I’m sure that attending your first statutory event, especially Agora, was a great experience, but at the same time quite a shock; seeing 700 to 1000 AEGEEans gathered for the general assembly of our association, meeting your friends from all over Europe and of course making new ones. While every Agora is different, with a different location, different Chair teams, different participants, one figure stays the same; Gunnar. And then you ask yourself and your fellow AEGEE members; Who is this person taking pictures and posting on Facebook? Why is he still around? What stories and experiences does he possess? Spyros Papadatos from AEGEE-Ioannina interviewed Gunnar Erth and here is the full interview.

Spyros: We always see you active at events, taking pictures and posting on Facebook, but how does a normal day of your everyday life look like?

Gunnar: Currently I am working as editor for two business magazines in Stuttgart. However, at the moment there is no normal life. I decided to quit my job by the end of March 2018, so now I am searching for a new one! I already had some nice job interviews and one of them was successful. All this takes time, that’s why unfortunately I don’t have that much time for the Golden Times these days. Aside from that I am also supporting my mother who unfortunately has some health issues. Also this requires a lot of attention.

You were recently part of the “Project Lab” initiative. Can you share with us a few words about it?

The Project Lab was a training and brainstorming event about developing and organising projects in an AEGEE environment. It was a three-day event that took place right before Agora Catania in the beautiful location of Favara. The local organisation was done by Mario Luparello and his great AEGEE- Agrigento team, the trainers were Réka Salamon, Philipp Blum, my fellow honorary member Olivier Genkin and me. It was an honour to work with all of them!

Why did you decide to be part of it?

I decided to be part of it because a lot of AEGEE members have ideas about great projects, but they are not aware that it is actually really easy to turn them into AEGEE events! Because of this, the number of international thematic events in AEGEE has been in decline for the past ten years. We now tried to put a hold on it, the first Project Lab was only the first step!

We see that several projects that have written AEGEE history, like Europe on Track and Y Vote are now running or will run their 5th and 3rd editions respectively and of course Summer University its 30th edition. How possible is it to reinvent older projects?

It is actually very easy. Lots of international projects could easily take place in these days. I just want to give two very different examples:

• “Understanding Europe”, a series of lectures and discussion evenings with an expert journalist of a current affairs topic. Journalists are easy to get and know how to present a topic. This series of events was promoted European-wide under one project name and brand, but of course most participants came from the local and neighbouring antennae. It’s a zero euro project with great impact and easy to do;
• “Find your way”, a series of nine trainings and international conferences dealing with topics such as intercultural stereotypes and prejudices, media impact, nationalism, security policy and students rights in Central and Eastern Europe. If you see the current developments in this part of Europe, you can just copy the project. This requires a bit more funding though.

There are many more and whenever I tell this to our members, they are full of enthusiasm to create something similar. However, they lack information and training. AEGEE should create an international events database, with title, date, organisers and the detailed programme of every international thematic event or project. This would help people a lot, because it’s not always about the funding. AEGEE needs ideas, inspiration and skills how to put the ideas into practice!

How important can the projects be generally for AEGEE and Europe today?

Very important. International projects dealing with aspects of the wide framework of European integration have always been the unique selling point of AEGEE. Other associations such as BEST, ELSA or ESN have a concrete target group, a concrete topic to talk about – being it technology, law or mobility. AEGEE is interdisciplinary, which on first sight makes it a lot harder to explain the purpose of the association. However, being interdisciplinary is actually a great asset, because it opens us to many topics and to see problems from many angles. And our main topic since 1985 is European integration and its many cultural, political or economic aspects. Unfortunately AEGEE lost its way and focuses too much on the personal fun aspect and not on the aspect to discuss current issues on a European scale. We have to go back to this or AEGEE loses its purposes.

You were a CD member and one of the first Network Commissioners 20 years ago. How different did the Network look back then?

