The year 2020 has been a weird, upsetting and unprecedented one, for the AEGEE community as much as for the rest of the world. The pandemic of Covid-19 has forced us to adapt and find new and innovative ways to still stay connected, both locally and globally.

AEGEE has proven nothing can stop it and that its members are a resourceful bunch! We survived, we adapted and we overcame! The proof is in the activities both at local and at the European level. It is true that we lost our signature events – no awesome activities and exchanges – but that doesn’t mean we stayed still. 

The motivation and the AEGEEan spirit we showed in the last live event – European Planning Meeting 2020 (EPM), Barcelona, 5-9th February – accompanied us though the rest of this peculiar year. With our new Action Agenda drafted and our new focus areas established – Climate Emergency, Mental Health, Political Activism and Social Equity – we set course to the turbulent waters of 2020!

First stop: the very first ever Online General Assembly in the history of AEGEE, Spring Agora Yerevan! Though we did not have the chance to discover “the sunniest city in Europe” and its country, Armenia, we did see the spirit of their people. And we liked it so much that they were selected once again for a remake of the event! May 2021 will take us to the country in the middle of the Caucasus mountain range! 

New people were elected for the positions in Europe during the online event (members did heartily follow the event’s motto “you decide”) and new steps were taken towards the progress of our association and its role in the Union. 

Europe on Track (EoT) also decided to join the online craze and we got: 20 online sessions, 52 hours of workshops and participants from 30 different countries, most of them in Europe, but also in Africa and Asia. It was challenging, but they did deliver, and raised awareness on the topics of mental health and gender equality. Thank you so much to the team for all your hard work, you guys outshined adversities!

AEGEE became a proud member of Citizens Take Over Europe Coalition (www.citizenstakeover.eu) It isn’t only our organization – as we’re one of the 50 that came together amidst the recent pandemic of the spring of 2020 – that roots for a borderless Europe and believes we have a say in the design of our “continent”. It is a step forward, and towards new directions. 

The year 2020 was also a year without our Summer University program. We waited for the Sun as much as we could, but finally, though it broke our hearts, we decided to do what was better and cancelled it. As devastating as it was, we are certain this will only mean that the next one (we know it’s going to happen) is going to be doubly spectacular. Summer 2021, don’t let us down! 

Not content with only one online Agora, we got another one in Autumn, and an Extraordinary one soon after. Yes, this year has been one of adversities, and was not gonna let us go so easily – it even took Agora Moscow 2020 from us. But what can we say, in AEGEE, we laugh at misfortunes and transform them into growth opportunities. There’s still much road ahead, but we are ready to take on the task. As the saying goes, “one step at a time” and we have many (new) bodies – FRC, SPC, DPC, StC, SC – and its spirited members to take those steps, and Moscow is ready to host the event again! Agora Moscow 2021 here we come! 

Veronika Chmelárová was chosen as a board member to represent AEGEE in the European Movement International. With her vote, she represented our organization in the annual Federal Assembly, where member organizations deliberated policy and the direction the organization would take in the upcoming year. The biggest challenge: retaining and promoting our shared European values. 

And, of course, we cannot make a true summary of this year without mentioning our awesome locals! Despite all adversities, you stood strong and kept organizing so many activities – physical and online – and did not even let a pandemic stop you from spreading the AEGEE-spirit. What can we say? You make it all seem possible! And you do make it all possible. 

Here’s to hoping the next year will be much more different from this one! Stay healthy and safe, and may we may all meet somewhere in Europe!

We wish you Happy New Year 2021!

“Cinema, Europe, and AEGEE… What kind of relationship exists between them?” You may have asked yourself this question when you saw the title of the article… and no, it is not a joke. This is the start to a brief series of four articles about the links that exist between cinema, Europe, and AEGEE to understand the history of this organization in the continent over its life of more than thirty years, from the 1980s  to the 2010s.

Before we start, perhaps you have another question: why use cinema to explain the history of Europe and the development of AEGEE? Well, because cinema is a useful tool which helps us understand the society of many different countries. Taking some of the research work that has been done, some historians like Marc Ferro (1924), Pierre Sorlin (1933), or Shlomo Sand (1946), it shows surfaces and shadows that reveal the attitudes of the people; regardless of the place and the period in which we are studying. This is what Ferro calls a “counter-analysis” of the society, with elements and aspects that were hidden until they are revealed some years later.

This is one of the aims of this series, written in a way that is  easy to read for any kind of reader, as a way to divulge these three elements. In the first chapter, we start with the 1980s (travelling with a DeLorean, of course!) and we talk about the one film that shows the general situation in the continent: The Name of the Rose (Jean Jacques Annaud, 1986), based on the novel written by Umberto Eco (1932-2016) in 1980, and one of the most successful best-sellers of the end of the 20th Century.

