Did you know the next European Planning Meeting is happening from the 24th to the 27th of February 2022? No? Then you really should read the following article to learn what it is all about, and why these kinds of meetings are so important for  all us Aegeeans! Teddy van Amelsvoort, the President of AEGEE Europe and Teodora Panus, the Vice-President are answering all of the important questions for us in the following.

Hey Teddy, and first of all thank you for answering some questions for us. Can you introduce yourself, and tell us what an ‘European Planning Meeting’ is?

Teddy: Of course! So, for those of you who do not know me, I am currently the President of AEGEE-Europe and a member of the Comité Directeur responsible for Strategic Planning and Action Agenda drafting. Together with the rest of the Comité Directeur and the Strategy Committee, we are working on this year’s European Planning Meeting (EPM). In the second part about the topic of the EPM, you will hear Teodora, the current Vice-President and External Relations Director as that is part of her portfolio.

So now, let’s get back to the topic at hand: the EPM. The European Planning Meeting is the largest thematic conference AEGEE has, and it takes place each year. Essentially, it has two parts: a thematic and a planning one. During the thematic part, there are numerous sessions, workshops and discussions about a topic. This year the topic is Innovation in Democracy. The planning part is to draft the Action Agenda for the following year.

What kind of AEGEEans usually participate in ‘European Planning Meetings’, and what are the goals they are working towards during these meetings?

Teddy: There is a mix of AEGEEans that take part in EPMs. In general, there are either members who want to share their ideas and experience about the Focus Areas we have and the direction AEGEE should take, or those that are not yet experienced but wish to learn more about the different topics.

Can you explain to our readers what the ‘Action Agenda’ is and how it is created? Why is it important?
Teddy: The Action Agenda is the yearly implementation plan for the Focus Areas we have. It consists essentially of short-term realistic and measurable goals for AEGEE as a whole to achieve (by both Locals and European Bodies) that are needed to realize the long-term aims of AEGEE as mentioned in our Strategic Plan.

Creating the Action Agenda is quite a long process, with the European Planning Meeting being at the heart of it. Before the EPM, we gather input from the Network and our members about what they would like AEGEE to work on the following year and what they find important. Like this, we make sure that it is as representative of our entire Network as possible. 

During the EPM we start drafting the Action Agenda based on the input of the participants and the Network gathered before the EPM. After the EPM, the draft Action Agenda is finalised by the Comité Directeur and the Strategy Committee before it gets feedbacked once again by the Network. And finally, we come to the Spring Agora where we discuss the proposed Action Agenda and ratify it. 

How important do you think ‘European Planning Meetings’ are in general for AEGEE? 

Teddy: The ‘European Planning Meetings’ are very important, as it is the way to plan short-term goals that move us from our current state to our desired future one. The opinions of our members are essential, as they are the ones who are working on helping us to reach that state.

The ‘European Planning Meeting 2022’ is another event that will be held online because of the pandemic. By now, are you and AEGEE-Europe already used to these kinds of events, or do you believe that an actual in-person event somewhere would be more productive and fun?

Teddy: Online and offline events are of course very different, but it always depends on the participants on how productive and fun the event will be. Eitherway, we try to do our best to make sure the AEGEE spirit is there in whatever format we have our events. The disadvantage with ‘online’ is that it is not as easy to keep the discussion going as you normally would have with offline events. But we work with what we have, while trying to keep our members safe —that is the important thing in our eyes. Likely as you, we keep our fingers crossed that the next EPM will be offline. If you want that, do not hesitate to apply during the next Open Call!

Teodora, thank you for taking over the part of answering now! The specific topic of the meeting this year is ‘Innovation in Democracy’. What exactly is meant by this? What can the participants expect to learn, and what are the specific areas to be discussed?

Teodora: ‘Innovation in democracy’ is a very broad topic to discuss. This is why we are trying to divide it into three categories to guide people through it:

1.    General – What is democracy? How do participatory structures work, and how can young people be involved?

2.  Current situation – How is the current situation worldwide affecting the democratic developments? What can be considered as an innovation in terms of democratic processes? How does social media and forced digitalisation impact the process? (Little spoiler, we have a fun session prepared that a lot of you might enjoy!)

3.  Future of democracy – How can we impact the current situation, and what innovations today can be considered the normality of tomorrow?

Why is ‘Innovation in Democracy’ important and necessary nowadays? Which are the aspects of democracy that can be improved especially in Europe?

Teodora: This is a very interesting question, but I’m afraid if I answer it here there will be nothing to be discussed during EPM. :D

AEGEE is a network full of young people with innovative minds. What would be the best outcome from the ‘European Planning Meeting 2022’? What can we all do to improve Europe’s democracy?

Teodora: Stand up against the inequalities and shortcomings that you see.  If the thematic side of the EPM can help our AEGEEans to broaden their views on how we can innovate and leave a mark —at least in our small communities—, then we can consider it a success. 

The change starts with us and our actions, so the moment you have an idea, share it, work on it and see how far you can go with it. This might sound very cliche, but it is true. 

It’s been more than one month since AEGEE-Izmir was in the spotlight of the AEGEE network:  on 6^th – 10^th of February, the antenna hosted the annual European Planning Meeting (EPM), where new objectives for the organization were set out and relevant topics – “green sustainability” and “EU-Turkey relations” – were heatedly discussed. The AEGEEan talked to the main organizer Batuhan Çarıkçı to find out more about the event – and not only.