The task is the same: the NetCom is there to serve and protect the network. The difference: the NetCom had no money, no reimbursements and communication was a lot harder. There were no social media, phone calls abroad cost a fortune, no one except for a few Italians and Finns had a cell phone. When I was elected, I sent a mail to all my locals, introducing myself and offering my support. Then I realised that two of my locals in Romania did not even have an e-mail address. So I called them on the phone from my flat in Hungary – which was actually a great thing, because both antennae had a recruiting event the week after, so I visited them both. In general, Network Commissioners travelled a lot more to their locals. This was possible because our administrative workload was a lot less. We had to collect one antenna report per semester, not one per month. One more difference: at that time, the task of Network Commissioner was one you would do at the end of your AEGEE career, it was only for the most experienced people. We used our expertise not only to help antennae, but also to create new ones. Network enlargement was a core task and we really succeeded in it.

You have been an AEGEEan for several decades now and you are an honorary member of AEGEE- Europe, the biggest distinction of our association. What motivates you to still be an active alumnus and actively attend events?

It’s several things. First of all, AEGEE is my family. Every year I meet new family members, and they are all so amazing people. It makes it really hard to leave. I actually feel that I have much more in common with their positive spirit, their hunger for making Europe a better place than with many of my peers at home or elsewhere in Europe. Second, I want to give something back. I learnt so much through AEGEE, it made me a more open-minded person and provided me with awesome memories and many skills; therefore it’s only fair to show people how they can do things, to inspire them. It’s only an offer, but I am happy that most members react so positively!

How do you see the current alumni system of AEGEE?

AEGEE’s alumni system should be a lot better. On European level we have Les Anciens, which is organising lots of very interesting events every year and is open to every member who finished its active path and wants to join us oldies. However, many people don’t do that, despite the presentations of Les Anciens at each Agora. This is a pity. Moreover, AEGEE doesn’t use the full potential of its alumni. Many have jobs in parliaments, government bodies or own companies. However, there is no proper database for it. There is a lot of room for improvement. On local level alumni work does hardly exist. Some Dutch antennae are really good at it, also some German such as AEGEE-Passau. However, this is one of the points that AEGEE should really tackle. It’s a pity to see that many locals don’t even bother to invite their founders or other oldies to their annual antenna birthday celebrations. Please do it, guys!

What can the current generation of AEGEEans learn from our alumni?

A lot. They can get inspired, they can get actual useful contacts, they can also get trainings from them. However, many oldies want to be asked, they don’t approach the antenna directly. You are supposed to contact them. So, just find out who they are, contact them and you will see they are eager to help!

In the CD house, one can find hundreds of old publications (magazines, newspapers, booklets etc). How much can we learn from the past and our history? How can we use this knowledge today?

An association that doesn’t know its past has no future. AEGEE is repeating so many mistakes instead of reaching higher goals to build upon past knowledge. By analysing the path that AEGEE went in the past 20-30 years, you can recognise patterns and trends. And they are really important to know. On a more practical note, it’s easy to use the existing knowledge: for example in terms of event and project ideas, knowledge on how to structure trainings, but also by finding out which AEGEE legend now lives in your city and can provide lectures or contacts. All this is easy to find: in the pre-social media age information was stored in great magazines such as the NewsBulletins, it’s ready to take and easy to use since it’s not spread all over Facebook. Also the old mailing lists provide amazing information. And if you are looking for photos of your antenna’s events from the period 2001-2009, you have a great chance to find them on www.aegee.org/photo.

Many things are happening now in Europe. Towards which direction would you turn AEGEE’s attention if you could?

All issues related to European integration as well as peace and stability. AEGEE can give orientation in a phase where more and more people fall back to nationalism because the world has become too complicated for them. When AEGEE was founded, the EU was in a crisis. European integration had come to a halt. Politicians did not know what to do. In this period AEGEE came and said: “Look, we as students will deal with all relevant issues, provide a platform for students and actors or politics and society – and present suggestions.” That’s the task for AEGEE as well today, in the new crisis of Europe.

Any thoughts you would like to share with the Network?

