focus Area of the Strategic Plan 2014-17, training young Europeans and especially AEGEEans in the democracy and participation dimension.

Democracy in Practice will be presented for ratification as AEGEE-Europe project at Agora Cagliari. It consists of a series of week-long training courses focused around democracy, human rights, and how these two topics are connected. At each one of the Democracy in Practice training courses, participants receive sessions on human rights and the basis of democracy. Besides, they will get the chance to participate in discussions and develop a campaign with a local or regional scope. During the learning process, a team of trainers and experts coming from AEGEE and partners like the Council of Europe will assist the participants. Each participant will leave at the end of the week with an action plan, which will be the basis for their personal follow-up after the project to have an impact in their local community.

The idea is not new. It arose already in the Summer of 2013 when the HRWG members were not sitting still. They felt frustrated about the lack of democracy, and the numerous human rights violations happening in the months before (for example in Turkey, Russia, and Greece). At first the idea was to start a small project about the connection between democracy and human rights, but soon it was clear that a small project would not be enough.
When Maria Arends (AEGEE-Groningen/AEGEE-Tarragona) got accepted for the Training of Trainers in Human Rights Education (ToTHRE) from the Council of Europe, she came up with a project idea and the result was Democracy in Practice. The next step, finding more motivated members, was then very easy.

Right now the team consists of Maria Arends (Project Manager), Danae Matakou (AEGEE-Athina, Content Manager), Adrienn Jankovich (AEGEE-Budapest, Impact Measurement Responsible), and Lia Tuska (AEGEE-Sofia, PR Responsible). An open call for new members to join the team is to be expected very soon. Last, but not least, nothing can be achieved without the help of the locals, so the project will send an open call for hosting locals, too.

More information can be found on the Facebook page or by sending an email at dip@aegee.org.

 Written by the Democracy in Practice core team

Three weeks ago, AEGEE was invited to a pilot experience coming from the European Parliament. For the first time, a Member of the European Parliament would establish a dialogue with some stakeholders in the youth field through HangOut, a recently launched platform that allows up to 10 people to interact in a videoconference which can be also recorded and streamed to include more participants.

The MEP behind this initiative was very relevant: Doris Pack has been rapporteur of the Culture and Education Committee in the European Parliament (CULT) for the whole process of the redesign of the Youth and Education programme in the next Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-17. The topic of the conference was The Future of the Erasmus Programme.

The conference took place on June 25th and, as the headoffice of AEGEE was flying back from the Zagreb Youth Conference to celebrate the entry of Croatia in the EU, we appointed Madalena Sousa as our representative in the HangOut. We prepared several questions in advance for the session, but in the end it was quite short and as there were several other International NGOs invited, unfortunately we could not ask all our questions.

The conference was recorded and uploaded. You can watch it here.

In the opinion of Madalena, this option for interaction is complementary to the Structured Dialogue, which guarantees that “the voices of young people in Europe reach the decision-making process in areas that directly affect them”. In this sense, the Google Hangout seems to be “an easy instrument to establish communication among stakeholders, where everyone can participate online and place questions. It is an online dialogue, with some guests that can address direct questions to the MEP, but at the same time there is place for people following online to also make comments/messages/questions”. The staff from the European Parliament was in charge of collecting questions from the public who followed the streaming and engaged in Twitter, Facebook or Google+, which were also answered by Ms. Doris Pack.

Madalena stated her satisfaction with this “opportunity to represent AEGEE, to deal with a new tool and to contribute for this close contact between stakeholders. Definitely I think that AEGEE should always be involved and participating on events that promote discussion with stakeholders. Online or not, with more or less time, the important thing is to grab the opportunity to share our concerns or place our questions.”

The conversation touched several topics like sustainability of the new framework, the future of some of the different programmes included in Erasmus+, the convenience of having such a big programme when so many people are unemployed and could benefit from this money being invested in them… but the best way to know more is to watch the video.

The other participating stakeholders were: Erasmus Student Network (ESN), Erasmus Generation Network (Garagerasmus), Fraternité 2020, European Civil Platform on Life Long Learning (EUCIS-LLL), European Youth Forum (YFJ), Erasmus Mundus Alumni (EMA), and Cronoworld.

Adapted from our post in Euractiv blog Key to Europe.