Thank you for talking to us, Batuhan! Why did you apply to host European Planning Meeting 2019 in the first place?

Basically, after the big positive development of AEGEE İzmir since 2016, the local needed a “good challenge” to strengthen its status in the network and keep the motivation of its members on top level. And actually, applying to host a statutory event wasn’t one of the objectives of the agenda during the previous local Agora, but after seeing a few open calls for the EPM 2019, we didn’t want to miss this chance to prepare our members for this challenge!

Are you a big antenna now?

There are currently more than 100 registered members, with around 40 of them actively volunteering.

How many participants and organizers took part?

There were 85 official participants, 20 AEGEE İzmir members partly as participants and partly as organizers and 20 national and international organizers, namely:

Refik Barış Özçelik as Vice Coordinator
Efe Ergüz as Treasurer
Melis Kılıç as Incoming Responsible
Gül Hira Turan as HR Responsible
Kayra Deniz Çetin as PR Responsible
Mehmet Ali Döm as Logistics and
Marie Claire Graf and Anne-Sophie Klein Gebbink as Content Managers.

You chose a highly relevant and quite controversial main theme for the EPM – green sustainability. Would you say it’s a big topic in Turkey?

To be honest, I don’t think people take “green sustainability” as a big topic yet, unfortunately. Turkey has currently many other issues to deal with, like corruption, social unrest and economic instability. Apart from that, there is the fact of “having been near the warzones of Iraq and Syria for many years” next to them, so the labyrinth is getting more complicated and year by year we have more military expenses, rather than investing into sustainable solutions for the environment.

What is the government strategy on sustainability in Turkey? They have passed laws to reduce the consumption of plastic pouches like the EU.

They are very rarely doing fine things, but this one was a good move, indeed. There’s still long way to go though, especially in recycling. They should cooperate closer with all the municipalities, but of course if they can find some time to cooperate with them, instead of seeing them only as “castles to conquer”. Apart from that, we should keep in mind that they are still trying to build fossil fuel plants around the country, as if we are in 20^th Century. Fortunately, most of those attempts were precluded by strong cooperation between activists and some NGOs.   

Let’s now talk a bit about the host city. What is particularly famous about Izmir? What is the historical importance of the city?

Its cuisine for sure! Sorry, I can’t continue without talking about food! Izmir has a great variety of seafood and mezes, with the combination of the traditional alcoholic drink “rakı”, which includes anis. Next to it, the most famous beer brand of Turkey “Efes” (Ephesus in English) is coming from İzmir. Apart from that, Izmir is a good destination for sun, sea and beach kind of holidays. She also has very rich options for history lovers, there are 15 ancient cities within her metropolitan borders, including the famous ones Ephesus and Pergamon! We can’t help mentioning the very special anthem of Izmir. In past, it was symbolizing the liberation of İzmir on 9^th of September 1922, but today, after almost hundred years, it’s symbolizing the political stand of İzmir, independent from its lyrics.  

How was the EPM? Are you satisfied with the outcomes?

It went much more comfortable and stress-free, when I compare to the preparation period. Here once again I want to highlight the perfect job of all our organizers and helpers during the event; their motivation and concentration was always high. Next to that, we had a very good group of participants, which I think did good job with creating an active vibe during the content part and drafting an impactful agenda for next year.

Do you have plans for organizing more events like EPM?

I think, we are done with statutory events in Turkey -for now-. But, of course AEGEE İzmir will keep organizing international events, and hopefully the number will get higher year by year.

It’s the closing plenary of Spring Agora Enschede 2017 and the next European Planning Meeting hosting local has been announced: it is AEGEE-Yerevan! We reached out to them and spoke to Armenak Minasyants from the Armenian local to ask them more about their reaction to the good news and some sneak peeks. 

The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to host European Planning Meeting 2018?

Armenak: There are many reasons behind the motivation of our local to apply for hosting the European Planning Meeting 2018. We have a strong belief towards our own institutional and administrative resources to host such a big event in our city. In AEGEE-Yerevan we are people who believe that the objective of life is to hit and not get hit. We are looking to expand our portfolio while we are on top and while we are extremely motivated. In the last seven years, we have set the model for showing to thousands of young people in Armenia how they should be responsible citizens and youth workers in and out of AEGEE. Now, it is high time also to deliver this on the European level!

Another amazing reason and motivation for applying is that practically EPM Yerevan 2018 will become the biggest youth European event ever organised in Armenia and AEGEE, in our perception, shall be the organisation making the history in different corners of Europe! We welcome the approach of the CDs in recent years to grant the locals in non-EU countries an opportunity to host statutory events. Our Network is amazingly diverse and it is great to have these synergies of hosting for instance Agora in Western Europe and afterwards coming to the very South-East of Europe and experiencing ideally a different reality during EPM. This will surely contribute to internal transformations within AEGEE and will boost our sense of being European not just as a matter of geography, as being European is first and foremost caring about the same universal system of values. Hence, we are motivated to have the EPM and allow everyone to discover one of the oldest cradles of European culture.

How did you react when you first heard the news that you were accepted?