Let’s show our face again to the world by creating more hallmark events that improve AEGEE’s identity, impress politicians, potential members and in general actors in society. How? Let’s create four big thematic conferences per year which have the same general topic every year. For example:

• Checking the status of the European institutions and making ideas for improvements;
• Checking which are the current most pressing areas of political crisis and discuss solutions;
• Checking the situation of formal higher education and non-formal education in Europe, including aspects such as local Erasmus support to make it more practical;
• A conference called European Society: dealing with issues of culture, gender, NGO rights, populism or other issues.

These four conferences should be fixed points in the annual calendar and strive for 150 to 200 participants. Antennae can apply to organise one of these four conferences, which could be in February, May, September and November. These hallmark events could be like the standing topics of AEGEE, which would give them a lot of visibility and identity internally and externally. Moreover, small local or European seminars could be a lead into the big conferences. Also follow-up events could be organised. Since it would be prestigious to host these events, we would have enough organisers and participants for them. And a lot of new thematically-oriented members. This could really help AEGEE.

Written by Spyros Papadatos, AEGEE-Ioannina

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

Who’s excited for the Spring Agora? As May has started, so has the countdown for the great statutory event in Bergamo. As great as the Agora is, the opportunity is limited to freely discuss matters which concern AEGEE members. Therefore, a platform to speak your mind about all pressing problems was developed a few years ago: the SHARE Meeting. Looking back at our article history, we discovered there has never been a piece dedicated to the SHARE Meeting. Time to change that. To get to know a bit more about the SHARE Meeting, we spoke with Anna Gumbau, Communication Director.

The AEGEEan: Firstly, could you tell us what exactly a SHARE Meeting is?

Anna: The SHARE Meeting is a gathering that takes place usually after an Agora, where members of AEGEE locals and European bodies meet up and discuss some of the current challenges of the organisation in order to find solutions and work on them afterwards. These meetings take place often in a rather informal way, in order to give a cozy and familiar atmosphere, and gather usually around 20-30 motivated AEGEEans.

And with what purpose was the SHARE Meeting first organised? When and where was this?

The SHARE Meeting was first organised at Autumn Agora Cagliari 2014. Previously it was called “European Level Meeting”, but the concept was switched in order to include the Network as a whole and not only the members working in European projects, commissions, committees, etc. and as a way to bridge the gap that sometimes exists between them, as we need to tackle these challenges from the Network as one!

What subjects or themes has it had over the years?

I have browsed the ideas and topics of previous SHARE Meetings and I find quite a common pattern. We have discussed a few times topics such as Human Resources management and activation of members, internal communications, how to improve event management in our organisation, the Strategic Plan/Action Agenda. In general, it is mostly any organisational topic that we encounter. A very interesting one that we discussed at Autumn Agora Kyïv, for instance, was the inclusion of people with fewer opportunities in AEGEE, which gave a lot of food for thought!

What value does it have for the CD, and for the Network?

For us it is especially important in order to evaluate the main problems and difficulties that the organisation is facing, as well as the topics that our members are most interested in. For the Network, it fosters cooperation among different antennae and bodies in AEGEE, it brings different perspectives within the organisation together and there are always many interesting ideas coming up!

What were the results of last year’s SHARE meeting?

Well, the previous SHARE Meeting took place at Autumn Agora Kyïv, and the topics discussed were Agora reform, event management, content and evaluation, inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities, lack of HR and participation in AEGEE, and the structure of our Strategic Plan in AEGEE (since we will draft this year the Strategic Plan for 2017-2020). The minutes were sent to the Network the month after, with some conclusions and recommendations in each topic.

In the end, what is done with the things that are discussed at the SHARE Meetings? Can you give us an example?

It is true that the follow-up is the most difficult part in most of the cases, and some of the members attending the SHARE Meeting have pushed for some reform or idea that might have not happened. However, I know that for the event management topic, some of the things discussed in the meeting were afterwards included by, for instance, the Summer University Coordination Team, when it comes to showcasing and promoting the events. In any case, we will do our best to ensure an adequate follow-up of these topics after the SHARE Meeting!

