From 6th to 8th of March  around 70 AEGEEans and alumni gathered in Paris for the “Back to the roots” event. The event commemorated the 30 years of AEGEE and has coincided with the Meeting of the Friends of Franck Biancheri Association (AAFB) Network and the 15th anniversary of Newropeans. AEGEE-Paris, the AAFB and the Newropeans network were the organisers.

Under the title “Europe in crisis, Erasmus generation towards a democratic alliance” the central conference was held in the Salon de l’Aveyron, in Paris Bercy, on Sunday. This is the second Franck Biancheri event in AEGEE. The first one was held by AEGEE-Delft in December 2014, and the idea is to organise an event every year. For that, the AAFB gives support, both economically and logistically, to one antenna each year.

On Friday the members of AEGEE and Les Anciens coming from all around Europe enjoyed a city tour around Montmartre, the neighbourhood where they were hosted in a hostel, and a suggestive European night in the centre of Paris.

On Saturday the participants were divided into groups and had workshops which helped them to prepare for the presentation of their ideas in the Sunday conference. The seven themes were: Europe of Energy, Europe of Defense, Fiscal Europe, Europe of the Euro, Social Europe, Europe of the Media, and Political Europe. The main findings are being assembled in a document.

The event counted with the presence of the President of the AAFB, Marie-Helène Caillol, Alexandra Kluczka (vice-president of AEGEE Europe) and other CD members, the Italian MEP Brando Benifei, the State Secretary to European Affairs of Portugal Bruno Maçaes, politicians, journalists, more people from the Franck Biancheri Networks, the President of AEGEE-Paris Hana Hudak and Léa Charlet (AEGEE-Paris) as the main organiser. Debates were held with participation from approximately 150 people from the audience. The participants had fun and the opportunity to visit Paris, but most of all, they returned home full of ideas and motivation for future projects.

Frank Biancheri was the main founder of AEGEE. He was only 24 back in 1985, when the first EGEE conference took place in Paris. He was one of the persons who lobbied most for the creation of the Erasmus Programme and also founder of the first transnational European Party, Newropeans, in 2000. There are more events coming up this year commemorating the 30 years of AEGEE, with the “revival” of the Night of the Seven Antennae in April in Aachen, Bergamo, Catania, Eskisehir, Kyiv, Leiden, and Sofia and the main conference in Brussels in May as the central ones.

Written by Ferran Arruebo, AEGEE-Barcelona

Pictures by Márton Demeter, Ferran Arruebo and Philippe Portalier

Thirty years ago, a dream was born. A dream conceived by a man who wanted to see a better Europe for its citizens: Franck Biancheri. With this aim in mind, and after a conference in Paris (EGEE 1) about overcoming Europe’s integration paralysis, the Association des États Généraux des Étudiants de l’Europe (AEGEE) was created. Up to this day, it brings together more than 13000 students from all around Europe. This year, AEGEE-Paris, one of the founding antenna, wants to celebrate this fact by organising an event about it. With the cooperation of the Association des amis de Franck Biancheri, a promising event is presented. The AEGEEan asked Léa Charlet, main organiser of the event, about it.

The AEGEEan: What will the main topic of the event be?
Léa: Nowadays, the EU is going through the most serious crisis in its history, and it seems that if it fails to rebuild itself, helped by the European citizens, there is no way out of this situation. Just like Erasmus would not have been possible without AEGEE-Europe members, we believe that our democratic, influential and sustainable Europe, will not see the light of day without the Erasmus generations of which we, in AEGEE, are the representatives. Our event will therefore be an occasion to discuss the future of Europe as AEGEE, the Erasmus generation.

What can the participants expect from the event?
To discuss a lot on subjects of which we are not always talking about in AEGEE, but it doesn’t mean that as citizens we do not have an opinion. To get out of their comfort zone in terms of ideas and debate about essential subjects which might get us further in our emphasizing project. To meet a lot of people from all over Europe. And of course to celebrate the 30 years of our amazing association in the beautiful city of Paris!

Tackling the situation of the future of Europe is always a difficult point, how is it going to be presented?
The idea is to tackle the different problems by theme: Europe of jobs, Social Europe, Europe of the Media, Political Europe etc. We also want our participants to prepare their own recommendations on saturday (following the same good practice from Y Vote 2014). The recommendations will be presented to the whole assembly on Sunday during the final conference. A speaker will then give his arguments and we will have small debates. We do not pretend to redress Europe in one conference, but want to state that it’s time that politicians, journalists, european citizens, civil society and many more actors start working together.

What do you, as main organiser, expect the outcome of the event to be?
For people to enjoy the discussion and feel that they learned something during this weekend, to enjoy the whole event and Paris, and also to feel part of this big 30 year anniversary celebration!

AEGEE-Paris was one of the founding antennae of AEGEE. How do you feel to be part of this milestone, and how do you think it influences the members of AEGEE-Paris?

I personally always felt it was fun to be able to speak French during Agora(she laughs). More seriously, I don’t think it’s changing anything except that we can brag about it sometimes.