Ohhhhh my God! OMG OMG OMG! I mean, this is literally the biggest moment in my life! When it was announced it literally took almost a day from me to calm down, as I have been calling everyone to inform about the news! On the next day, we hosted a board meeting and pumped a bottle of the best local champagne, thus marking the start of our preparations! Yes, we have started it already! The emotions are too hard to describe, this is something you need to go through.

How would you describe AEGEE-Yerevan?

We are young, talented, passionate and very professional local! Our ultimate goal is to always break records and the EPM 2018 is the next milestone for us! Our local now has successfully undergone the period of reconstruction and revival, the generational change has been finalised, the institutional memory of the organisation is better than ever, and the organisational matters are handled in the most professional manner with six board members constantly working. We have extremely experienced board members, who are flavoured with very young newcomers’ enthusiasts striving for experience.

Who will be in the core team of EPM Yerevan?

Let me first of all pass words of thankfulness to Ani, Kalipso, Anna, Nirvana, Izabella, Armine, Davit, Anush, Vika, Suren, Tereza and everyone who has helped us to make this application happen!

The core team of EPM Yerevan has eight members and is indeed amazingly strong! We have decided to bring out the best we have in the wardrobe. We will have former Network Commissioner Tereza “China” as one of the logistics officers working on the preparatory, we will have Ani Khachatryan – our long running and very experienced Secretary General, and surely another 40 local organisers and helpers coming up to help on any matter.

Furthermore, EPM Yerevan will be also special as all the external promotion, PR materials, merchandise will be made by professionals, as we will be working with professional PR and design agencies such as Ktor Designs and Deem Communications. This will help us having qualitatively new branding for such a big and important event.

Last but not the least, I have decided to be the head of the core team and I want to dedicate myself fully to the biggest project of my life, which the EPM is! Probably this will be the best way to end my long European AEGEE journey and retire from the association right at the EPM stage surrounded by my friends, AEGEEans and the organisation, which has given to me so much in past eight years.

Does AEGEE-Yerevan have any past experience in organising an event similar to the EPM?

Every year in Autumn we host a thematic EU-funded conference – Armenia Model EU Conference, which brings to Armenia up to 150 young people, youth workers and civic activists from all over Europe. This four-days project consists not only of a typical simulation conference style activity, but also of almost two days full of encounters, thematic panel discussions and open space discussions with leading European and local experts, mainly focusing on European political agenda matters.

It is worth to mention that in February 2017 we solely organised and hosted a thematic conference attended by Mr. Christian Danielsson, who is the Director General for Enlargement at the European Commission (DG NEAR). This has been a tremendous experience for us: just imagine we hosted a thematic event for 250 students with the attendance of a top EU official.

So, we are looking forward to comprehend our resources, experience and build up on our success stories for making the upcoming EPM really groundbreaking.

What do you have in mind for the facilities and the programme?

Even though it is a bit early now to discuss the facilities, it has been agreed preliminarily that the event will take place at the auspices of one of the best universities in Yerevan, which has the highest quality of technical equipment and facilities, which will be surely available to any EPM participant. We want participants not to face any technical problem during their activities. More notably, we want to suggest participants the most comfortable ever conditions of stay during an AEGEE statutory event. I really do not want to fold all our cards now, let’s keep it still as a surprise, but we will try to set up ideally a new benchmark in project quality and fundraising in AEGEE.

The programme will be amazingly packed, and not only because of the sessions, as we want every participant to feel the magic and spirit of our city, which will be marking its 2800th birthday in 2018!

Hence, everyone will have a chance to climb over the heights of the Cascade Stairs of Yerevan and admire the city panorama view, we will have an AEGEE flashmob on the longest pedestrian avenue, we will taste the best of our local wines and just enjoy the hospitality of any ordinary Yerevan resident, suggesting participants classical Armenian coffee and pastries.  

What will be your biggest challenges in hosting the EPM?

We treat every challenge as a new opportunity to develop our skills and grow stronger as an organization. Hence there are no challenges for us to host the EPM – it is all about opportunities – ain’t no boundaries, ain’t no limits. However, focusing more on the technical ground, I think the biggest challenge will be in supporting every participant with the travelling matters. Basically, we are going to help as much as possible in any transportation related matter. They are four ways for travelling to Yerevan (counting also Tbilisi and Kutaisi) and we are going to work at maximum to help each participant to reach Yerevan in the most cost effective and budgetary way.

What makes Yerevan attractive to visit?

 Yerevan is all about people! The hospitality and friendly attitude are probably the most common features of any Armenian and you can feel that hospitality on every step in Yerevan! Yerevan is rocking Europe since 786 BC! For millennia Yerevan has been at the crossroads of cultural trends, intellectual thought, groundbreaking research, and incredible inventions. Now it is bursting with a rocking nightlife and a buzzing restaurant scene. The city center is full of great wine houses and our city is owning the title of one of the world’s top 10 safest cities. Yerevan is an incredibly walkable city. As one of the safest cities in Europe, you will never find yourself in trouble, no matter how shabby the neighborhood appearance may be and how much drunk you might be. Around 82% of Yerevan residents feel quite safe walking home alone at night. So yes, life in Yerevan goes on in a safe, tiny, and sunny spot. The day of Yerevan residents starts with the bright sun greeting them in the morning, as we have sunny weather almost 300 days per year! The smell of “Armenian” coffee is spreading everywhere since the morning, and everyone from schoolchildren to officials doing their everyday work feel safe about their lives. Truly, if you are top AEGEE talent wanting to change the world, our organisation and enjoy yourself while doing it all, there is no better place to come and join than EPM Yerevan 2018!