What themes will be discussed at the Bergamo SHARE Meeting?

This is not settled yet, since the members have proposed their own topics in the application form,  and the participants will decide in the next few days. Some topics even pop up during the SHARE Meeting itself, at the beginning, just because of the fact that the Agora is still so recent that there are many topics that participants would like to discuss. However, I see many members who want to follow up on the topics discussed in Kyïv, so we will see!

What is the exact schedule of the meeting?

It will take place on Sunday 22nd. Before, there will be the TEDx style session, from 11 to 1pm. The SHARE Meeting will start at 2pm, and even if we can only be in the building only until 4pm, we will make sure to continue the sessions and discussions somewhere else. Sometimes it has happened that there were so many ideas to share, that the discussions on certain topics were still happening even after dinner!

Unfortunately it is not possible to apply for the SHARE meeting in Bergamo anymore. Hopefully you already did, and otherwise, the minutes of the meeting will be shared with the network shortly after it takes place.

Written by Mireille Voorendt, AEGEE-Utrecht

“So you have just arrived home from your last AEGEE event where that guy was telling you about a European level body in AEGEE he was secretary of and was convincing you to join the team based on the common interests you share. Sounds good but maybe you want to learn a little more about this body, so let us turn to Google for a second. Well, this page has AEGEE on it and the name of the body but the last post is from 2012. Are they doing anything then? And if they do, where can you find the information? Ah, giving up, maybe it is not a good idea to join after all…”

Have you ever been surprised by the amount of pages related to AEGEE, or how many of them are outdated or simply abandoned, or how many different appearances these pages have – as if they did not belong to the same organisation?

We have good news for you: all the information you need about AEGEE is in one place now, always updated and following our new Visual Identity: the Members Portal has been launched!

And let’s see the 5 (top) reasons why you should visit the Portal:

1. AEGEE History Line: With AEGEE celebrating its 30th anniversary next year, there is a lot to read about the past to get inspired by the great achievements and to recruit new AEGEE-enthusiasts for your local by telling the true story of how awesome AEGEE is. But forget about a never-ending PDF file: check out the interactive AEGEE history timeline!

2. Get Involved!: You are already a hyperactive member of your local but feel like you would like to challenge yourself a little more by joining one of the Projects or Working Groups? The Get Involved! section contains all updates from all European level bodies in AEGEE from their latest activities to the application process for new team members, presenting a clearly structured system of Committees, Commissions and Working Groups. “We need you!”

3. Downloadable Materials: Under Resources you can find various guidelines that will help you understand AEGEE better, the Strategic Plan to help others understand AEGEE’s work better, and you can also download PR materials for promoting AEGEE in your city! (Compulsory advertisement here: in case you are interested in developing further materials, please contact the Public Relations Committee at prc@aegee.org!)

4. Offers for members: Check out the list of our partners and the various discounts they offer for AEGEE members. Also – do you know what ASRF stands for? It is way of benefitting or contributing to our shared interest of overcoming financial obstacles that would permit some of our members from fully experiencing AEGEE – this is all I can tell here!

5. Events: Being directly connected to Intranet, the Members Portal offers an always updated page about the next AEGEE events that are going to take place. Furthermore, the PRC and the Quality Assurance Committee are working on another platform to have a clear overview of AEGEE events, open calls and finding a way to help the locals with the promotion of their events. Stay tuned!

Convinced? With the endless amount of concentrated information on this page, you should bookmark aegee.org/portal in your browser right now!

And if you would like to submit your suggestions for improving the Members Portal, please fill in the following form!

Last but not least, we would all like to thank Pavel Zbornik – Communications and European Institutions Director of AEGEE-Europe who has dedicated an endless amount of his time creating the Portal and making our lives easier. Thank you, Pavel!

 Written by Réka Salamon, AEGEE-Debrecen/Aachen