Northern Italy, year of 1327: Twenty years before the arrival of the Black Plague, in a Europe which was in a complete crisis, even in the Catholic Church. Two Franciscan monks, William of Baskerville (Sean Connery), and Adso of Melk (Christian Slater), arrive at Benedictine abbey where there have been  some mysterious murders. Monks and peasants, deeply afraid because of the recent events, think that behind these crimes was the Devil itself. However, William, a skilled investigator, with the help of the young Adso finds that these crimes were linked to the library where some manuscripts and palimpsests of remarkable authors of the Antiquity were copied and translated through generations.

During the film, William is the object of the mistrust of the authorities of the abbey due to his findings, like the abbot (Michael Lonsdale) or the venerable Jorge of Burgos (Feodor Chaliapin, Jr.), and is accused of the crimes of two heretic monks, Remigio da Varagine (Helmut Qualtinger) and Salvatore (Ron Pearlman). An anonymous woman is in love with Adso (Valentina Vargas), and the protagonist has to fight in a trial against an old enemy: Bernardo Gui (F. Murray Abraham), an inquisitor based on a real character of the period who would use fear to manipulate defendants and juries and obtain his victories in trials.

What is behind the story of The Name of the Rose? Set in the 1300s, it speaks more about the 1980s than about the beginning of the Late Middle Ages. Firstly, around the abbey, there is an atmosphere of ignorance and fear built by a decadent Church in which people like Adso can be lost in a labyrinth built by these two elements. In the library, hidden in a big tower, there are many secrets in books that, if read, can destroy that state of things and make people think freely. The main character mentions, for instance, Aristotle’s missing essay Comedy, the second part of the Poetic in which the Greek philosopher talked about the benefits of laughing and fun as a base of comedies. There is a control over what is published and, at the same time, the minds of people are manipulated by the authorities until the moment of the rebellion, which was initiated after decades of abuse by heresy.

Umberto Eco, one of the most important professors of Media, Language, and Semiotic from the 1960s, wrote the book inspired by his studies and previous research to show the power of the words in controlling people, amplified by mass media like television, radio, and the press. And that control was possible in a world in which two great powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, had a long rivalry based on controlling two big blocks, using espionage, making military alliances, supporting different regimes to obtain strategic victories, and holding a terrific nuclear arsenal since 1945.

The Cold War between these superpowers was still dangerous and attempts of creating a united Europe were impossible since the creation of the European Economic Community in 1957 by the signing of the Treaty of Rome. For Western European countries integration was a goal, while for the Eastern European countries was controversial. Some people wanted to join the EEC as a way to solve the political, economical, social, and cultural difficulties their countries had since the 1970s. However, others wanted to continue living under the communist regimes, mainly for the fear of what was beyond the iron curtain. Workers’ unions and political movements opposing communist regimes, right from Poland to Romania, and from Bulgaria to the G.D.R., fought against them in a period of control of liberties of citizens. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev (1931), tried to reform the structures of the country through the Perestroika policy that ironically accelerated the end of the system in a few years time.

1980s would go down to be considered as the decade in which, by the same mix of fear and ignorance of the abbey of The Name of the Rose, walls were built everywhere: in politics, economy, society, culture, language… Some of them were erected after the economic crisis of 1973 in which many countries recovered after dramatic changes in industry and in trading. But at the same time, some walls were being destroyed. Businesses and companies from different countries established the basis of the globalized world by creating a money-making culture that is still working today. New inventions, like P.C’s and mobile phones, even global TV channels like CNN or MTV, were used for the first time, beginning a new era of mass media. New N.G.O.’s increased their activities in the defence of global peace in a world filled with  local wars (Amnesty International), and for the preservation of the environment (Greenpeace). Walls also existed in the field of the sexual orientation, the A.I.D.S. epidemic being a real problem which awakened  the solidarity among victims.

By the time the EEC became the European Community with the signing of the Single European Act of 1987 which was formed by twelve countries (Greece entered in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986), AEGGE was born. It was founded on April 16th 1985, by Franck Biancheri (1961-2012), a French student of Political Sciences.  He had the idea of founding this young students’ organization –first called EGEE and then AEGEE in 1988- along  with the development of the Erasmus Programme in which international exchanges between students from different universities was possible. The main structure was created, the first antennae were founded by passionate people, and the first agorae took place, making possible the exchange of ideas, ways of life, and experiences that made AEGEE what it is, along with the celebration of the first Summer Universities.

In those first five years of existence, with a lot of optimism, and with the confidence of creating a better and borderless Europe, AEGEE entered into an age in which the continent experienced a mix of joy and fear. If somebody wants to understand AEGEE, it is necessary to understand the spirit of the 1980s decade. In a humble way, the first students that were part of it helped realise these ideas and projects, destroying the walls of a continent artificially divided by that feeling that Eco spoke of, and Annaud showed, in The Name of the Rose. Ignorance and fear always goes against those who create them, and that happened and we have seen that happen on November 9th 1989, in Berlin. That was the beginning of a new era and AEGEE would be a part of it.

Every year, on the 11th of November, the Network Commission celebrates its birthday, and this year, they turn twenty. To celebrate this special occasion, we interviewed a number of former Network Commissioners: Lia Touska, Mario Galea, Hanna Alajõe and Andrea Schmelz, to tell us about their time in the office, and to see how much the commission has changed.