This was the question that we wanted to debate at the conference held by AEGEE on June 5th and 6th in the European Parliament, where different Belgian and European NGOs had the opportunity to discuss the possibilities for Co-Management in the European institutions, together with representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and its Advisory Council on Youth, and the European Youth Forum. The event was hosted by the MEP Hannes Swoboda, who is also President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament and financed by the Youth in Action Grant. AEGEE-Brussel/Bruxelles was organising the conference together with AEGEE-Europe.

What is exactly the Co-Management that we are proposing? We want more than just being consulted in the EU decision-making process. Young people should be involved in the three phases: consultation, decision and monitoring. Co-management is a unique model where governments and youth representatives sit together to decide and to monitor the sector’s programmes. We have seen that this scheme works in the Council of Europe and we want to put it into practice in the European Union.

On the first morning, we had two panels moderated by Marko Grdosic, former president of AEGEE-Europe, where we could get a lot of input.

In the first panel there were interventions from Marian Harkin, MEP from the ALDE group; Pascal Lejeune, Head of the Youth Unit of the European Commission; André Jaques-Dodin,  Head of the Intergovernmental Division of the youth department of the Council of Europe; Maria Paschou, Chair of the Advisory Council on Youth of the CoE; Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum (YFJ); and Luca Scarpiello, Secretary of the Youth Intergroup of the European Parliament. They debated the current structure of the Council of Europe as an example of best practices, and explored the benefits of having a similar system for the European Institutions.

The second panel counted on the participation of Giuseppe Porcaro, Secretary General of the European Youth Forum; Kaisu Suopanki from Allianssi, the Finnish Youth Council, which has already implemented a co-management scheme; Ivailo Kalfin, MEP from the S&D Group; and André-Jacques Dodin. They were discussing the different possibilities of implementing the co-management in the EU institutions.

During the afternoon session on Wednesday, two parallel sessions were scheduled to discuss in depth and work in small groups. On one of the workshops, the focus was on the possible structure for a youth co-management scheme in the EU and the fields where the co-management would be needed; on the second workshop, the discussion was focused on legitimacy and representation of the European youth in this new structure.

On Thursday, the  participants presented the results of the previous day’s work to MEP Hannes Swoboda, president of the S&D Group in the EP. After that, they prepared the follow-up of the conference. This process was just initiated and has a long way ahead, but we young Europeans want to play a bigger role in the EU!

We would like to thank all participants for their active contribution, their ideas and their involvement in the whole process. Without them, and the expertise from their organizations in many cases, we could never have achieved such a big outcome. Thanks also to the European Parliament for hosting us, especially to MEP Hannes Swoboda, his office and the S&D group of the EP for their support.

With this event, we wanted to take the lead in proposing a greater involvement of young people inside the European Institutions, because we believe that we need to involve them when the discussions are taken, in order to make young people more aware of and more interested in what European Politics is about. The co-management system is an open and very transparent system for the youth and in the current context, where young people’s need are being one priority of decision-makers, we think that it is very important to take into account the input of young people. We hope that in the future, there would be a body of young people representing European youth who could sit equally with the European Commission when making decisions about youth issues.

As a young researcher interested in how the world works, I have always been surprised by the limited amount of science-related events we have in AEGEE. While it is true that our members are mostly studying social sciences and languages, this should not keep them from being curious. Science can be a great fun, specially when dealt with in a non-formal way! We have a big deal of members studying almost all scientific disciplines, with the knowledge and a passion for sharing.

At the beginning of AEGEE, our association was famous for the thematic conferences we used to organise. Some of them were very scientific, like the ones about aeronautics and space. And they were a great success, and brought a lot of impact for AEGEE in terms of visibility in Europe, PR and contacts. But somehow this tradition faded several years ago.

Poster of the first conference on Space organised by EGEE-Toulouse in the EASA in 1986

Why is science relevant to AEGEE, you may wonder? How can we contribute in the field?

There are plenty of examples to mention. For example, this year we became partners of the Right to Research Coalition, and we were present at their very first General Assembly (GA) which took place in Budapest. This GA was a great opportunity to discuss a very important issue which limits the students not only in Europe, but all over the world. This is the barrier to access essential research results. Why are these results so important and why is it a problem that we cannot reach them? The answer is quite simple: as students, nowadays we need to learn not only the history of our field, but also be updated to the most recent achievements of the researchers and experts, to be able to build on their findings and make steps further in these fields. The big issue here is that we as students cannot afford the fees to access those data, even though the researches were paid in many cases by the citizens’ taxes. Why that? Because publishers define such a high price for the academic journals that even several universities had to cancel their subscriptions lately.