The Association des amis de Franck Biancheri is cooperating with you on organising the event. What is their role going to be?
First, in the framework of the Franck Biancheri year, we received a consequent financial help, without which this event could not happen. The help is mainly for the final conference: speakers, venues, content. They will also be present for a little while during the preliminary debate, in order to bring the ideas supported by Franck Biancheri to the debate.

Franck Biancheri was certainly a role model in most aspects regarding this AEGEE life, how is he going to be present during this event?
As I mentioned, some of the members of the association, who worked with him for twenty years, will be the representatives of his ideas saturday morning. He will also be part of the celebration retracing 30 years of AEGEE!

If you want to apply for it you still have time untill the 15th of February. For more information, check their event on Facebook!

Written by Ruben Navarro, AEGEE-Tarragona

Léa Charlet, 24 years old from AEGEE-Paris, is one of the three candidates for the position of President of AEGEE-Europe. She studies Law and European institutions and has been member of AEGEE-Paris since september 2011. She was HR, Secretary and President in her local and involved in the European Level as Fair Manager EBM Valletta 2013, Trainer of the Academy, Public Relations responsible of Speak Up! (2011-2012), CD assistant and, last but not least, Project manager of Y Vote 2014.

The AEGEEan: What do you think the main task as a president will be?

Léa: For me, being President means representing all the members. Once you are elected, it’s not like you can do whatever you want, you have to listen and take into consideration the needs of your members. The main challenge is to balance all of these opinions and to do what’s best, in the end, for the organisation. As President of the Comité Directeur, you need to keep the team together. You need to facilitate the creation of the vision of this Comité Directeur. You need to make everyone listen too, and make them achieve their goals and their own vision.

The AEGEEan: If you are going to be elected as president of AEGEE-Europe, what will be the first thing you will do?

Léa: First things first, I will find a week before the start of the knowledge transfer to organize a team building. I think this is a fundamental start. Working and living with six people for a year is difficult (even if I know  most of the people applying quite well). We need to find a common vision, and we need to be ready to accept each other, adapt, and to help each other learn and grow. Second would be the creation of an activity plan. Our programs need to be merged. We need to prioritize and work to actually achieve everything in one year time. I do not always believe in compromises, but more in creating our own plan, our own vision, where nobody feels left out of the process.

The AEGEEan: What is leadership for you?

Léa: I am playing the trumpet for quite some time now and I have also been conducting for a couple of years now. I have always been amazed by this feeling you have when being in the middle of the orchestra, playing your individual part following the conductor, but at the same time knowing every single other part from other instruments. This is how I see leadership. It’s not always about being the best in something, but much more having the overview, helping other people reaching what they want to achieve with others,  looking in the same direction, making them feel part of something bigger.

The AEGEEan: How would you describe in one sentence the current situation of AEGEE, regarding internal structures and activities?

Léa: Not reaching its potential.

The AEGEEan: Luis Alvarado Martinez was President for two years and he has a lot of charisma. What would you do differently than him?

Léa: I actually met Luis on my first event, my first month in AEGEE, and I was always driven by his vision and his motivation to make our association truly meaningful. I always admired his work as president. That being said, this past two years, the Comite Directeur turned itself towards externals a lot. I think it’s great that we are now really known and appreciated in the different institutions and among other NGOs. I am not saying that the actual Comite Directeur forgot the network, but the pace is hard to follow. Even being an active member and quite aware of what was happening, it’s difficult to have a clear overview of what AEGEE is doing in every sector.

So I would maybe have focused more on bringing the externals to the locals, trying more to consult with the members, in order to bring the Comite Directeur closer to the members. I realized during my internship in the Comite Directeur that it will be a lot of work, and we will have to be really committed to do this the right way, but it also requires will and awareness from the network.

The AEGEEan: In your opininion, is AEGEE really working well enough at all levels?

Léa: You can see in my previous answers that I don’t believe that AEGEE is working as well as it could be. We have a lot of potential, but face a lot of obstacles coming from the organisation itself. I already mentioned and explained most of the problems I saw there and tried to propose solutions: the lack of coordination, of human resources and the difficulty of conserving memories; the flow of great initiatives from the Comite Directeur that are hard to follow by the network, and the fact that we don’t have enough discussion and consultation in the network. We also have to be aware that right now, AEGEE is driven by Summer Universities. Most of our members are joining for this project and aren’t active after. We should work on activating and empowering those members, which could significantly increase the human resources of the organisation.

The AEGEEan: We speak a lot about the gap between the European level and locals. What do you think we need to do to fill it?

Léa: I don’t believe in this separation. The so called ‘European Level’ are regular members, organizing projects of AEGEE-Europe. Most of the time, organizing projects in locals can be just as challenging. The main problem in my opinion is that sometimes locals don’t have the knowledge to organize an event on a topic tackled by a thematic part of AEGEE and thematic bodies are not responsive enough, because they don’t have the human resources nor the capacity to be everywhere. We should work on two things: knowledge in the locals about European bodies, and an increase of human resources in those european bodies. These are the two homework assignments we have to do.

The AEGEEan: On your application you said that “we lack of coordination sometimes“. How would you improve it?