The AEGEEan: Could you introduce yourself?

Lia: I am Lia Touska from AEGEE-Kastoria and AEGEE-Sofia. I was a NetCommie in the period starting from Agora Patra until AgorAsturias.

Mario: My name is Mario Galea, I am from AEGEE-Valleta.

Hanna: I am Hanna from AEGEE-Tartu and I have been a NetCommie until very recently, as my term has finished just after Agora Bergamo.

Andrea: I am Andrea Schmelz and still a happy member of AEGEE-Passau. I was a NetCommie from October 2014 until November 2015.

How was it being a NetCommie during your term?

Mario: At the beginning, we were eleven people who had to start working with their own locals immediately after the elections, in a mostly individualistic approach to our network. During our mandate, we changed the term periods to allow more team building and knowledge transfer, before actually starting our work. We have built a more unified approach towards the whole network with one functioning platform, a single massive working plan and one activity report, acting like a real body and not as individuals.

Andrea: It was a lot of work, almost like a part-time job, and luckily very rewarding. Most of the work happened online, but the best moments were when you actually went out in the field and met the members. AEGEE’s strength is the impact we make on the individuals and this is something you constantly experience as a NetCommie. To a large extent, the NetCom is responsible for a lot of administrative work, but it is also a hub of different political views and values. One should never underestimate the diversity of the network that influences our work – it is a huge challenge and learning experience for any NetCom team.

Lia: Being a NetCommie was, and still is, the best experience someone can come across. I took care of locals from two different areas (Dutch-speaking and Greek-speaking), I was always there when they had questions and I visited them during my NetCom trip. Lastly, the team spirit that we had within our NetCom team was the trigger of friendships that have been lasting until now.

How was this different from now?

Hanna: I think being a NetCommie during my term was quite similar to what it is now, and this is because my term is still very recent. The strange thing about being part of the NetCom is that, during your term, you can have two totally different experiences, as every half a year half of the team changes. That makes working in the NetCom so hard to explain. The group dynamics can be so different depending on who is part of your team, which locals you are working with, which apps are malfunctioning on Podio… et cetera.

Lia: Back in my time, the term of NetCommies was not equal, LTCs and RTCs were not antenna criteria yet and it was hard to find a hosting local for a NWM.

Andrea: Since my term was not so long ago, there have not been too many drastic changes. We have moved the entire work during our term to Podio, professionalised quite a lot and coordinated the work more as a team, rather than 11 individuals. I am glad to see that the NetCom kept this up, as it aims for a much better understanding of the network from a broad perspective. In this way, the ideas which have been developed before and during our term are kept alive and in progress by the current NetCom, and this really secures continuity. The present NetCom is very strong in supporting the network, it is inspiring! I am curious to see what comes out of the Antenna Criteria reform.

Why, if impactful, do you think these changes were necessary?

Andrea: I believe that if we want to have an impact as an entire association using the strengths of our network, then we also need to handle the network as a whole. I think the changes in the administration and coordination of our work helped us in monitoring this common impact, and understanding the needs across our entire network. In my opinion, society demands of us to keep up in handling such a large amount of members across so many countries, while still embracing diversity.

Lia: I believe that those changes have been impactful, because NetCommies have enough time for knowledge transfer to the new generation now, and more and more locals are organising LTCs and RTCs implementing the Strategy of Learning and Training. Also, the NetCommies do not struggle to find a local to host their NWMs anymore. Overall, the quality of the Network has been improved.

Mario: The changes we made were necessary, because only with a unified Network Commission, one can ultimately aim at a more unified network. Without a solid common vision, in line with the vision of AEGEE-Europe, the NetCom cannot effectively be that bridge that ties locals together.

What did you like the most about being a NetCommie?

Andrea: Lots of hugging happening during the NetCom trips and events.

 Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

SU  organisers have given us some amazingly creative names for their Summer Universities, which made us enthusiastic about them; made us partially, decide to choose for their SU, or made us write an article about the 11 SUrprising Facts about SU names. This time we’ve decided to look at the names of the past years and see which ones were the funniest. Here are the Nine Funniest SU Names Ever.

9.   50 shades of Russian…, AEGEE-Voronezh, 2013

This SU is, of course, named after 50 shades of Grey, a novel by E.L. James that was published just one year before, and made AEGEEans everywhere freak out, when they realised that it had become their mum’s favourite book. AEGEE-Voronezh, however, was not so easily deterred, and provided a Russian language course that required kinky toys, such as “notebooks and pens” (holy cow!) They also provided an entertaining cultural programme and some Russian cooking, which, with the vague expectation of BDSM, would mean that instead of getting whipped, you’d have to chuck down four gallons of Borscht..? For example: ‘The next morning my pee was red and I thought she’d given me a urinary tract infection, but then I realised: it was because of something else we did last night #50shadesofRussian’