Written by Federica Soro, AEGEE-Cagliari and Maria Zwartkruis, AEGEE-Utrecht

If you have attended EPM Zagreb 2017, you might have assisted to the final round of the debate competition organised by the Civic Education Working Group. The debate in Zagreb was just the last step of a journey started last year in November when Balint Toronyai from AEGEE-Budapest and Doro Harles from AEGEE-Mannheim, members of the CEWG sent an open call for topics. We spoke with them to understand how the competition went. 

Why did you decide to do the competition? 
Bálint: We participated in some amazing debates during the Summer University of AEGEE-Warszawa last summer. We experienced how competitive debating can improve complex and critical thinking in a really fun way. After both of us joined the Civic Education Working Group we decided to organise this competition to strengthen civic competencies and promote debating in the AEGEE community.

How did you select participants? 
Bálint: The application for the competition was open for every AEGEE member; however there were two conditions: the applicants had to be available in Zagreb during the EPM where the final debate took place and they had to apply in pairs (or pair-up with the other single participants) as the debate format and the winning prize were created for such teams. The applicants had to write about their motivation, debating experience and answer some other simple questions, but the true selection was coming in the pre-round of the competition.

Who were the teams? 
Bálint: Most of the teams were formed by people who already knew each other, with one exception where we matched two single participants. It was a really diverse field, seven different AEGEE antennas were proudly represented: Skopje, Heidelberg, Osnabrück, Nijmegen, Bilbao, Zaragoza and Ljubljana. It is easy to say that it was a truly European debate competition.

What was the structure of the debate? 
Bálint: There were two rounds of the debate competition. The pre-round was an online round, where the teams had to prepare video statements with their arguments and send them to us and to their debate opposition. This online way of debating was far from optimal, but it was a compromise we had to take for a Europe-wide debate. The best four teams of the pre-round qualified to the live final which took place at EPM Zagreb. The format of the final was the classical British Parliamentary debate, where two teams have to compete with each other both on the government and the opposition side. This complex way of debating makes it possible to approach issues from multiple angles. 

What were the topics debated? 
Doro: In the pre-round, there were three topics, in debates called proposals, debated on: “This house believes that (THBT) migration should be promoted in the EU”, “THBT an unconditional basic income should be established in the EU” and “THBT people older than 70 should not vote”. The topics were chosen from a bunch of ideas send from the Network in an open call for topics. The proposal at the final was “THBT referendums should be forbidden in national democracies” and fitted to the topic of the EPM “Populism and Anti-European Agitation”.

What was the reaction? Are you satisfied with the result?
Doro: The audience at the final was interested in the topic and the format used to bring the topic closer to people. They could also participate in it by voting before and after the debate which side they were on: for or against the proposal. After the debate, more people were for the proposal than before. In general, the audience liked the event. The participants could develop and practice their skills in public speaking during the competition and all managed the speech in front of a big audience well. We are very satisfied with the development that our participants made over time and that people were interested and not super bored by debating. About the result in the sense of the winners, we cannot say that we would have liked one time better than the other. We are delighted with the winners who are happy about winning the two interrail tickets.

Would you replicate it in other events? 
Doro: We were already thinking about it because a competition is a good way to show that debating can be interesting. Yet, we need to have a fitting event, time to prepare it and find a good prize for the next time. Maybe we are going to do it a bit smaller than this time. Nothing is settled yet but we are working on it.

Is there something you want to add?
Doro: Maybe people got inspired by the debate from EPM and want to organise one in their locals or somewhere else. We have updated the debating toolkit and people can find all relevant information there. Check it out!

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

For this article, we interviewed the Main Organizer Marina Klanjčić and the EPM Zagreb PR team. This statutory event will take place between the 23rd and the 27th of February. Listen to the EPM Zagreb PR Team to get to know everything about the motivation for organising an EPM and how EPM Zagreb is structured around the topic of populism.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us a bit more about the history of your Local?

EPM Zagreb PR Team: AEGEE-Zagreb was founded back in 1993, and, since then, we have been getting more active and more prominent, both in Zagreb and in AEGEE, every year! While we do not rival some locals in size, with highly motivated people we have achieved a lot and we do not want to stop now – just to prove size is not all that matters [she winks, ed.].

We decided to hold the Advent event “Zagreb ADVENTure: Walking in the Christmas Wonderland” due to the fact that our city was declared the best Christmas destination in all of Europe last year, and we wanted to share this joy with the Network! Most of the members who are currently active have been in AEGEE for no more than two years, but we are already becoming pros at event organisation – even more will come, we promise you!

Why did you decide to organise an EPM?

The idea of organising a European Planning Meeting in Zagreb came years ago, when our former president, Zvonimir Canjuga, who is currently the Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, participated in EBM Valletta back in 2013.

For years and years he waited, and then last year, when he decided the Antenna was finally ready to organise an event of such magnitude, he presented his idea to the Board of AEGEE-Zagreb, who backed him fully! We were overjoyed when we received the news during Spring Agora in Bergamo! Even though we lost Zvonimir to the CD, we knew our team would be able to carry on successfully [she smiles, ed.].