Léa: I meant two things with this sentence: one on a timeframe level and one on a thematic level. Timeframe: most of the events are happening at the same time. We have to cancel a lot, because we are not aware of what is happening in the different parts of the network. Thematically speaking: we have projects, working groups, an action agenda with concrete activities and plenty of space for the locals to do something within these fields, but still we are not always looking in the same direction. We don’t always act like a network. I think here the work of the Action Agenda Coordination team, Netcom and the new Quality Assurance committee are fundamental. They are the link, they are the ones that can help the locals to plan and cooperate.

The AEGEEan: You said “We tend to forget our past”. How will you create a common memory?

Léa: ‘”Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana.

Sometimes we might repeat the good things from the past, but for this, we have to know it. The current Comité Directeur is doing some work on the archive, but as always with archives, there is always something to be done. We have to take it out of the basement, and really give the possibility for our members to read it, digitalize it for example. But, more importantly, we have to start thinking also of the next generation. We need to keep track of the present for the future and we have to realize this in our current activities. Keep track of what we do and how we do it. We can for example take the work The Academy is doing right now, creating a database of trainings, accessible easily; or the ongoing work on the AEGEE Wiki.

The AEGEEan: What do you think is the current status of the relationship with The Academy? If there is a problem, how will you solve it?

Léa: Trainings are here to empower and develop our members, to facilitate the learning process. Right now, in my opinion we have two main actors: Network Commission, who is aware of the flow of their locals and what trainings they would need right now, and The Academy, who has the resources and the will to create trainings. What I would really like to see in the future is more cooperation between those two actors: having trainings the organisation needs, in the part of the Network which needs it the most. I think a really important point here is to rethink the point and the concept of regional training courses. This should be done in cooperation with the Academy

The AEGEEan: Let’s speak about thematic conferences, can you give an example?

Léa: A thematic conference for me is firstly meant to inform and inspire our members. The EBM is a big example, but we can do much more. In the past six months, we organized nine thematics conventions with a part of the Y Vote team, always about different topics. We realized, talking to enthusiastic participants, that it was something really missing in our Network. I’m not talking here about another 300 people conference, but medium ones, with 50 to 100 people, on the four differents focus area of our strategic plan for example.

The AEGEEan: Can you please explain a bit more about the creation of a Secretariat?

Léa: Our headoffice is in Brussels, and we have to realize that to get big grants, big projects take years. We need to have a certain continuity. We can see it in our locals, this is taking time. And especially in this Eurobubble in Brussels, personal connections and personal network are key. A Secretariat can be the bridge between Comité Directeurs changing every year. It would also let the CD focus on the association more than the administrative tasks.

The AEGEEan: Do you think the Network needs to stop enlarging and enforce or should it keep on “watching outside”?

Léa: I don’t think it’s that black and white. We have some of our newest locals that are already extremely active, with a great understanding of what AEGEE is. And some old locals that are just surviving. AEGEE is constantly changing. New locals are joining and some are deleted, it is a natural process. In the past five years, our number of locals decreased quite a lot (around 50), and if we stop getting new locals, we will endanger AEGEE in the next years.

The AEGEEan: 30 years will be a huge achievement, what are you plans?

Léa: 30 years is the achievement of the whole organisation, a celebration for all of us. I don’t have everything perfectly clear already, but I can say that the Comité Directeur should not be alone organizing this event, and I hope that many members (new, current and a bit less new) will be willing to join this initiative. I would love to have the celebration in one of the funding locals, a mix of success stories with oldies and a local willing to contribute.

The AEGEEan: Lately you attended a lot of network meetings, was it because you were interested in the topics or because of CD campaign?

Léa: Since I’ve been a member of AEGEE, I attended all the network meetings of my area (except 1 for exam reasons), so last year in autumn I was also interested to know how it works in another part of the network. I am studying in Brussels, that’s why I went to NWM Utrecht in december. I also went to Salerno this month, being a member of AEGEE-Bologna it was also a logical area to go. I know Italy as I lived there for more than a year, but I didn’t know this part of the network, and this was also my main goal going there. I can say that now I have a better overview of different regions of our network, nothing in depth of course, but it helped me understand the reality of our locals quite a lot.

The AEGEEan: What are you strengths? And your weaknesses?

Léa: People usually describe me as an energetic, hard working, convinced,  and convincing person. But I would say that I think my biggest strength is that I am always willing to learn. On the weakness part I will have to say that I reaaally need a lot of sleep. I realized it when doing the internship and traveling a lot for Y Vote. I am also a really empathic person, I sometimes tend to be oversensitive to other people problems.

The AEGEEan: Réka Salamon (AEGEE-Aachen) is doing the internship with you in the CD house and Paul Smits (AEGEE-Enschede) came out a little bit as a surprise as a candidate. What do you think about your fellow candidates?

Léa: I attended Leadership Summer School in Sofia with Paul and I appreciate and respect him and his work within our association. I know Réka a bit less in general, but I would say that she has been an asset for the communication in the Y Vote 2014 team and she is a really hardworking person.

The AEGEEan: Why do you think that people must vote for you? What are your plans if you are elected as president?