8.   Don’t try this at home (you’ll do it here) a.k.a. ‘Fun, fun, fun’, AEGEE-Iași, 2001
This name comes from a time that most SUs were still primarily known by their course themes, just a couple of their programme’s bullet points instead of their ‘official names’. So, AEGEE- Iași’s ‘Fun, fun, fun’ is a theme that sticks out way better than “German language and culture” or “Aegean sea biological life”… two actual themes for two actual SUs. AEGEE- Iași’s SU is therefore one of the first that did not appeal to a participant’s objective interests, but to their emotional needs. Take this quote from the actual promotional text for their 2001 Summer University: “Iași doesn’t have the Eiffel Tower or the White House, nor the Big Ben or the Empire State Building, but Iași has the spirit”. Yes, ‘the Spirit’ that builds you picture in your wildest fantasies. The one that was specially built by the great Bernini during his ‘make-believe period’. AEGEE-Iași, your description may have been superficial, but your attitude was genuinely exquisite.

7.   Across the UAniverse, AEGEE-Kharkiv, e.a., 2015

Instead of a movie about a bunch of aimless, young people who sing Beatles-songs, this is a Summer university about a bunch of aimless, young people who sing Beatles-songs. ‘Across the UAniverse’ took its participants over one thousand kilometres across the Ukraine, to the cities of its organising Antennae: AEGEE-Kharkiv, AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk, AEGEE-Kyïv, AEGEE-Ivano-Frankivsk & AEGEE-Lviv. It was a loving story between man and country, without the country having any way of consenting to it. And it, maybe, went something like this: ‘Girl’, ‘I want to hold your hand’, if you had a hand, cause ‘all you need is love’. ‘Don’t let me down’ and ‘hold me tight’. I know this trip is long, but, ‘with a little help from my friends’, ‘it won’t be long’. Remember, after we had ‘come together’, I complimented you on your landscape, and you euphorically yelled ‘strawberry fields forever’! But when I later said ‘happiness is a warm gun’, you angrily replied: ‘let it be’; I’ve had enough of that sh*t since March 2014.

 
6.   Move that ass!!!, AEGEE-Nijmegen & AEGEE-‘s Hertogenbosch, 1998

Yes, this was the official name of the actual Summer University of AEGEE-Nijmegen and AEGEE-‘s Hertogenbosch in 1998. The Course Subject during this SU was “Sports & Culture”, which can only mean that lap dancing was finally made the national sport of the Netherlands. Moreover, take a look at the programme description: “we are going to make you sweat!” only needs one exclamation point; the SU’s title needs three. One exclamation point already means that you’re yelling; three means being in a wild panic in a loud room. It’s like some handsome figure is about to grope you in a club, and you then realise that he or she is actually your cousin: ‘move that ass!!!’

5.   The Undutchables, AEGEE-Amsterdam, 1997

This name comes from a time, when chiefly known by their course theme. Like we’ve seen before most de facto names for Summer Universities were either a couple of bullet points for their programme or the name of the host city. This makes AEGEE-Amsterdam’s the first SU on (digital) record that named itself using a creative phrase. Undutchable, of course, is 1990s slang for a person, who is hyped up, extremely drunk or horny, and thus loses a certain level of greediness. For example, ‘After chucking a wooden shoe, filled with Heineken and Jenever, and getting high from a bong made out of bicycle-parts, Michiel refused to go to a cheap, Dutch prostitute. Instead, he spent all his money on some kinky, more exotic stuff. #Undutchable, #50shadesofRussian’.

4.   macedonIANA JONES, AEGEE-Skopje, 2004

This one had to be for the fans of all three movies. (The fourth one only came out in 2008). Temple of Doom, for instance, was a really significant bit of cinema, because it showed young girls that you don’t have to be a good actress to get a lead in films: you just have to sleep with the director (look it up, true story). This Summer University by AEGEE-Skopje, took you pass archaeological sites, over adventurous terrain, and even included an “Indiana Jones hat and whip” in their list of teaching equipments. From what can be gathered from the promotional story, all participants were literally set on a series of clues that would get them closer to the final, hidden treasure; just like in the movies. A great name for a seemingly great SU.

3.   Opa, Dnipro Style!, AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk, 2013

Another SU that jumped onto the pop-culture-bandwagon in 2013 was AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk with their parody of ‘Gangnam Style’ (2012) by South Korean artist, PSY. Regardless, AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk stayed true to its name and included a dance workshop in the programme of their SU. Check out their promotional film, right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy8IBZbIZrk (That’s it; this video is funnier than anything we could facetiously make up)

2.   SUN SEA SEX FUNFUNFUN-TASTIC, AEGEE-Bari, 2003

In 2003, AEGEE-Bari took a page from AEGEE-Iași’s SU and upgraded it, adding an alliteration of the ‘s’ sound and a suffix to the ‘triple fun’. One might have a lot of issues with this name, first and foremost, because Summer Universities ought to be primarily about the cultural education of its participants. Nevertheless, this article is about fun names, and AEGEE-Bari had certainly put in a lot of creative effort into theirs and, therefore, deserves to be commended. However,… just one tip, guys. Basically, everybody knows a number of participants goes on a SU with the expectation to get laid, but this is something that nobody is ever supposed to explicitly mention. Unless… you somehow meant that, on your SU, you, in some way, want to make the sun have sex with the sea. In which case, let me be the first to tell you: intercourse can be too hot and too moist… I know you’re Italian, but believe me. Anyhow, regardless of the idea behind this SU name; keep it classy, you guys.