How is the organisation going so far? Is everything running as expected?

This great adventure of organising an EPM is quite a challenge indeed, but nothing is impossible if you have the spirit! So, even the obstacles we face do not seem so terrifying, and every next one seems like even less of a problem if you look at those we have already overcome!

A bunch of active members in the Antenna are involved in the organisation, and that is the key of every successful project. We always offer support and help to one another whenever we need it, and this team of ours is what keeps us going strong! Together we can and will achieve greatness, just wait until February and see for yourself!

What is the thing that will make this EPM more special than the previous ones?

Without giving out our secrets, AEGEE Zagreb will definitely show you that there is more in Croatia than just the seaside, and we will bring our traditional hospitality into the organisation of the EPM, which we believe is something that was missing from the statutory events for a really long time! When we say we are a city of million hearts, we do mean it and we certainly plan to show it [she smiles, ed.].

How will you deal with the topic of the EPM “Europe under Siege: Populism and Anti-European Agitation”?

We will cooperate closely with the content managers, and there are going to be constructive discussions on the topic. The rise of populism is an actual current problem, which we believe all of us can relate to as engaged Europeans, having experienced the radicalisation of the society, making the future much different from the world we knew and grew up in. Overall, we are happy to be discussing something that many perceive as a serious threat to the kind of Europe we dream of and promote in AEGEE.

What is the one thing that participants must see or visit when they come to Zagreb?

Zagreb is often nicknamed “Little Vienna”, but that definitely does not mean we are in anyone’s shadow! While it may not be chock-full of instantaneously recognisable landmarks on every single corner, we have our fair share of unique sights that will leave you breathless! However, what you must experience in the city is its special atmosphere, due to our position on the crossroads of many different civilisations and cultures, making this area into a huge melting pot, with influences from the north, the south, the east and the west. You need to feel it to believe it!

Is there any advice you would give to Antennas that plan on hosting a future European Planning Meeting?

Our advice is to work hard, to be motivated, and, above all, to form close bonds with your entire team. To value everyone’s input and to have much fun in the process. To believe in yourself and push yourselves to the limits, and beyond. To out-best your best and to never lose your enthusiasm. To make new friends in the whole process. Those moments where you feel overwhelmed will soon pass, and you will come out of it even stronger than before. The end result, we are sure, will be well worth the sleepless nights. This was undoubtedly the right choice to make and a cause to fully commit ourselves to.

What should the participants expect after their experience of the EPM and the city of Zagreb?

The city of million hearts will keep you warm and motivated to make a change in your local for a long time after the EPM is over. We are absolutely certain that all of you will return from Zagreb with nostalgia and a wish to come back! And we will be more than happy to welcome you back!

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.

The announce has just been made… the next EPM hosting local is AEGEE-Zagreb from the 23rd to the 27th of February . The Croatian antenna will finally bring back to Balkans a statutory event. Excited? Well… We asked some questions to Zvonimir Canjuga to have the first sneak peek on it.

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to apply?

Zvonimir: It was not some random decision for us. The idea of organising an EPM at that time in Zagreb was born on EBM Valletta in 2013 which Silvija (ex president) and I attended. As that was my first event, I was impressed with concept and since then I believed that AEGEE-Zagreb was capable to organise such an event. At that point we had all new members in the local so we decided to prepare our local and our members for EPM by organising smaller events like Summer University, and to educate our members about Project Management, event management, time management etc. Such programs took exactly three years from first plans about EPM to be finally realized.

There are several reasons why we wanted and we are organizing EPM. Firstly, we want to show to the youth of Zagreb, but also AEGEE members that Europe and EU is more than traveling without passports. EU offers much more: chance to activate yourself, develop softskills, learn languages, take anactive role in your community or be active in EU circles.

Secondly, with refugee crises we can see how the core values of Europe are weak and some important are threatened. We can see wire fences rising and border patrols all across Europe. We can see some nations want to leave EU. This is not the picture of the Europe that generations before us fighted for. With organising EPM we want to take a chance and participate in fight for rights of youth and values that we cherish.

Thirdly, we want to organise it for all former and current members of AEGEE-Zagreb. As I already said, since 2013 we worked very hard and in several different fields to prepare our members for such big project as European Planning Meeting 2017. We organised a great number of local and European events and we know we are more then ready for task ahead.

Fourthly, we were amazed with the support that we received both from institutional partners and 34 AEGEE locals. With so many people believing in us we owe to them to do our best and work as hard as we can do not let them down.

Last but not least, we want to organise a statutory event on Balkan, the first after Agora Skopje 2011. Balkan countries are all slowly approaching the EU entering process, but we do not see EU as bureaucratic machine, but as community of young people, ideas, knowledge, experiences and inspiration. Organizing the European Planning Meeting 2017 would have great impact for them and their community as well.

What were you doing when the Comité Directeur delivered you the news?