Léa: Since I entered AEGEE I was kind of interested in becoming part of the Comité Directeur. This might seem like a bit too much, but I have always been a super active member, at local level and european level since the first month I entered. My field of study and the fact that I was spending ¾ on my time on AEGEE work always motivated me to do more.

Why president then? Because I believe I am good at making the link: between people, between projects. I think I can see how to put ideas into practices. My team members are easily becoming friends and motivating people is something that I really enjoy. I would not say that people must vote for me, but that they should if they do believe in my ideas, in my capacity as a president and as a leader.

I wrote my programme already and I would like to highlight that it is a fact that I believe that the members are the most important part of our organisation. Right now most of our members are not active, we have to face it. My main focus would be to help activating those members, in order for AEGEE to become a strong organisation. The external impact of AEGEE cannot happen if we don’t have an impact on our own members first.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

Do you believe in coincidences? Well, at least we believe it is very coincidental that we are writing this article about the Y Vote 2014 Convention on Gender Equality precisely on the 8th of March – International Women’s Day, the day chosen by the United Nations to vindicate Women’s rights across the globe.

It has been a few weeks since the fourth thematic conference of the Y Vote Project took place in the stunning city of Paris where, thanks to the Y Vote project team and the awesome organisation undertaken by AEGEE-Paris, almost 40 young Europeans got the chance to learn, discuss and share their visions on gender equality issues in Europe, especially in the context of the European Parliamentary elections that are taking place in May.

Privileged enough to have the opening ceremony held in the Maison de l’Europe as well as most of the lectures and seminars held in the European Parliament Representation in Paris, the participants rapidly and easily engaged in the topic that seemed to be an issue of the past century, but is still a considerable matter in the present societies. They realised that many thoughts, opinions and meanings were hidden under the words “gender equality”, ranging from what every participant understood by “feminism” to male discrimination or women stereotypes, and they even learnt new things about LGBT rights. It was observed that the most interesting and passionate discussion took place when assessing an impact the environment we live in (media, school, civil society etc.) has on forming gender awareness.

Under the lead of the Y Vote team (Léa Charlet – Project Manager, Lucille Rieux – member of the Comité Directeur, and Lavinia Manea – representative of the content team), the participants learnt about the role of the EP and the importance of the upcoming elections, and discovered what is the situation of gender equality in different EU countries. With no surprise, they realised how diverse and different the EU countries are in this respect. They also figured out how limited the EP is in terms of its competences regarding this matter, but looking for necessary and feasible solutions, the participants came up with a bunch of creative recommendations.

After a hard working day of drafting and writing recommendations, the participants spent the last day in the Serbian Embassy in Paris, where the Ambassador provided them with all the necessary elements for having an unforgettable farewell and closing ceremony: Serbian exquisite food, official speeches, assessment exercises and great views of the Eiffel Tower.

Days of the Convention finished and participants were reflecting on their experience: “It has been a week since the Y Vote Paris ended but I still feel its impact”, “I know now that we can do more than we think”. Although being non-neutral actors, we are certain that this Convention had a great effect on all the participants: learning about the EP elections and discussing such a controversial topic as gender equality. This made all of us more aware of what we can do as citizens to achieve better and more equal societies.

Are you still wondering what your first step to become an active citizen should be? Well, it is easy: don’t forget to vote in the EP elections!

Written by Raquel Alcega Giner (AEGEE-Barcelona) and Carlota Lifante (AEGEE-Alicante)

The Network Commission is a team full of people that several AEGEEans know due to all the communication they have with antennae across Europe. However, the work of the NetCom would not be efficient without teams of subcommissioners and in this interview you get an insight into what it is like being a subcommie for a Network Commissioner.

Carmen Maria

Alvaro Espinosa (AEGEE-Santander, Pauline Létard (AEGEE-Toulouse) and Carmen Maria Benegas (AEGEE-Alicante) are subcommissioners of Pilar Lop. Silvija Peric (AEGEE-Zagreb) helps Antonija Parat, Maria Arends (AEGEE-Groningen) helps Patricia Anthony and Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Venezia) helps Claudio Armandi. All of them share a deep passion for helping the Network and being part of seeing antennae improve.

For most of the subcommies the reason to help the NetCom team was to be more active on the European Level of AEGEE. For example; Pauline worked together with Lucille Rieux, who herself was a subcommie of Luis Alvarado Martinez at this time, in the Speak Up project. The aim was to develop the French part of the Network by doing a bus tour in several big French cities with one message – “young people, get involve and participate”! Unfortunately, the project did not get through but it was a really good experience for Pauline and her first on European level. Network development and Youth participation had been key topics of interest for her since her beginning in AEGEE. Then Lucille who Pauline refers to as somewhat her mentor in AEGEE strongly encouraged her to become a subcommie.