How does “publishing an article” work? Click on the image to see the full comic strip at www.phdcomics.com

The Right to Research Coalition is advocating for policies, educating stakeholders and mainly researchers and scholars about the possibility of Open Access publication of results which is free, not restricted but still peer-reviewed, which guarantees the trustworthiness of the results.

We have also recently received a request to sign and spread the petition No cuts on research launched by Initiative Science Europe.

Click on the image to sign the petition online!

Education and Erasmus mobility are not the only future-oriented budget areas that are under threat of severe cuts in the new EU budget. Science is also on the target, and the most relevant scientists of our continent, including 44 Nobel laureates, have joined forces to prevent these cuts that jeopardize the future of Europe. But they need also the support of society to gather as many people as possible to convince the heads of state that will take this decision. The EU budget proposed by the European Council was sent back by the European Parliament; therefore there is still time to fight the cuts that will have a bigger impact in the future (Science and Education). So please sign the petition and share it among your friends in your universities!

The story does not end there. Recently the EU has acknowledged the big gap between science and society and is taking measures to close it. The last one, launched by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, consists in a series of surveys launched in collaboration with Atomium Culture (an intersectoral platform to promote knowledge sharing and “out of the box” thinking on issues regarding the development of a European knowledge society) and five big European Newspapers, to consult citizens about science-related topics, in order to direct the demands of society when planning investments in science for the next Multiannual Financial Framework. The first round of questions has already been launched in newspapers such as El País (in Spanish), The Irish Times (in English), Frankfurter Allgemeine and Der Standar (in German) and 24 Ore (in Italian). Go to the website and fill it in, this week it questions how Science is taught in our schools.

But… will there be people interested in the topic in AEGEE?

I believe AEGEE can benefit a lot in getting back in the field of science and technology. And I am not the only one: during a recent training in Ljubljana, one of the participants mentioned how shocking it was for her to see the lack of science content at our events. She mentioned that maybe a Science and Technology Working Group (STWG) could be created, in charge of spreading relevant information to AEGEEans in an understandable way. I presented the idea in my candidature for Projects Director in Agora Rhein Neckar and also recieved positive feedback.

We have some of the best research centers in the world based in Europe. We have several great researchers among AEGEE members. The Science & Technology Working Group (STWG) can give them the opportunity to contribute to AEGEE thematic work. It can be a forum to discuss the news in technology, to explore how to make science understandable to general public, to claim for better research in Europe as a way to have a stronger Europe in the future. I will continue working on the topic, and hope that the ones with an interest in science and technology will contact me so that we can make it happen together. There is even time enough to prepare everything and create the STWG in Agora Zaragoza in October.

Written by Miguel Gallardo, Projects Director, and Beata Matuszka, Network and Human Resources Director of AEGEE-Europe

Two weeks before the Agora I attended a Round Table organised by the European Youth Forum in the European Parliament, focused on the repercussion of youth unemployment for social inclusion.

The high unemployment rates among the youth is not fresh news anymore; we have heard the figures so many times they do not scare us anymore. But I was shocked when the representative of the medical students highlighted the strong link between unemployment and health. Unemployment is a risk factor for drug addiction, depression and other psychological and physical problems. This point of view adds a new human dimension to the economic aspects of the unemployment crisis in Europe, and highlights how devastating can it be for a person to feel disconnected to society for some months, to have no hope of changing its situation, and how this can lead to social exclusion.

I always knew that unemployment has a bigger impact on the collectives that are excluded from society. What I could not assess clearly before is how steadily this unemployment crisis is increasing the number of people in risk of exclusion in Europe. If the situation continues this way for a long time, we will be dangerously coming closer to the no-return point of having a lost generation in Europe. Something that did not happen since the World War II.

NEET is a complex term which was created in the UK to give a name to the people who are trapped in the situation of Not in Employment, Education or Training for a certain period of time. The term has since the 90s become widespread in the world, with even translation to local languages (in Spain they are called the Ni-Nis (NI estudian NI trabajan). This group is the one highly exposed to the risk of exclusion. These young people are in the spotlight of the European policymakers as they are aware of the risks this situation poses for the European society in the future. They are looking to address this problem with decision, and they will adapt a system which is already working in Europe (e.g. Finland) with positive results, the so-called Youth Guarantee. What does this Youth Guarantee mean?