Well it took a long time for the CD to decide who will host EPM, but we knew that it will take time to give someone such great responsibility to organise statutory event. With every email from CD, and we passed two rounds of additional questions, my heart went trough the roof because I was hoping that somewhere in that emails was hidden that we got it. The night when we actually received the good news I was home in my bed almost went to sleep. When I saw email I must admit that I was positively shocked and I started to cry. My mind went crazy and I was wondering “What now? How will we do it?”, but I soon calmed down and i notified my dear Core team. The excitement between the Core team was amazing and  we are very proud when we look on our work in local and on our application. Now we are 100% focused on work for EPM and we cannot wait to host AEGEEans in Zagreb next February.

Please, present your local.

AEGEE-Zagreb was founded in 1993 and now we have around 60 members. I can say that we are a small local,l but we have awesome members with great experience and motivation to work for local. We learned long time ago that a local is our members, and we, leaders of AEGEE-Zagreb are really trying to offer a lot of different things except travels and SUs to them. We meet once per week on our regular weekly meeting in our office, but teams and projects have different meetings days during week. Also our members are active in European bodies of AEGEE-Europe, from project teams to Commissions, and maybe we will have a CD member again soon, who knows. Now we are more focused on local internal work to strengthen our members’ base and work on EPM preparations. All in all this is it, I invite everyone to visit and contact us if someone is in Zagreb.

Who will be in the core team? Do you have already decide?

Core team is consisted of people who were with me from the start. So firstly I want to take opportunity and thank every each of them for their work and support on this. I’m very proud of them. So, I would like to present you my dream team:

1. Vinka Suhin is alongside me most experienced person and person of great trust and she is Vice- Coordinator
2. Andrea Završki  will be Incoming group team leader
3. Nika Krnjak is  our Human Resources group team leader
4. Marina Klanjčić will be IT and PR group team leader with help of Manuela Džankić and Nika Alujević to help her
5. Jakov Rakić will be Fundraising team leader with help of Ana Drmić
6. Lucija Kozjan will be Logistics support team leader
7. Dominik Vukošić will be Social program coordinator
8. Me as Main Coordinator

So this is team that I will lead as Main Coordinator and we are fully confident and prepared to work hard and organize awesome EPM.

Tell us three things that make your local special.

The first thing that makes us special are our members. Although we are a small local, we are full of ambitious, motivated and skillful people who really care about AEGEE and want to make our antenna the best possible. Furthermore, we are very active for a small local. Apart from our weekly meetings, so far this year we have organized exchanges with AEGEE Ljubljana and Amsterdam, various language workshops, PR and public speaking workshops, teambuildings, social drinks, a fundraising concert and so on. Also, we have good relations with other locals and with other student associations in Zagreb.

And now three things that make your city special…

Zagreb is the capital of Croatia, but its main attraction is its peaceful and welcoming atmosphere. It makes you slow down and teaches you how to relax. Although people are very busy, there is always time grab a cup of coffee with your friends or have lunch at delicious nearby restaurants. If you are walking through the centre, don’t be surprised to see cafés full of people all the time. The second thing is that Zagreb has a lot of greenery at the city centre and with mountain Medvednica and lakes Jarun and Bundek within easy reach, you can find spaces for recreation almost anywhere. Finally, most of the city attractions are free and easily reachable by foot, which allows you to really experience the vibe and the atmosphere of Zagreb and discover little things which you cannot find in travel guides. The charming appearance, relaxing atmosphere and accessibility make it very easy to feel like home in Zagreb.

Can you give us already some sneak peeks of what we will see once there?

We were really brainstorming a lot about several options where to hold EPM and we decided that it will be  Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER). This faculty offered us huge gym, 5 workshop rooms and  plenary room within range of 100m. At Student Center which is 300m from FER we will organize all three meals in student canteen per day. In general Faculty is very well connected and its is really easy to reach it from airport, bus or train station which are really close to Faculty.  For more informations about EPM I invite all members to follow us on social media and other channels.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

As February is getting closer, everyone is getting more and more excited for the upcoming European Planning Meeting (EPM)  2016 hosted by AEGEE-Leiden. With a very hot topic as the “Refugees in Europe – Europe vs. the Rest: Change of Perspective?” the Core-Team in Leiden is almost ready to present their participants with an unforgettable experience including some very important sessions and, as always, amazing parties. We had the chance to talk with Casper Renting the Vice-Organiser and PR & IT responsible of this EPM who gave us a bit of insight for the organisation and the city life.

The AEGEEan: AEGEE-Leiden has already hosted some great statutory events. Could you tell us a bit more about the history of your local?

Casper: We were founded on the 31st of October 1985, so we have been there since the very beginning. There has always been someone from Leiden in the Comité Directeur during the first 9 years of AEGEE, something we are quite proud of. We have also continuously organised Summer Universities since the early nineties. For most of its history, however, AEGEE-Leiden was a very small antenna, with only around 15 members, until the year 2000. Since then we have been steadily growing up to the around 300 members we currently have.

Why did you decide to organise an EPM?

We hosted EGEE-3 in 1987 and the 49th Agora in 2010, but we had never organised an EPM/EBM. What better reason could you have? Anyway, that is why, in 2014, some senior members of our antenna started thinking about the idea. After initially losing the 2015 bid to Burgos, we improved our application considerably and won the year after.

How is the organisation going so far? Is everything running as expected?

Haha, mostly! Jokes aprt, we are doing fine. We meet every Monday evening with the Core Team to update each other. We have just found our coordinators and we will soon select helpers. We have applied for various funds and are confident that we will get a positive response. All party locations and almost all meeting locations are definitive. As IJsbrand, our Logistics Responsible said: “If the EPM was tomorrow, it could go through. It would be very stressful for us as CT, but it could work.” Still being two and a half months away from the 25th of February, we are sure we will manage everything in time.

What is that thing that would make this EPM more special than the previous ones?

That is a difficult one. Every EPM or Agora is of course a unique experience and we do not want to sound like Burgos or Lublin were nothing special. But, to name a thing, as well as Bergamo could host the biggest Agora ever, we could host the biggest EPM ever. We can accommodate 350 people, if we will, that is up to whoever is reading this now.

Oh and the legendary European Night will be back on this EPM, so make sure to bring your national cuisine!

How did you come up with the postcard challenge? How is it going?

Every summer, members of AEGEE-Leiden send postcards to the AEGEE-office from wherever they are, and there is of course the Christmas-Postcrossing by AEGEE-Warszawa. AEGEE has some nice traditions involving postcards and we wanted to honour that tradition with this competition. We have now received only 5-10 cards, but as AEGEE people love being close to deadlines I am sure, more will arrive. Besides the big prize, there will be a small prize for every participant and of course we will display the cards during the EPM.

Any spoilers on how do you plan on delivering such a burning topic?

Well, as organisers we are only facilitating. How to deal with this interesting but difficult topic is up to the content managers. We can say, however, that we see the relevance of this topic every day. Our sleeping location was a temporary refugee shelter some time ago. AEGEE-Leiden people organised a day full of activities for the refugees at that time.

What is the one thing that participants must see or visit when they come to Leiden?

There is so much to see! We posted some inspiration on our website, but as an anthropologist I can reccommend the National Museum of Ethnology and the National Museum of Antiquities. A free tourist attraction is the Burcht, a 10th century fortified building in the middle of the city, from which you have a great view over the city.

Is there any advice you would give to antennas that plan on hosting a future European Planning Meeting?

Just go for it, it is a great experience for organizers personally and for the antenna as a whole. However, make sure you have full support from your university and/or local government. We would not have been able to do it without them and I think the same is true for Burgos and Lublin. Furthermore, do not abandon the local level, make sure there are still people organising and visiting local activities. Organising a statutory event, doing something for the network, is wonderful, but it is an (unnecessary) shame if it harms your antenna and the HR it heavily relies on.

What should the participants expect after their experience from the EPM and the city of Leiden?

Well, there is of course the common things. You will be drained from energy because of all the parties and discussions. You will have made new friends and reconnected with old ones. If you were smart you have seen a lot of Leiden and surrounding cities because you visited a Pre-Event in Amsterdam, Enschede or Heidelberg, or stayed a bit longer to see historical cities like The Hague, Delft or Utrecht. You will have found out that the Netherlands is quite affordable if you know the right places (and we do!) and that Leiden is rich in student traditions. Lastly, you will have many great memories that have one thing in common, they all start with: “Remember that time in Leiden…”

You can visit EPM Leiden 2016 here

You can apply here until the 17th of December 23.59 CET (Login Required).

Written by Theodora Giakoumelou, AEGEE-Athina

To be unemployed is terrible for a large number of reasons. You have no income, or have to live on welfare, you don’t share in the pride that labour can give you, or you are employed for a profession that is well below your level of education. Since none of us in AEGEE want to become a university educated unemployed person, who still lives with their parents at age 32, Kristóf Papp, the Youth Employment Working Group (YEWG) Coordinator, decided to submit a proposal for the EPM topic, and interviewed by the AEGEEan he had some sensible things to say.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us more about the Social Inclusion on the labour market?

Kristóf: We are facing a huge crisis in Europe regarding the youth employment rates. The problem is quite complex, and it is not enough to look at the low employment rates. We also have to speak about problems like the quality of the jobs or internships which the young people have to take in order to step further, the discrimination based on their age, gender, sexual orientation or the lack of cross-sectorial cooperation in the field of education and employment. With this topic we can focus on issues like youth rights, social protection, reaching out to the unorganised young people or transitioning from education to employment.

How do you think AEGEE can improve the situation?

By educating its members on their rights and opportunities, making sure they know their responsibilities and push for change on he European level. Social, youth and employment issues are decided on national and local level, therefore the focus should be on the grassroots. By empowering its members and encouraging them to act locally, AEGEE can reach out to a great number of young people.

Why did you come up with this idea?

This topic also plays an important part in the Activity Plan of the Youth Employment Working Group. The members of the YEWG have great knowledge on this matter, so together we considered this topic relevant to the Strategic Plan and the Action Agenda 2015/16. Besides this, I grew up in one of the poorest parts of Hungary, I saw the a lack of support for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), the discrimination at work places towards young people based on their ethnic background or age, the demotivation and disappointment. In my opinion it is crucial to make sure that more and more people hear about these stories, they are able to recognise these situation and they are also empowered to act against them.

How do you think AEGEEans can contribute to the discussion?