Alvaro, who is part of the same team says “Being a subcommissioner was an opportunity, this is something that never crossed my mind before. However, Pilar, together with the previous team thought that I could fit because they trust me and in my work on the local level. Receiving that kind of confidence from these great and experienced people was the reason I decided to become one of them.” For Silvija this idea was first introduced by her former NetCom – Ana Dragić, but at that time, she had a lot of other obligations and had just started her term as President of AEGEE-Zagreb. However, she continued with the idea stuck in her brain and when Antonija Parat was elected as NetCom, she decided to apply. What she enjoys is working on European level too, because she knew it would increase her knowledge about AEGEE and give her the opportunity to help other locals as well as improving her own local: AEGEE-Zagreb.

For Maria there are too many reasons, as she says it. She talked with newly elected NetCom Patricia Anthony after Agora Rhein-Neckar about the need for a strong team of subcommies in the Nordic area, because of the problems we are facing (especially in Scandinavia, even though AEGEE does not have many locals there) due to Euroscepticism. The idea arose to try to work on this topic together with the locals in the UK, and that is the main reason she wanted to become involved. Apart from that she believes that the UK, Scandinavia, and the Baltics are wonderful places in Europe, which are, unfortunately, underrepresented in AEGEE, and Maria truly hopes to be able to make a change. Carmen joined when there was somebody leaving the team and she was ready to continue that person’s work as she loves the Network and helping others. She is a big fan of organisation in terms of administration and procedures inside any organisation and selects that as the main reason why she wanted to join.

As one can imagine the subcommies tasks and functions mainly relate to contact with some of the antennae that the NetCom is responsible for. When asked about what they do, subcommie Pauline answers :“First I worked with the members of the antennae I’m in charge of taking care of. I talk with them on a regular basis, at least once a month when everything goes smoothly and sometimes everyday when they need it. I’m trying to take the pulse of the antenna, to find out in there are any problems or tensions but also find out about the assets and richness that the antennae have to make them share it with the rest of the Network when it’s possible. Every month, I send them a reminder saying that they have to fill in the monthly report. I sometimes have to harass them a bit to get them to do it but it is important as when antennae does not submit the reports on time it delays the work of NetCommie Pilar. Then I’m part of the Tripulacion, Pilar, her other subcommies and I form a team. Together we organise the Network Meetings and the Renove, we prepare the delegates for the Agora, and we inform the members about interesting opportunities…”. In the case of Maria it is similar as she has the responsibility of AEGEE-Durham, AEGEE-London and AEGEE-Sheffield whom she also asks for Activity Reports and at times they work on a PR strategy. Basically she is trying to help out wherever they want her, as she puts it, and of course she also helps with the organisation of NWM in Tartu this autumn.

Alvaro Espinosa

Pauline continues the interview with telling us about the differences between the antennae she is responsible for. “In my opinion, an antenna relies mostly on people and on a good team. So the difference is in who is part of this team, who animate and dynamise the antenna. There are little tiny teams that sometimes rely on two or three or more person-teams with around 10 really active people. I’m responsible for AEGEE-Paris, AEGEE-Lyon, AEGEE-Brussels/Bruxelles and the two contacts in Lille and Nantes. They mainly have the same profile of antenna but of course the situation in each city is different. For example, AEGEE-Paris is really famous in the Network and in France too  (more than the other French speaking locals anyway) but as Paris is a very expensive city with a lot of student associations, it’s a bit challenging for them. In my opinion, this year they are all facing the same challenge: their experienced and most active members left or are leaving soon. That’s why together with Léa Charlet (AEGEE-Paris), Louise Pahisa (AEGEE-Paris), Marine Betrancourt (AEGEE-Lyon), Inana Namet(Former member of AEGEE-Toulouse and now AEGEE-Paris), Lisa Fanget (AEGEE-Paris) and AEGEE-Paris’s team, we organize a Regional Training Course in Paris. The objective was to make the newly elected boards meet and train them.”

Alvaro sees huge differences between the antennae: “AEGEE-Santander, for instance, was a challenge. They faced some problems and solved them, they also grew a lot, changed their statutes, created a new online database, a new website. Their members are incredible and the communication with them was really fluent so, at the end, it was a pleasure to work together. Then, we have AEGEE-Zaragoza which was just on another level with all the “Agora stuff”. Finally, AEGEE-Bilbao which in my opinion has also grown the last year thanks to the work of their members and the collaboration with their AEGEE neighbors.”

However, there are some other tasks for subcommies around the Network. For example Pauline is also coordinating the organisation of board meetings in the French speaking locals and the RTC.

Maria Arends (to the right) together with Antonija Parat

The AEGEEan: What do you like the most about being a subcommie?

Pauline: Meeting amazing people who have taught me so much!

Silvija: Working in an intercultural team with great people, having the opportunity to learn and grow more and to help others with my experience and knowledge.

Carmen: Mainly working in a team and getting in touch with different people which is making me learn a lot from others. I also like helping antennae with their problems; if they are solved, that’s the best reward.

Erika: The Rainbow (responsible for Italian speaking antennae) subcommie team is great. We created a very good group spirit. Plus, I learned a lot in this year and more important I helped and I was helped.

Maria: Keeping in touch with the locals, seeing how they work and what we can improve is one of the task related things that I really enjoy. Apart from this, of course, the team is amazing! With Patricia and the three other subcommies, I think we really have an amazing and good working team.

Erika Bettin (to the left)

What challenges do you face as a subcommie?

Pauline: Keeping myself updated, there are a lot of informations circulating in AEGEE, you want the antennae to know about it but you don’t want to spam them.

Carmen: Some locals are complicated to run, mainly because they have not many active members and that is always a problem when it comes to fulfilling antenna criteria, filling out questionnaires, respect deadlines and this kind of administrative stuff. As a subcommie, I try to be properly informed and help them understand the procedures and encourage them to cooperate with other antennae that might be able to help or give advice as well.

Silvija: helping other locals in my Network to become stronger, overcome all challenges they are facing and at the same time being updated and knowing everything about what is going on in AEGEE in order to help them

Erika: I was lucky with locals and there weren’t big challenges to face. Before Agora Rhein- Neckar, NetCommie Claudio Armandi and I tried to do everything possible to save AEGEE-Trieste, but there were no signals from them. It is always sad when a local is deleted.

Silvija Peric (to the right)

What has been your favorite moment as a subcommie?

Pauline: Network Meeting Paris : Back on tracks! The first time I met Léa was in Paris and she is a bit like my sister in AEGEE, we joined AEGEE at the same time and we work together a lot. On top of this, it had been a while since we had a NWM in France, so this event was symbolic for us, it was the result of a strong solidarity between the French speaking locals, but also the success of AEGEE-Paris’ amazing team and also of the Tripulacion!

Silvija: My favorite moment was meeting other people in my team and working with them because they have a lot of great ideas and a lot of positive spirit.

Why would you encourage others to become a subcommie?

Pauline: Because you learn so much, because you give so much to the Network and to the antennae too, because it’s an amazing experience!

Silvija: It is the best place to start working on a European level and get to know things better, also, helping others is something priceless and on top of it all you will meet fantastic people and get a lot of experience.

Erika: Being subcommie is such a beautiful experience. You meet a lot of wonderful people. You share your experiences, your doubts, your fears, and it’s a good way to have a “first taste” of European Level.

Carmen: I would encourage people if they are interested in the organisational and internal aspects of AEGEE. If you have experience in your antenna and feel motivated, you can do it. The best thing is that you will learn a lot from working with that many different people.

As for whether we will see any of the subcommies as a Network Commissioner in the future depends on many things, but one thing is for sure: they all enjoy their work together with the Network Commission a lot!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Koebenhavn 

I will talk here about the magical Spring Network Meeting (NWM) Paris: what we did there, what changed and improved from the previous one and what remained as cool as it always was

Some things to highlight:  the fantastic group spirit of the region, evident increase of participation from French and Portuguese antennae as great news, warm welcome to Contact AEGEE-Covilhã and its members (you’ll rock!), fantastic performance of the Network Commission (NetCom) which showed they are on the right track, Comité Directeur’s extraordinary contribution and, of course, amazing work of AEGEE-Paris organising such a nice event and taking good care of us. Léa Charlet, president of AEGEE-Paris: “This NWM was amazing for lots of things and for once we were really a region. I am also really proud of the job all the team of AEGEE-Paris did.”

There were loads of workshops and talks very productive because of the debate, exchange of ideas, experiences and opinions, perhaps with the aim of increasing our involvement in local and European projects. Some others were too focused on letting new members know what AEGEE is which was also really good due to the background of the participants; an excellent occasion to understand better the association structure, its vast fields of actions and possibilities.

Thanks to the amazing work of the NetCom, Pilar Lop, and her crew, the Tripulación, the workshop and talks were pretty productive, much more participative and interactive, useful and sometimes even fun. Álvaro Espinosa, subcommie: “All the participants gave us their best and this excellent predisposition from them made everything easier for the trainers who had worked a lot during the previous weeks.“ Pavel Zbornik, CD: “Participants were also quite active which is not typical on other NWMs.”

We had the great pleasure of having between us not one but three members of the Comité Directeur (CD), President, Luis Alvarado, Secretary General, Lucille Rieux and European Institutions and Communications Director, Pavel Zbornik, which all made this NWM wiser. Their contribution to the talks and debate were crucial because of their experience, knowledge and willingness to share and discuss with the region. Pauline Létard, subcommie: “Having Lucille, Luis and Pavel here was really awesome, the network is their baby and they know how to encourage us!”.  The debate we missed before came out there… Loads of opinions about many topics including that breaking issue “AEGEE identity” (to be continued). Luis Alvarado: “We were able to exchange views and opinions altogether inspiring many of us once again to continue striving for a better Europe.“ Lucille Rieux:“The NWM was really inspirational, the participants really contributed, we had nice discussion, and there was a very nice atmosphere there.”

Let’s talk about Songeons and the social bit… The accommodation, meals and care that AEGEE-Paris provided us with was excellent! What could be better to wake up and get ready for the sessions? “Bonjour!” Léa, playing her trumpet from room to room was a noisy but lovely way to begin the day! Coffee breaks and some games also helped us to wake up before and between sessions and made us relax and laugh.

And what about the parties there? “French Style” party on Friday was a good start to meet others and make contacts. The best style and elegance mixed with some funny customs and stereotypes. AEGEE-Paris invited all participants to try a typical French cocktail ‘la marquisette’ and we played some funny games.

On Saturday we had the European Night with loads of food and drinks from a few different countries, with traditional songs and special taste round for the President of AEGEE-Europe, Luis Alvarado, and the main responsible of the NWM, Florent Fauchille, who had to tried all drinks!

There were also some mascots to be earned back at the NWM and, of course, task assignments for the antennae members at the very end of the NWM.

Thanks everyone for being there! Keep on rocking amazing people!

Written by Carmen María López Banegas, AEGEE-Alicante
Pictures by Alejandro Sánchez, AEGEE-Madrid and Tiago Soares, Contact AEGEE-Covilhã

If you have not heard about the Member of The Month articles that The AEGEEan publishes every month, then it is about time you get to know it better, and what could be a better way for that than looking back at the 12 members who stood out from the crowd in 2012.

Jana Pokorna – Member of the Month in January

Being very active on the European Level in projects such as the Visa Freedom Working Group, Jana Pokorna, from AEGEE-Praha and AEGEE-Istanbul, was the first Member of the Month last year, in January. In a close interview with Jana, The AEGEEan got to know and had the chance to share with you her passion for Turkey,  her mentality as being German and her AEGEE experience of course.

Moving on to February, three members became Members of the Month for their great contribution to the EBM reform. So, if you are heading to Valletta next month, or you are just curious to get to know some more information about the EBM, then look into the interview here.

In March, it was time to go to Spain where Sandra Tena from AEGEE-Castelló was chosen as Member of the Month because of her involvement in the organisation of  European School 2. Similarly, Didi Jaskólska from AEGEE-Turun became Member of the Month in April due to her work, organising the much-talked about NWM Turun, which seemed like a mini EBM with its 200 participants.

 

Sylwia Ksiazek Member of the Month in May

And we stay in Poland to find the Member of the Month of May Sylwia Ksiazek who informed us about her experience with organising another important event, namely the Training4Trainers. In the neighbouring Ukraine, we find the Member of the Month of June – Former AEGEEan Magazine proofreader and, more importantly, former Network Commission speaker, Olga Iatsyna. In the interview Olga tells The AEGEEan with joy: “While reading my nomination I could not get rid of the feeling that it is about somebody else, but not me. I simply cannot be so nice! Many times proofreading interviews of former Members of the Month I read that they never expected this nomination…”

And the surprises continued in July when one of those AEGEE members who always has many participants in his Agora workshops, Fabian Brüggemann became Member of the Month. When asked whether or not he was expecting the nomination, he said: “No, I seriously did not expect it. It was a nice surprise, having been approached by Ada and being told I had been nominated for this month. “

Maurits Korse Member of the Month in August

Summer equals Summer Universities in AEGEE and that was of course the focus of the nominations when finding the Member of the Month in August, who finally became Maurits Korse. In his interview, he gave the magazine a deeper insight into the work of the Summer University Coordination Team.

The next person’s antenna was the first antenna to be honoured by being Local of the Month back in 2011, but it was also without any doubt that Armenak Minasyants deserved to become Member of the Month in September. After Armenak, the focus was again on Summer Universities when choosing the Member of the Month in October. It was awarded to Hara Kogkou who has been part of SUCT for two years, and who is editor-in-chief of the SU 25 years anniversary booklet these days.

 

Then, in November Amandine Scocard from AEGEE-Paris became the honorary Member of the Month. At Agora Budapest, she provided The AEGEEan journalist, Olga Volovyk with the opportunity to video interview her about the work she does for AEGEE.

 

Sygrit Andringa Member of the Month in December

Last but definitely not least, Sygrit Andringa received the well-deserved title of being Member of the Month of December. In her interview, she gives a close insight into the life of the chair team and she talks about what goes on behind the scenes of the organisation of a statutory event.

 

Congratulations Jana, Thomas, Katja, Patrick, Sandra, Didi, Sylwia, Olga, Fabian, Maurits, Armenak, Hara, Amandine and Sygrit and thank you for contributing with so much hard work in 2012 to AEGEE. We hope that it will continue many more years.

 

The team behind The AEGEEan listens to your sugggestions every month, and every team member votes to your nominees so as to find the Member of the Month. Your ideas are important to the success of this process, and it is always a joy to hear stories from active AEGEEans and their achievements within the Network. We cannot stress enough how much your nominations are appreciated, so keep sending us your suggestions, active AEGEE members, for Member of the Month right here.

 

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

 

 

 

 

Léa Charlet is no stranger to AEGEE and no stranger to The AEGEEan since she used her great photographer skills during Agora Enschede and Agora Budapest for the magazine. However, for EBM Valletta Léa will have to put the camera aside just a bit because she will be busy focusing on the AEGEE fair for which she has become responsible of.

Léa is 23 old from Versailles but has been part of AEGEE-Paris for quite a while and she is also the president of that particular French antenna. Now she is doing her Erasmus in Bologna. She will have the same tasks as former AEGEE fair responsibles have had in the past Agorae, the only thing different is that she has less people to think about.