1.   SUrvive me!, AEGEE-Poznań & AEGEE-Rzeszòw, 2005

The winner of our nine funniest SU names of all time has to be SUrvive me! It might not be comically funny, but it definitely is cleverly funny. It is a smartly imagined, daring and short name that immediately grabs the reader’s attention. In just two words, it’s both scary and daring, with the exclamation mark, adding even more immediate tension. Moreover, it’s not a participant asking the question: ‘can this SU survive me’. It’s the SU, not even asking the question or sending an invitation; it merely commands you to survive its outdoor, survival programme. This title immediately summarises a two-week event in just ten characters: it’s a true mastery in minimalism.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Incredible things always happen during an Agora. The AEGEEan checked old material and asked some old members for interesting stories about this issue, a funny way to approach the upcoming Spring Agora Bergamo and read some legends of the past. 

The Agora can be something legendary for those who have never been there, since they probably heard many stories before departure. For those who already experienced it at least once, it is something incredible: a thousand of people from all over Europe, a huge common commitment, great discussions, fabulous encounters, moments of sharing and great parties. For the people organising it, it is something very different. More than one year ago, I had the honour of being an organiser of Autumn Agora Cagliari. If you ask me to say what it looks like, I would probably say tiring, challenging and agitating. If you ask me why, the answer is easy: anything can happen, even if you planned it in detail.

For every organiser there is always a precise moment when s/he realises that the event started, in my case was the following episode:

On the 28^th of October 2014, a sponsor gave us two cars and a big van. They were quite big and none of us had used a van before. We drove them to pick up CD members at the airport and, after greeting them, we put the luggage inside the last one. Once ready to drive it, an alarm rang showing that the trunk was open, we closed it many times without any result and then we thought it was a van problem. Of course the reality was very different, because as soon as we had entered the highway we heard dozens of horns around us: two bags of our former president Paul Smits broke out in the street forcing uncountable cars to make extraordinary riggings and we had to walk in the middle of the street to take them back.

Anything can happen

After that moment, many stories I heard about disasters during previous Agorae came to my mind. Maybe you do not know but a lot of weird things happened during our statutory events in the past. Not all the things regarded only organisers or were bad, some of there were actually very positive. But of course at that moment I started thinking about the worst possible scenarios.

To start: one of the things to know about the Agora is that it didn’t always look like it does today, at the first ones there were not that many participants. During Agora Salerno 1989, about two or three hundred participants were present and local organisers picked them up at the train station by car! It was the very same Agora during which the Berlin wall fell down and a participant said: “We did not know about the fall of the Wall. There were no mobiles, no one saw the news. I read about it on Monday after the Agora”.

In 1994, Agora Montpellier started at a plenary hall but finished on the market square of the French city. Why? According to our source “the freshly re-elected President of AEGEE-Europe, Dorian Selz, did not accept the election result, because he got only 52% of the votes. Before a new candidate could be voted, all the members of the Agora had to leave the building since it was closing time. So they gathered in front of the building and elected the successor, Christina Thorsson, there”. Still, it was not the worst result ever for a presidential candidate. In 1998 Stefan Seidel from AEGEE-Augsburg was elected with a poor 38%. At first he did not want to accept it and said: “I will go home now”. But people convinced him to stay in office. A bad mistake since at the next Agora his CD got a vote of confidence and lost it.

The first day of the Agora in Athina in November 2002 was overshadowed by a blackout. Suddenly the plenary hall went dark. In this case, the reaction was amazing since organisers lightened a couple of hundreds of small candles and gave the Juridical Commission president, Yuriy Tokarsky, a flashlight which he held on the Agora booklet so that President Tomak Helbin could present the CD report. It was accepted with an overwhelming majority. The organisers of autumn Agora Zaragoza in 2003 had bad luck. They could not get the promised location and had to move the Agora to an old fair instead. The participants were sleeping inside that giant hall, when one of them turned on a switch, which he mistook for a light switch.

It was the switch for the ventilation and a dead bird, which had ended its life near the ventilator, fell down – right on the sleeping bag of a Dutch participant. The history had a revival in the last years when AEGEE-Zaragoza was chosen as host of the Autumn Agora 2013, some people in fact wondered if participants were going to stay in the same place again: it was not, the event was hosted in a brand new structure used for Expo Zaragoza 2008 and the organisation was simply amazing!

An incredible year: 2006!

If there is a year champion for incredible statutory events, that’s definitely 2006, since in both the Agorae which took place an incredible fact occured. At Agora Warsawa 2006, about twenty couples which found a lonely corner in a garage to spend some nice time with the respective partner: they got registered by a surveillance camera and watched live stream by the guards.