AEGEE plays a significant role in advocacy in the youth field and it is working in the topic of social inclusion for a long time, although we haven’t discuss all the possible sides of the topic. It is essential for a socially responsible student organisation to take the proper steps in collecting enough information on the topics related to its members; as an organisation which has a diverse membership, it is essential to think about this matter not only economically but socially, since a generation of forsaken young people will cause unimaginable consequences in the long term. Our members are coming from different social backgrounds, different field of studies and different countries. I think it’s time to hear the thoughts of the young people who are facing these problems every day, not only of their representatives or of the experts. AEGEEans can have a direct, and powerful impact which can influence the voice of the whole organisation.

Would you like to take on the role of Content Manager?

Yes, I think this topic, with a good coordination, can have great results for the organisation, and not last I think the Youth Employment Working Group can contribute to the content.

Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

You can read the full proposal here (login required).

At Autumn Agora Kyiv we are going to vote for the European Planning Meeting (EPM) topic and we can choose from five. Joanna Pankowska from AEGEE-Warszawa had a bold idea and proposed the topic “No topic, strong focus (on Focus Areas/Action Agenda)”. If this topic will be chosen, at the EPM Leiden 2016 we will discuss our focus area, instead of a very new topic. We send her some questions to understand her proposal better.

The AEGEEan: “No topic, strong focus (on Focus Areas/Action Agenda)”, this is a very unusual topic. Tell us more about that.

Joanna: As much as we agree on the importance of discussing current European affairs in AEGEE, we believe that the European Planning Meeting is not the proper place to do so. We would like to avoid adding an extra thematic part to the EPM, and instead we propose to concentrate on our Focus Areas. What is important, is that it will not stop us from discussing important issues during the EPM. Quite the opposite! We just want to make sure that, when we discuss, we give it a specific angle thought our four topics, so in the future we can truly say we are focusing on our focus areas in AEGEE.

Why did you come up with this idea?

It wasn’t me who came up with the idea, but I was the one to collect signals. What are the signals? First of all the result of Progress Meeting which took please in Asturias.  We concluded the session with an idea to propose such a topic, in opposition to making a proposal, so we might first try the new format. I also went through archives of EBM-REFORM-L mailing list and the ideas that are there (from the years 2011-12) are very much in line with “No topic, strong focus”. Also the survey, the results of which you can see in the pictures, indicates that there is something wrong with the current format. Last but not least, the direction AEGEE-Europe is heading in the last months, namely the new Working Groups format and bigger thematic focus are also a signal that it might be a way to go.

Why do you think we should discuss it during EPM?

The focus areas, namely Civic Education, Mobility, Employment and Europtimism, have been here already for some time, but can we really say we had a structured discussion on them during those year? Can we say we, as a European Students’ Forum, have an opinion on then? It is high time to focus and be consistent for once.

Would you take on the role of Content Manager?

Civic Education Working Group would like to take this responsibility and  possibly share it with other Working Groups.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Loes Rutten’s proposal for Autumn Agora Kyïv “Breaking language barriers”  is an educational topic that affects young people all over Europe. Language can be a rock barrier for communication and, therefore, for education as well.

Asked how she came up with the idea of “Breaking language barriers: Accessibility of youth opportunities starts with a common language” as a topic for EPM, she replied: “During my Erasmus in Bologna, I was startled by the low level of English of both fellow Erasmus students and many of the Italian students I met. I naively assumed that the level of English of young people in Europe is similar to the English of AEGEEans, but we must be aware that AEGEEans generally are already confident in English when they join AEGEE and they are not representative for the whole European youth. Some of the Italian students I spoke to, said they would like to go on Erasmus too, but their choice of universities was very limited because their level of English was not higher than B1. It made me realise that the difference in level of English among European youth leads to a division between mobile and immobile youth. As a member of ACT, I am well aware of the focus areas in our strategic plan, and I realised that a certain level of confidence in English is a prerequisite to profit from youth opportunities that already exist. As AEGEEans we try to prevent the emergence of a ‘lost generation’. I believe that as AEGEEans, it is our responsibility to include all young Europeans in the scope of our activities. ”

 The young people from the AEGEE community all over Europe know English as a second language as they are always using it in writing reports for AEGEE Europe, reading the AEGEEan or mostly by participating to European events.  Loes believes that we should all speak from our own experience about the times we encounter this language barrier and combine our knowledge in order to define the real problem: “AEGEEans can contribute by sharing their knowledge and opinions on didactics. In what way is English taught in different countries: is it interactive or passive, is it focussed on grammar, listening and/or communication? Which didactics do we believe to be the most successful? We can also discuss what initiatives we can think of to provide students with opportunities to practice English. Think of language tandems with Erasmus students, ‘language courses’ as international events, the more ideas the merrier! By combining our knowledge, we can create a clear picture of the average level of English of youth in different European countries, as well as an understanding of successful (and unsuccessful) didactics. We could share this information with shareholders (schools, universities) so that they know how to improve their English education. Moreover, we can improve the situation by starting a lobby to raise awareness for the need of a ‘European standard’ of English on a European scale, while coming up with activities through which members and outsiders can practice English on a local scale”

Loes was considering the possibility of initiating a lobby towards the European Union urging a ‘European standard’ for the level of English of students all over Europe, but, of course, this will depend on the reactions of the topic during the Agora. She will be quite busy in the future year as ACTie and maybe Network Commission, the latter depending on the election, and will not be able to assume the role of Content Manager, but she is quite confident that the matter will intrige people who will want to break the language barriers.

Written by Gabriela Cioata, AEGEE-Bucuresti