The AEGEEan: Congratulations on being selected fair manager, why did you chose to apply for the position?

Léa: I saw the open call first, but didn’t think I was suited for it. Later, the secretary general of the Comité Directeur Lucille Rieux talked to me about it, and kind of convinced me to apply for it.

I take it as a way to learn new things, since I never did something like that before.

Stressed, because I don’t want to mess up, so until the fair is finished and successful I could not be really happy or proud about it.

A lot of things, but especially to meet different and interesting people, and there’s a lot of them in AEGEE. Every new project drives you to work or to know new people. I only hope to be able to do everything for my studies.

The AEGEE fair has been struggling to get attention from participants of the Agora, do you have any ideas how to attract them to the fair?

I have some ideas but we didn’t talk about it yet with Anna Gots (CD responsible for the fair red.). One of them is maybe to have a drawing competition on a huge paper on a wall in the area of the fair, however, since we don’t know yet the exact configuration of the room I can’t tell if it will be possible.

I’m writing the open call for the bodies of AEGEE, which will be sent during this week.

The AEGEEan would like to congratulate Léa on being selected as  fair manager and wish her good luck with her preparations.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Let’s face it. Borders do exist, otherwise we would not be fighting so hard to bring them down. It is nice to know that some people continue fighting this battle even on their vacation. This year’s Parisian Summer University took place in cooperation with the Visa Freedom Working Group and broadened the horizons of all of their participants.

The charm of the city of love was combined with a bit of knowledge and a lot of fun. Three seminars on the visa topic were not only informative, but also very enjoyable. The official statistics showed that more than 60% of the participants learned a lot and, moreover, had fun doing it. Lena Shvab, from AEGEE-Kyiv, took the responsibility of holding three workshops on visa-related topics. As she knew far too well that this was an AEGEE SU, she was sure to add a game to each of the parts. Moreover, the second workshop was held even with cooperation of the OECD. The participants didn’t only get to know Lena’s passport and the visas she has in it, but also obtained general knowledge about types of visas, application process and denial.

This is the event in which the participants from non-schengen countries got to switch places with the EU members. For many Europeans travelling comes as something easy and completely enjoyable. But the visa process often puts a sour start to a dream vacation, even if you receive it without any big problems. After all the time and efforts dedicated to obtaining their visas for the SU, the participants got to take revenge and become some of the strictest visa officers ever seen. Regardless, the role-play was a total success with lots of laughter and celebration.

With true AEGEE spirit, the participants partied hard but didn’t lose the chance to learn something new. With their newly obtained knowledge they are all heading back home and bringing with them the memories and experiences they now share.

Written by Olga Volovyk, AEGEE-Kyiv

Thank you for the photos to Lea Charlette, AEGEE-Paris

Papa-paparazzi! Now when thinking of a paparazzi it is usually negative but in this occasion the AEGEEan has gotten their own little paparazzi, and it is definitely a positive thing!

She was member of the month of the “Tripulacion” region who is taken care by Luis Alvarado Martinez and his team. She is member of the Speak Up! project which you could read about recently on The AEGEEan and now she is the official photographer of The AEGEEan team for the upcoming Spring Agora Enschede. So if you want your picture taken, get shown on our Facebook site, have an important group moment captured then you should try to notice where Lea Charlette will be during the Agora, because she will be the one taking pictures for The AEGEEan. How can you find her you may ask, and The AEGEEan will try to help you out. First of all, she will be wearing a badge similar to The AEGEEan badges that editors and journalists were wearing during the EBM Izmir. Second of all, you can read about her here and get to know about her love for AEGEE and photography.

The AEGEEan: How did you hear about AEGEE?

Lea: I heard about AEGEE last year when I was in Italy through two friends from Santander, and when I arrived back in Paris in September I instantly became a member of AEGEE-Paris.  I was elected secretary and responsible of Human Resource in November and I was the main coordinator of the last Regional Training Course in Paris. As mentioned I am a member of the team of the Speak Up project (a French tour promoting youth participation) and I’m actually also working on a project started by Luis Alvarado Martinez and Edouard Mougin. We want to find all the first articles about the Network which was published in French newspapers at the time of the first conference EGEEI. We will do that by transcribing the archive that we could find and then translate it into English so that everyone can enjoy it. (Document will be published in May)

Lea captured during RTC Paris

For how long have you been interested in photography?

I bought my first camera two months before leaving for my Erasmus, so I learned to take pictures during that whole year.  There are so many amazing landscapes, so many friends, so many things to be photographed.

Why do you like photography?

I love taking portraits of people when they don’t look at me, or when they are laughing. It is so much better than a smile sometimes.

Besides being an active AEGEE member and loving photography what do you use your time for?

I study law so… studying  and I play trumpet, so go to my orchestra or play for myself. I also try to keep some time to see my friends, and family.

Why were you interested in taking pictures for The AEGEEan?

This is a great way to meet people, and to be more useful for AEGEE, and to be an active participant of the Agora.

 So if you want your photo taken, then look out for this French girl at the Agora and maybe a picture of you will be published to more than 2000 viewers.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København