The Youth Guarantee is a compromise to offer every young person in Europe a job, further education, or a training, four months after leaving education or becoming unemployed the latest. The idea sounds great, and if implemented Europe-wide, it may help to reduce drastically the risk of a lost generation. However, the costs of its implementation will be high (although the economical studies determine that the pay-off is assured on the long term); and I sometimes wonder where those politicians are who were capable of thinking in the long run…

You can find more information on the Youth Guarantee here and here.

A curious case: According to their definition, as a volunteer working for AEGEE for one year I am formally a NEET (I asked and they confirmed this point). Strange enough, because in spite of the term I can say with no doubt that this year I am working as hell, learning everyday and putting into practice all my skills and knowledge into my tasks. In my case, I am a NEET by choice, and the same for my fellow CD mates, we took a break of one year from our lives to become members of the Comité Directeur. However, I bring another conclusion out of the fact that I am a NEET. Volunteering can be a great help for NEETs to avoid isolation, depression, and other negative consequences of being disconnected from society. They will be active and feel useful, they will learn a lot, they will gain skills that will increase their employability. Together with the Youth Guarantee, supporting the youth organisations can provide great results in reducing the risk of exclusion of a whole generation.

Written by Miguel Gallardo Albajar, member of the Comité Directeur 2012-2013

Within 18 months the European Union citizens will be called to participate in the elections for the European Parliament. The paper ballots and the voting ceremony is perceived as the biggest expression of democracy. And yes, it does have a symbolic power and it is a very necessary part of the system of representative democracy towards which many countries have turned in the past. But democracy goes much beyond. In a true democratic culture, the citizens have the opportunity to participate in the process on a regular basis, establishing a dialogue with their representatives in parliament, in order to really have their opinion voiced there. And with elections coming closer, this dialogue really intensifies, and the citizens receive clear information about their options, so they can ask questions (and get answers) in order to have all the necessary data that will allow them to make an informed decision at the moment of voting.

We all know our current system is far from perfect. Citizens lose confidence in democratic institutions because they feel an immense gap between them and their representatives. Clear symptoms are the low participation rates in the elections, the perception of politicians as a cause of problems when they should be there to solve those problems, and the apparition of movements which question the current political system (like the Indignados in Spain, Occupy Wall Street in the USA).

Youth nowadays disregard politics, they do not consider it their business. Why should we care, when they do not care about us? This is the beginning of many problems. In AEGEE we have to think differently. If politicians do not want to listen to us, we are going to shout louder, we are going to learn how the politicians’ world works, so we can chase them and make them hear our ideas. Because if we do not, they will only listen to the vision of young people from their own political parties, who will to a large part tell them what they want to hear.

Y vote results booklet

As mentioned before, in 18 months we will celebrate elections to the European Parliament. It is the period when politicians are more approachable, as they need to convince the citizens to cast their votes. We will once again take this opportunity and shape it into a project which aims to encourage young people to vote in the EP elections. Yes, our project will do that, but why not have youth participation in a broader sense included? Why restrict ourselves to the framework of the elections? Why not take EU politicians beyond their comfort zone? The results of European Parliament elections will affect every citizen of every country in Europe for at least 5 years, therefore we should have a broad project present in all our network. The Y Vote project 2009 was a great success and we will take it as an inspiration, but we can aspire to have a more inclusive project. We have the expertise and we have the ideas, and soon we will have the right people to shape an impactful project. There is no time to lose.

The Comité Directeur has launched an open call for members interested in creating this project. You can still join this initiative by sending an email to miguel.gallardo@aegee.org with the subject “team elections” and including your name, antenna and a short description of how you see yourself participate in the project. Deadline November 4th.

If you are at the Agora, approach us any time, maybe during the AEGEE Fair. We are happy to receive feedback or ideas on this topic.

There will be a meeting of all interested people on Saturday after the closing of the last plenary, at dinner time.

Written by Miguel Gallardo Albajar, Comite Directeur & AEGEE-Alicante

+ Do you know what the Working Groups did in September?

+ Are you aware of what kind of tasks they develop and which topics they are tackling?

You can check the document on the Issu down here, or download from here http://goo.gl/KfQ0g

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