As this history can be familiar to the readers, not so known is the case of Agora Napoli 2006: in the late afternoon of the 1st of November the water boiler plant of the Fair broke down. It was the All Saint’s day, national holiday in Italy, and the same is the 2^nd of November (All Souls’ day). Organisers desperately tried to find a plumber but it resulted in an impossible mission! One of them said: “The only solution to find a plumber in Napoli on the 2^nd of November is to look for him at a cemetery”. The situation was not fixed and participants started a huge protest because of cold water in the showers.

Recent years

Lately there have not been such big cases if we exclude huge delays in the agenda, a vote of confidence, some locals which left the plenary for protest, a broken motorbike in Agora Patra 2014 or participants who had to move their luggage because of handball match (they were already informed about it). These can be considered as funny or sad thing things which happened. Except for two cases.

Most of us probably remember the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, which stopped the flight traffic from the 14^th till 23^rd of April of the same year. I guess you can imagine what happened: Agora Leiden was taking place from the 15^th till 18^th of the very same month: the perfect moment to destroy the travel plans of hundreds of AEGEEans, especially for their route back home, and create difficulties for organisers who had to take care of them.

If we also consider the CD members as organisers, since AEGEE-Europe is a partner organiser of the Agora, we cannot forget Agora Struga 2011 organised by AEGEE-Skopje. Because of an argue between the CD and local organisers, who increased the event fee one month before the event, for the last days of the event, the organisers disappeared leaving the CD and some other improvised helper managing the whole organisation – starting from the wake up till the welcome pack preparations!

The good God of AEGEE resides in Athina

It is possible that some organisers of Agora Bergamo or Autumn Agora Chisinau are getting scared while reading this article. In that case we should also remind them that AEGEE has a good God ready to solve every situation…and probably he is a member of AEGEE-Athina. Somehow the Greek local managed to solve not just a difficult situation but even two!

In the far 1992, this local organised an Agora which not took place in Athens but in Kōs, a Dodecanese island in front of the Turkish coast. You may wonder why they wanted to host the event there and the answer is quite easy: Agora was taking place in Spring, in Greece the weather is always nice so let’s gather all the participants in Athens to make a nice boat trip all together! While the organisation was running perfectly, only four days before the event an organiser switched on the TV and saw the sailor’s Labour Union president declaring started an unlimited duration strike because of high taxes. A panic attack caught the Greek organisers which started thinking about all the participants meandering around the Pireaus port and possible solutions to avoid it. One of them, was to meet the same president of the Union Labour – which they did but without results. The second solution, which now can sound very funny but probably in those moments was not, was to get an appointment with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and ask him to talk with the minister for the Defence to get a military vessel and transport all the participants to Kōs. Through some contact they succeeded to get the appointment.

At 11 am, two days before the Agora. The minister is taking part in a high level meeting with the Greek PM and the president of the Republic. Organisers are in front of the office ready to meet him, but at 11.05 they see everyone leaving the building and packing their things. They wonder why and they ask one of the officials “Is he coming?” – “No he is not coming at all, he just resigned 5 minutes ago because of disagreements on foreign policies”.

In case you wonder how participants reached the location, the story says that the greek minister of Finances (of course pure coincidence) accepted the requests of the labour union the day right before the boat departure. That’s how Agora Kōs could take place.

In case you do not believe to this story, you can download the 10th AEGEE anniversary booklet and read about it there (p. 92).

To end

Dear future Agora organisers, as you could see, also in the darkest situations there is always light and space for hope, and the people of AEGEE-Athina can confirm it for sure!

It has not been an isolated case since we also heard that while spring Agora in Barcelona 1999 was taking place overshadowed by the Nato air strikes against Serbia (with lots of people arriving late, because of many flights cancelled or rerouted), among the participants was Jasna Bogdanovic, President of AEGEE-Novi Sad. She took the opportunity to leave the country and was hosted by the President of AEGEE-Barcelona. They fell in love and got married.

So we wish you good luck and may the good God of AEGEE be with you!

Written by Mattia Abis, AEGEE-Cagliari

This spring, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca is organising a thematic conference about the benefits and/or disadvantages of a Europe without borders. During the event, they will commemorate Franck Biancheri, the founder of AEGEE, and celebrate their 25th Anniversary. Bellow you can find more information about the event that will be organised in collaboration with Your Vision for EUrope Project.

The AEGEE congress in Paris, April 1985, was the result of Franck Biancheri and Philippe Micaelli’s hard work. Without their drive and initiative, we could not have experienced all the great things that AEGEE has to offer. Franck Biancheri was passionate about the things he believed in and, as a leader, he inspired many people, irreversibly changing the lives of thousands of students all over Europe.

In order to keep Franck Biancheri’s memory alive, AEGEE and the Association des Amis de Franck Biancheri (AAFB), created the Franck Biancheri Year Award, an event in which an AEGEE antenna honors his memory and remembers his contribution to the foundation of our organiation. This year, AAFB changed the name into Franck Biancheri Award.

Even though the award was given in order for an antenna to organise events during the whole year, in 2016 they changed the concept a bit, and in spring, when all nature comes back to life, one event will be organised by the winner local of the award.

AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca has the opportunity to collaborate with Your Vision for Europe Project to create this event, which will consist a three-day thematic conference “Borderless Europe: Blessing or Burden” in order for the ones to present how to explore the benefits and disadvantages of a borderless Europe. The event will take place between the 6th and 9th of May in the former European Youth Capital and is aiming to gather 50 participants interested in the life of the founder of AEGEE and in discovering the life of Cluj-Napoca, from all over Europe, as well as AEGEE members and non-AEGEE members.

The conference includes panel discussions, workshops and lectures on the following topics:

• Evolution of the European Community
• Schengen: Have Europe’s borders really disappeared?
• Understanding diversity
• A look from outside the European Union
• Expansion of the EU (2004) and what will happen to the Balkans or Turkey?
• How can EU citizens really understand the visa regulations?
• Opportunities for youth outside the Union

Being the first antenna in Romania and one of the first in Western Europe, this year on 9th May, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca will celebrate its 25th Anniversary that will also be part of the event.

For the organisers, the preparations for the event have already started and they are waiting for amazing people to spend beautiful days in their city, learn more about Europe’s external borders and Europe without borders, commemorate Franck Biancheri and celebrate their 25th Anniversary.

You can apply here.

Read more about the event here.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

The famous German composer, musician and educator, Carl Orff, referred to fate as the “empress of the world”. It is the ever-changing force that lifts everyone into the light, or plunges them back into darkness. With this wisdom, let’s take a look at four things that were either lost or achieved within the network of AEGEE.

Why organise just one? When it comes to organising statutory meetings, nobody beats AEGEE-Enschede. It has hosted three Spring Agorae, as well as one Spring Planning Meeting in 2003. Next are AEGEE-Amsterdam with three Spring Agorae, AEGEE-Budapest with three Autumn Agorae, AEGEE-Athina with one Spring and two Autumn Agorae (the former taking place on the island of Kos, near the Turkish coast in 1992), and AEGEE-Valletta with one Spring Agora and two European Boards’ Meetings (EBM).

End of the Dutch Streak. During each decennial anniversary year (meaning 1995, 2005, and 2015) a Dutch antenna organised the Spring Agora: AEGEE-Amsterdam in 1995, and AEGEE-Enschede in 2005. However, by organising AgorAsturias in Gijón in the spring of 2015, this coincidental occurrence was ended by AEGEE-Oviedo. The Dutch city of Leiden was one of the cities that hosted the 2015 revival of the Night of the Seven Antennae, but this event also showed a loss for AEGEE as a whole. Of the five cities that hosted the original Night, two of them, Nice and Strasbourg, no longer have antennae, and one, London, had its antenna revived only in 2013.

All Summer Universities (SU) lead to Amsterdam. The summer of 1997 was a remarkable one for the existing antennae at that time in the Netherlands. Everyone, except AEGEE-Nijmegen, organised a Summer University, but the content of their programmes was somewhat weird and monotonous. Almost all SUs (Delft, Enschede, Groningen, and Leiden/Utrecht) organised excursions to Amsterdam. Even the no longer existing antenna in Rotterdam organised a Summer University, which offered its participants, of course, a trip to Amsterdam. AEGEE-Enschede, furthermore, listed “everywhere” as one of their programme’s locations. And AEGEE-Utrecht, lastly, organised another SU in 1997, right after the one they had organised in collaboration with Leiden.

Members without antennae. Because of their merit, achievements within, or support for AEGEE some regular members can be recognised by the Agora as honorary members of AEGEE. However, due to the fact that  honorary membership is perpetual, these members are still part of AEGEE, even after the termination of their original antenna or their own life for that matter. Franck Biancheri, for instance, is thus still technically a member of AEGEE, despite being dead for three years. Examples of members without antennae are Kamala Schütze (AEGEE-Grießen & AEGEE-Termoli, both no longer existing), and Gunnar Erth (AEGEE-Szeged).

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Many things have changed about AEGEE during its thirty year existence. However, instead of looking back at its rich history, this article will take a look at five things concerning AEGEE, and by extension Europe, from 2015 that you might not already know.

Improbable spelling. Everyone who is participating in the Agora in Kiev in October may have noticed that the local organising it is called AEGEE-Kyïv. This seemingly weird spelling has everything to do with the spelling rules for AEGEE locals. The rule, in a nutshell, is that all AEGEE locals must use the local or national name for the city, in which they’re located, hence not the English name for the city. Then this name has to be converted to the Latin alphabet, if it’s not already. This is why AEGEE-Киïв is written as Kyïv, instead of Kiev. Other examples are AEGEE-Москва as Moskva, instead of Moskow, and  AEGEE-Αθήνα as Athina, instead of Athens. AEGEE-Minsk, however, is still AEGEE-Minsk, because the transcription of the local name happens to be the same as the English one.

Not all countries are represented. Members from various locals have or are going to visit at least one of the two Agorae during this anniversary year, while some countries are not represented by members of their locals at all. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Montenegro are, for instance, not represented, but to be fair, all of these countries have only contacts or contact-antennae. The two countries with AEGEE-antennae that have not been represented at either Agora are Albania and Lithuania.***

No locals in Scandinavia. AEGEE-Helsinki, of course, is still an active and vibrant antenna in the network. But Helsinki, or Finland for that matter, is not part of Scandinavia, but of the larger geographical region of Fennoscandia. According to the 2015 version of AEGEE’s map of the network, the last AEGEE local in Scandinavia, AEGEE-København, no longer exists, thus AEGEE’s presence in Scandinavian is missing.

King of democracies. One of the central themes, and slogan of the autumn Agora in Kyïv is ‘rebuilding democracy’. However, of all the countries in Europe that are considered to be “flawless democracies”, according to the 2014 democracy index, half are technically monarchies. These are Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, the United Kingdom and Spain. The three countries in Europe that by the same index are considered to be authoritarian regimes are Belarus, Russia, and Azerbaijan.

This land is mine. Considering the theme of ‘rebuilding democracy’, the most infamous land dispute in Europe of 2015 is arguably the question of which country has the rightful claim to the Crimean Peninsula, located in the northern waters of the Black Sea. This, as should be noted, is not the only disputed land area in Europe at the moment. Most notable are the self-declared independent regions of Transnistria in the east of Moldova, and the Nagorno-Karabakh in the west of Azerbaijan, and some disputed border areas between Croatia and Serbia. Some may know one of these unclaimed areas as the location of the self-proclaimed independent and libertarian territory of Liberland.

Many other interesting events concerning AEGEE, and by extension all of Europe, have of course happened in 2015. Feel free to comment about those you think that should have been mentioned below.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

*** Data were retrieved using the participants list of both Agorae, that can be found here.

This year is a very important one for AEGEE. Of course every one is important in it’s own way, but in 2015, AEGEE celebrates it’s 30th Anniversary. It was celebrated in almost every local, everywhere in its own way. We tried to summarise some of the events and the ways that this historical moment was celebrated among antennae.

The 16th of April, 1985 is the day when AEGEE was founded. EGEE(Etats Generaux Des Etudiants de l’Europe) conference organised  in cooperation with five Grands Écoles in Paris, was the one that marked the beginning of AEGEE. The whole process was led by Franck Biancheri and all the students who were involved wanted to turn the EGEE conference into an organisation in order to create a platform for young Europeans.

The aim of the founders was to create a platform so the European matters could be discussed and the youth could present their ideas to institutions on national and European level. Because it was not an idea wide spread among Europeans at that time, many students established antennae in their own cities.

The name EGEE is related to the Aegean Sea where democracy was created 2,000 years ago, but because it was confused with a French company, in 1988, the name was changed into what we all know today as AEGEE.

This year AEGEE celebrated 30 years of success, great projects and development. The date itself could not pass by unmarked, so there a big event was organised, The Night of the Seven Antennae, in order to recreate the conference that took place at the creation of AEGEE. This event was organised by seven locals: AEGEE-Aachen, AEGEE-Bergamo, AEGEE-Catania, AEGEE-Eskisehir, AEGEE-Kyiv, AEGEE-Leiden and AEGEE-Sofia and took place on 18th of April. The motto was 7 cities, 1 event.

The original conference was called Nights of Europe, and took place on 7th March 1986 in seven cities, different from the ones in which the 30th Anniversary took place: München, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Bruxelles and Nice.

The Night of the Seven Antennae was connected through live streaming on the night of 18th of April. The ones involved, even if they watched the live stream relived the moments of the 30 years of AEGEE and connected to the night of 1986.

Many antennae celebrated the 30th anniversary in their own way. AEGEE-Brescia for example made a video with a short history about AEGEE, how the organisation made it through to today, and how AEGEEans are forever young because they help to create a border-less Europe.

AEGEE-Bratislava celebrated this event with a dinner and a small panel discussion about how the youth can get involved in the the EU and what future is awaiting the EU. Of course they could not forget about the cake as well.

AEGEE-Paris went Back to the Roots between 6th to 8th March. You can read more about it here.

Of course Brussels could not miss the celebration, so the event took place from 8th until 10th of May. The conference had the theme Schuman declaration 65 years later – wishes of the young generation for Europe and on the 8th of May, four panel discussions took place, regarding the European integration: social, political, economic integration – where are we heading?; democratic innovations and active citizenship; jobs and growth; education and learning mobility. The speakers were from the European Commission, representatives of civil society, politicians and students from all over Europe.

There were as well some antennae who did not create an event, but celebrated at a smaller scale, with some discussions about the history of AEGEE or a night out, partying, like AEGEE-Helsinki did.

The celebration among antennae will continue this year, because this moment should be celebrate all throughout the  year, not only on one day and AEGEE-Cagliari is organising one this July.

AEGEE will get older, will contribute to a lot more things that we can imagine, it will change members’ destinies and perspective about different things, it will grow as it did until now. We have to take care of it and do our best so the people that will follow can enjoy the moments and the project like we do. Happy Birthday AEGEE, many members, projects and years ahead!

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca