24 years old, from Belgrade, student of Greek philology and an AEGEE addicted ready to support the development and cooperation among Balkan locals. The upcoming Spring Agora Asturias 2015 will host the elections for the next Network Commissioners, and Jovana Trajković will be one of the candidates. Just a few days before the Agora, The AEGEEan got to know better her views on the work of the NetCom and her priorities for the Balkan locals!

The AEGEEan: First of all, please introduce yourself! Who is Jovana Trajković, and how did she join AEGEE?

Jovana Trajković: I’m a 24-year-old student of Greek philology at the University of Belgrade. Hopefully, this year I will graduate! I joined AEGEE in 2010. My story may be one of the typical ones. As a person who is addicted to travelling, I was searching for some unconventional way to travel. My friend, who was very active member of AEGEE at that time, suggested I join the organisation. And here I am! (she smiles)

What made you take the decision of running for Network Commissioner?

First of all – Balkan locals. During my years in AEGEE I had a chance to meet many people from our area and to discuss with them about the situation of their locals, especially about their strengths and weaknesses. At one moment, I realized that I want to help them somehow, not only to discuss about it. I made a step forward and became Subcommissioner. When I look back, I can say that my responsibilities as SubCommie have prepared me for the next step. Now, after one year of being SubCommie, I feel ready to take another step forward. Therefore, I am running for the position of Network Commissioner. What I see as really important is support of, not only the locals, but also of Ana Potocnik, our current NetCommie, and the rest of SubCom team. And I can say that those girls are awesome. Beside the support, they also encourage me and believe in me. Sometimes even more than I believe in myself!

Which vision do you have of the work of a Network Commissioner?

The work of the Network Comissioner always seems interesting to me. Working in the SubCom team of Ana brought me more closely to the NetCom and its work. On the one side, there is work with the rest of NetCom team, and on the other side, working with locals and SubCom team. Thanks to Ana, I am aware of the amount of work which comes with this position. Furthermore, I see it as inspiring, joyful, responsible, interesting work which requires lot of time, mutual understanding and patience.

As you mentioned, you are currently subcommissioner of Ana Potocnik – what have you learnt during this time as NetCom?

First and foremost, this position taught me how to take care of locals and help them in the best possible way. Talking about locals and revising their activity reports helped me to create a better picture in my head about every local. Next to Ana, I have also learnt a lot about contacts and how to help them grow. Also, I realized how important is to have SubCom team on which you can rely and count on if you need its help. Finally, I can say that motivation and dedication are the most important for the position of Network Commissioner in order to handle all the work.

Which are the strengths of the Balkan region, according to you?

Our locals are close to each other and we speak more or less the same language. This makes our cooperation easier and increases the chance to have new common projects or events. When it comes to organising events, I can say for sure that Balkan locals are very good in project management. Each member involved in organisation of some event takes seriously his/her role. You should come to our NWM in Zagreb to check if this what I’m saying is true!

And its weaknesses?

If we talk in general, I can state only two weaknesses. Unfortunately, even if we are geographically close, we don’t know each other very well. If I get elected, I will try to change this in the future. The second one is lack of knowledge in different fields, depending on the local. The solution for this should be online trainings, as I stated in my candidature.

And which is going to be your top priority as NetCom, if elected?

Actually, I have two priorities – improving the cooperation of Balkan locals and establishing the online trainings.

How would you strengthen the cooperation with the antennae in the region?

My plan is to create a database which will include the strengths, weaknesses and interests of all my locals. Once this database is created, all locals will have access to it. In that way, locals could find their potential partner for the next project or event. If locals agree, I would organise one more meeting of our area, beside the NWM. That meeting would be more relaxing, with few workshops, because the purpose will be to bring locals closer to each other.

You have just mentioned some interesting ideas from your program, such as the on-line trainings. Can you tell us more about it, how is it is developing and how do you plan to continue them?

For the moment, we made a plan how we want it to look like. First of all, we would ask locals which kind of trainings they need. Those trainings will be organised for locals so their opinion is crucial. Afterwards, the plan is to organise trainings once or twice per month, depending on the locals’ needs and availability of trainers. About the material for trainings, we would use already existing toolkits of AEGEE-Europe. Also, Academy can help us here by providing us with their materials which we can adapt to our needs.

Being a Network Commission takes usually a lot of time – how do you plan to handle it?

When I decided to run for this position, one of the first questions which came to my mind was – Will I have time for it? It took me quite some time to think about it well, but my answer was, and still is, yes. Also, it’s not just about having time for it, it’s also about time management. Good time management, which I think I have, can save a lot of precious time and help to finish all the work on time. Also, I’m used to put my own deadlines in order to achieve goals which I set to myself. Furthermore, I’ll have an amazing SubCom team to help me in realization of my ideas and achieving goals.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

Recently, on the 27th of June 2014 the Republic of Albania saw its status elevated from ‘potential candidate’ to ‘candidate country’ to join the European Union. The question whether this is something positive or negative, good or bad remains a much heated and lengthy debate between those who trust in or those who are sceptic of the European Union. However, using the misconceptions of both sides, what could correctly be stated?

Some people for instance state that citizens of ‘candidate countries’ are able to  freely move to other member states of the European Union. These people often point to the Schengen Agreement as the cause for this migration. However, this would be confusing two main concepts. Regardless whether a country has signed the Schengen Agreement, every citizen of the European Union is able to live and retire in any of the other member states: they all have freedom of movement. The Schengen Agreement then, simply abolishes all types of border controls between their international borders, unless they have an opt out or unless their bid for participation in the Schengen Area has not yet been approved by the European Parliament or the Council of Ministers.

Much of the confusion might come from Iceland, a ‘candidate country’, to and from which citizens of both the EU and Iceland can move freely.  However, this happens because, unlike Albania, Iceland together with Norway, Liechtenstein and the EU is part of the European Economic Area, which is the actual area in which there is freedom of movement. That is to say, within the EEA all citizens of member countries are able to freely choose where to live and retire. So, will we see an increased, legal migration to and from Albania any time soon? –Not likely.

A second misconception is that once a country becomes a ‘candidate country’ it has also the right to print and use the euro. While a country’s political measures to become a part of the European Union might coincide in measures taken to make it join the Eurozone, this is not mandatory. ‘Candidate countries’ are allowed to enter the European Union without having the right to be a part of the Eurozone. Examples of which are Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

In order for Albania to become a member of the Eurozone upon becoming a member of the European Union, it must do three things. Firstly, it must decrease its government deficit from 6.1% to under 3%; secondly, it must drop its debt to GDP ratio from 70.5% to under 60%; and lastly it must shrink its inflation from its current percentage of 1.7 to at best around 1,5 percent. (note: all of these figures come from the 2013 estimations from the CIA The World Factbook)

Considering these three prerequisites to join the Eurozone, it becomes unlikely for Albania to become a part of the Eurozone within the first years of its admittance to the European Union. Out of the ten countries that became members of the European Union in 2004 for instance only six have entered the Eurozone and those only between 2008 and 2014.

A final misconception is that non-EU member states, especially those in Eastern Europe, are impoverished and backward countries. Most popular images might include a fragment of the 2004 movie Eurotrip. In this movie Slovakia, at the time recently admitted to the EU, was portrayed as a desolate place, where technology and broadcasting shows were several years behind, and, where $1,83 was enough to rent an entire suite in a five-star hotel. So, considering this negative stereotype, what does this say about the political and economic state of Albania in 2014?

Generally it could be said that the European Union is foremost a democratic political and developed economic union. Since EU membership has only been made available to democratic countries, what could be said of the stereotypical dictatorships in the east of Europe? According to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, Albania is not a dictatorship. It is categorized as a ‘Hybrid Regime’ with an overall score of 5.91, which is just 0.09 points shy of being called a ‘democracy’. It also puts Albania on par with its fellow ‘candidate country’ Turkey. The next ‘candidate country’ on this list is Montenegro, with an overall score of 6.57 being categorized as a ‘Flawed Democracy’, and the first EU member to follow is Croatia with an overall score of 7.04, still categorized as a ‘Flawed Democracy’.

Economically speaking, it could be said that the country is doing well, it is certainly not backwards. As previously stated, Albania has an inflation rate of 1.7%, which is economically very sound, since most economists agree that optimum levels of inflation are between 1-3%. Furthermore, Albania a high Human Development Index score of 0.749, which is somewhat comparable with other countries in the region including EU members such as Romania (0.786) and Bulgaria (0.782).

In short, Albania is not the most democratic or economically strongest country on the European continent, but it is roughly comparable with the rest of the Western Balkan. Additionally, there are figures that at least economically the country is improving each year, partly thanks to the EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance funding. While full membership to the European Union might not happen within the next decade, Albania has already signed a number of agreements with the EU and is likely to eventually comply to all of the EU requirements for membership.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

And the Local of the Month of July is…. AEGEE-Udine. Located in north-east of Italy, AEGEE-Udine “in the last months was the most dynamic within my area (Italian speaking locals, AEGEE-Valletta and Contact of AEGEE-Europe in Lugano ed.), and probably in the whole Network” quoting the words of Mattia Abis, Network Commissioner (AEGEE-Cagliari). We spoke with the President Alberto De Nardi and two active members, namely Laura Garbelotto and Giancarlo Nicolò, about their past events and their upcoming plans.

The AEGEEan: Tell us a little bit about the history of your local.

Alberto: I could write a book! Where should I start? I’d say that we are experiencing a positive trend started more than one year ago, characterized by an increasing number of active members, projects, partnerships and promotional activities. In the first months of the year we introduced many changes, mainly with the purpose of giving visibility to the antenna and creating a distinctive image of the association to the external public: new logo and stickers, new t-shirt and hoody, new mascot (Mandi), new flag and banner, new web site. The next phase of this improvement process has just started. It will be deeper and it will take some time. It’s a structural change in the antenna and in the human resources management. We are introducing the committees, the mentor system and a kind of membership criteria that each member has to fulfill. It won’t be easy to implement, but the idea is to have active and motivated members from the moment of their subscription. They have to feel like part of a family and we wish that they don’t take the membership for granted, but as something that has to be conquered.

The AEGEEan: You organized a conference about CIEs (immigrants’ detention centers) and immigration problem in Europe. Why choose such a delicate topic? How was the reception?

Laura: We believe that caring about this topic is our responsibility, as citizens and AEGEE members. Being aware about the social and political reality around us doesn’t mean only to learn how to socialize and respect the different culture of the European natives. We need to consider also how the freedom of people’s mobility inside the European Union emphasizes the existence of an external border around Europe and raises the difference in the rights between European citizens and those who comes from outside, who do not have the same freedom of movement. After the conference, more than a few were surprised and astonished. People would have never expected that this could be happening inside the borders of the civilized and advanced EU, a few kilometers away from their houses, in the total silence of the mainstream media.

The AEGEEan: Not only Udine, but the entire region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. The EVS Tour with Europe Direct was organized in Trieste, can you tell us more about that? Why Trieste?

Alberto: Despite the fact that our region, Friuli Venezia Giulia, is quite small, there are two universities: Udine and Trieste. As Udine is the only local of our region (AEGEE-Trieste was deleted during Autumn Agora Budapest 2012), we decided to promote AEGEE in the city of Trieste too. The promotion is of course not as intense as in Udine, but we still manage to publish some posts online about AEGEE events. The EVS Tour was organized by the youth association Europe Direct Trieste, and consisted in the organization of many events around the region to present the EVS project. We thought: what a good chance to promote AEGEE amongst youth locals. So we contacted them and attended two meetings introducing our association and activities.

The AEGEEan: The BBalkans were hit by floods and a lot of locals and members showed a lot of support. You organized an info desk to get funds/goods for the flood victims. How did you come up with the idea? How did it go?

Giancarlo: As soon as the floods hit the Balkans we wanted to do something to help our neighbors, so we decided to contact the local Balkan community. Udine is close to the border and lots of people from the Balkans live in our region. The first idea was to inform and make students aware of the situation, so we began to collaborate with other university associations in order to be more efficient, according to the Balkan example United we stand. The result was a conference to explain the project, to inform about the emergency, the sanitary problems, the needs and the collection points. Then we created an info-desk inside the university campus to give information and collect goods to ship to the flooded territories. The whole process was very difficult to manage due to time limits and very slow official communication channels of the university, but thanks to the AEGEE spirit the result was great.

The AEGEEan: AEGEE-Udine in the last year almost doubled the number of members and elected a brand new board. How do you deal with knowledge transfer and activating fresh members?

Alberto: At the moment,  knowledge transfer is the most important task of our local. That’s why we organized a Regional Training Course (RTC) in December and a Local Training Course (LTC) in April. The timing of the LTC was strategic: right after the end of the application period for the SUs, because we had the highest number of fresher members. The LTC took place for two full days during the weekend (no classes), far away from exam sessions, not overlapping other events and completely for free. Then we created an online database to store all the useful materials we need such as documents, forms, tool kits, flyers, presentations, contacts and so on. Finally, besides the direct knowledge transfer between each role of former and new board, we just started to introduce the mentor system and the committees as these are two powerful ways of training and integrating new members in the team.

The AEGEEan: Three of your members went to the European School 1 (ES1) in Enschede and one to the Summer University Project School (SUPS). How was it? How important are for you those kind of trainings?

Alberto: Besides them four, another member attended the Training for Trainers (T4T) and one more applied to the IT School, but it was unfortunately cancelled. Personally I attended the ES1 and I’m extremely satisfied with the program and the trainers of the Academy. We covered all the important managerial aspects for a local, the sessions were stimulating and most important the School was inspiring because I came back with some very useful suggestions that we already started to implement. In the same way, another member went to SUPS in Izmir and claimed that it was an incredible experience as well. Trainers were really experienced and motivating and they shared a lot of good ideas. So we strongly believe in the power and utility of trainings and European schools, we always push our members to attend them giving also a partial reimbursement.

The AEGEEans: What are the next plans of your local?

Alberto: First of all, our Travel Summer University, that will start in Ljubljana in a couple of days. We’ll spend seven days in Slovenia and seven in Italy. Everything is ready and we are very happy about the collaboration with AEGEE-Ljubljana. There is a big team of motivated organizers and the program is fantastic, so we have all the ingredients for a great event. But we have also started to work already on the next big event organized by our antenna…drum roll…the 3rd RTC in a row. The first two were memorable, so we are thinking to repeat it every year. Last year we had 60 participants and we reached the limit of the lodging place and we don’t expect less people to come this year. The dates are already set: 5th-8th of December.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and eastern Croatia have been hit the past days by a record flooding, and the state of emergency has been declared in some parts of both countries. More than 100,000 homes have been evacuated so far, and it has become one of the biggest natural disasters in the region.

Whereas the media from outside the Balkans have paid little attention to the devastating floods in the region, our AEGEE members in the area have been actively involved in awareness-creating and fundraising for the cause. They are sharing information on social media to raise awareness and spending their days volunteering and getting supplies for those affected. The AEGEEan has talked to the president of AEGEE-Beograd, Jelena Stanković, about the actions they are carrying and how can AEGEE members from all over the Network contribute.

Here are some of the numbers you can use to help (calling codes – Serbia: +381, Croatia: +385, Bosnia and Herzegovina: +387).

The AEGEEan: For those who are not aware of the situation – can you explain briefly what is happening and how it all started?

Jelena Stanković: Three months’ worth of rain fell on the region in just four days last week, creating the worst floods since records began 120 years ago. Rapidly rising rivers surged into homes, sometimes reaching up to the second floors and sending people climbing to rooftops for shelter. In Bosnia and Serbia 25 people have died, but warned the toll could rise. Tens of thousands of homes were left without electricity or drinking water. Hundreds were also evacuated in Croatia and one person was reported dead. Officials said more than 16,000 people have been evacuated from flood-hit regions in Serbia, many finding shelter in schools and sports halls. Lines of mattresses covered the floors of schools im Belgrade , with frightened survivors describing unstoppable torrents that surged in a matter of minutes. Houses are erased of the map in the Serbian city of Krupanj. And the threats of the diseases caused by floods are the next thing to be worried about.

The AEGEEan: Which impact has it had so far in Serbia and Bosnia?

Jelena: Yesterday we were in the supermarket to buy the necessary things for evacuated people, and all around we could see others running and asking what they could buy and where they could take it. People don’t have that much but they want to help, they know that their little for someone is a lot. A lot of voluntaries are sent back because too many applied. Everybody is trying to give their best to help.

But I think the fact that all Balkan (former Yugoslavia) countries are working together is the most powerful picture of this tragedy. Water washed the borders; we can do so much united for the people in need. I feel so proud today of all this people, and I know I am not alone.

The AEGEEan: How have the local/national governments from these countries have reacted?

Jelena: This is a delicate question, because a lot of people are criticizing governments for not being prepared on time, even if they had some warnings. But again people started organizing by themselves and did a lot of work. The army, Red Cross, the Fire Department and the Police are showing a lot of courage and most of them haven’t slept for four days. Some of them lost their lives by saving others’.

The AEGEEan: And what about you, have you been affected directly by the floods?

Jelena: In Belgrade, some parts were affected by the floods, as Obrenovac, where 12 people died and counting, but I think all our members are safe. My family house is flooded and during two days I couldn’t contact my parents most of the time. Now they are safe, but a lot of families are still trapped in the water.

AEGEE-Beograd’s Twitter account has been actively informing about the happenings.

The AEGEEan: How did you decide that AEGEE-Beograd had to be actively involved? And when did you start with all the activities?

Jelena: It was a natural thing to do, when something like this happens you only feel the urge to help. We had an urgent board meeting and decided to use money from our budget and buy what was needed. A lot of our members are volunteering in the shelters. With the Alumni of AEGEE-Beograd we also started an action to collect money for the endangered. This is just a begging. Whole towns are destroyed and a lot of people need help.

The AEGEEan: You are focusing a lot on raising awareness, especially by social media, how are you doing it?

Jelena: We use Facebook and Twitter to share the news and delegate people and goods where its needed. On our private profiles we are sharing numbers of accounts where people can donate money from abroad. Donations don’t need to be big, but if we have a big number of donations we can make an impact. In this point any help is welcome. We have also got in touch with locals from Bosnia and Croatia to see what we can do together.

The AEGEEan: And which other volunteering activities have you done?

Jelena: As I said we are volunteering in the shelters, helping with sorting and caring of the evacuated people. The guys are working on the dams, because the waves are coming.

The AEGEEan: Are you cooperating with any other NGOs?

Jelena: We are in contact with other student organizations as ESN and AIESEC, and we are trying to organize something together and raise money.

The AEGEEan: How can AEGEE members from all over the Network help?

Jelena: We received a lot of messages from our friends from all the Network, and we can just say thank you. Some of them had some ideas and shared them on the AEGEE-L mailing list. One of the ideas is to donate the money on the same way that AEGEE-Beograd did, therefore from our budgets or SU fees. We are also going to have an action to collect money for the flooded areas; there are going to be open accounts where people can donate and help.

But I think we shouldn’t just think for today. Unfortunatelym there is a lot of tragedies all around of Europe and we need to be able to help somehow. I had the idea of a Humanitarian Fund of AEGEE which can be financed from the fees that locals pay for the registration. I know this money is needed but we can save in many ways, we can use online booklets, one t-shirt can be someone’s lunch, we can cut the travel costs, there is always a way.

The AEGEEan: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Jelena: I just want to say thank you to all of our friends from all over Europe who supported us, but we also need AEGEE-Europe to react not just for us, but for all the people in the future who will be endangered. Shares and likes are helping but they are not feeding the people. We can do so much more. People from Bosnia and Serbia need your help; your one coffee is a hot meal or a warm bed for them.

The thoughts of the members of The AEGEEan team go to all people affected by this disaster. We are truly amazed by the big effort our AEGEE members in the region are doing and the awareness they are creating!

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

Protests… they came out of the blue. Tuzla has always been a multiethnic city, where Bosniaks, Croatians and Serbs live, hang out, work and contribute to society together in both good and bad times.

The war has ravaged everything behind, sowing hunger, misery and war profiteers nationwide. And the war profiteers could have hardly waited to exploit the suffering people. Knowing that those people would do everything for a crust of bread to feed their families, they would’ve paid them minimum wage of salary. At the end, despair has reached its peak and workers haven’t received their salaries at all. Thousands of families have been left without their basic income, with an empty stomach, and without a coin in their pockets. Also, the children of those workers have been left without books and basic school supplies, without money to pay their college. Even the education has become a privilege of „the rich“. Those people have been living from dawn until dusk, for twenty years, barely making ends meet, while telling their children: „Dad would buy it son, but we don’t have enough money“. You can find those people at every corner of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not just in Tuzla. Rage, anger, despair, dissatisfaction and envy have been emerging in those children.

The situation culminated on that fatal date of February 6th 2014. The crowd occupied the building of Tuzla Canton government shouting „Thieves, thieves!“. Even before that people gathered in front of that building, being hungry, thirsty and frozen, holding banners in their hands. But, it looked like the building was deaf to those people, while the prime minister and many other ministers were sneering, watching them through the window, reclining in a comfortable chair in their warm offices.

If you ask us, the real protests began a day before, on February 5th 2014. We still remember the panic in the streets, which then gripped all. People were talking about fire on the street, boys in blood, blocked traffic and police being everywhere. That morning we had a chance to see the same group of people protesting in front of that „deaf building“ as every Wednesday. We couldn’t even imagine that on the same afternoon everything would turn into a general chaos, streets filled with people and youth, who joined the dissatisfied workers, ready to rumble the police, who appeared out of nowhere. From far away you could also see an old granny sitting on a pedestrian crossing. She died a day after, when cops took her away from that place by force. She sacrificed the last day of her life for a better tomorrow, for a hope that even the youth in this country can expect better days. No man could look at these events indifferently. So the next day, Tuzla became a warfare between cops and soldiers armed with batons and tear gas and dissatisfied crowds of workers, pensioner, thousands of unemployed people and students.

The crowd started throwing stones at the building, setting  car tires on fire and throwing Molotov cocktails shouting „Thieves, get out!“. The army cruelly bated and dispersed those people with tear gas – those same people, thanks to whom they have salaries. That day the prime minister Čaušević ordered to police and army not to slacken – „to hit the scum from all sides“. And they listened to him. On the same day, they started chasing students, searching student’s dorms, invading colleges and the nearby shopping mall „Omega“, not hesitating to detain them, using batons and tear gases. The main roads at the entrance of the city, northern and southern highway, were completely blocked. Some citizens were asking themselves if all that chaos was actually necessary, if people exaggerated a little bit, why is there so much violence and why this couldn’t be just a peaceful protest. The answer is simple:  because there was no effect. The warfare occurred on the streets, conflicts between police and many students became aggressive and windows at a few colleges were broken, while the youth was trying to escape from the soulless police. In the evening, the situation calmed down a little bit, but street wars between police and youth continued.

News about events in Tuzla circulated the country, as well as the whole region, and it was said on journal that classes in schools won’t be held the next day, neither the activities on colleges, for the student’s security, as many of them were hurt, while getting back home that day. And then fake news appeared on the Internet, saying that protesters were just plain thieves, who robbed a few shops, apartments and a shopping mall that night. They wanted to make the public think that only that kind of people take part in protests. And who wanted to create such an opinion, we’ll let you to think about that. Besides that they couldn’t prevent the next day’s event which was agreed on by thousands people from all over the B&H on social networks and in secret calls.

And so the revolution has begun. Many people are calling it the „Bosnian spring“. It started in Tuzla, a city of pride we would rather say, than a city of shame, but of course not everybody thinks the same. Some people think that this is just an act of vandalism of voracious youth, hooligans and idlers, who wanted others to feel their misery and poverty; while some are completely supporting them, considering that nothing would be done with civilized protests, nobody from our government would agree to negotiate and the silence would be kept, as well as passivity of citizens. However, it was a matter of time until the day would come when the youth will wake up from their tucked reality, when the thousands of unemployed people with a degree in their hands will go on the streets, about thousands of pensioners with a retirement so low that it is a shame for a country in Europe, and about thousands of unpaid workers. Revolution from Tuzla is now spreading in other cities, now that they have realized that everything is possible and all it takes is just joined forces.

I am meeting Ana Dragic just after a basketball tournament. She has just arranged the interview, but then surprises me with a filled questionnaire early in the morning. I don’t know Ana very well, but I can see that she really gets along with Marijana Roscic, the current Network Commissioner (NetCommie), so I am sure she will also inherit Marijana’s strict habits and strong structure, which make her work very structured and organised.

So here it is – Ana Dragic candidating for Network Commission (NetCom):

You are candidating for the NetCom. Do you feel experienced enough?

After a one year term as president of a strong local such as AEGEE-Beograd and six months as Subcommissioner responsible for some very nice locals, after dealing with many difficulties of the locals in this region and being a participant, organizer and coordinator of many events, yes, I am sure I am experienced enough for this position.

From what I’ve seen, you are in very good relations with Marijana. Do you plan to take responsibility for her locals?

As I have already mentioned, I have been working in Marijana’s team for the last six months, and I am familiar with the situation of ‘her’ locals. When it comes to taking responsibility for them after Marijana’s term ends, that is something for the whole NetCom team to decide together. But I would surely love to continue working with them in case I get elected.

 And what about the Eastern Balkans – Bulgaria, Romania, Greece?

The same applies for them… after the elections, the NetCom team will decide and distribute the locals.

 Do you see any potential in this region for future locals?

“Svakoga dana u svakom pogledu sve više napredujemo.” – “Dolly Bell”

Every day, in every moment, we are progressing more and more.

Of course I am going to support Bridging Europe, and I will support any other project which benefits the locals in this area.

 We can see that now, and also during the last few years, most of the Comite Directeur (CD) candidates are former NetCom members. Do you have such intentions in mind?

At the moment, I don’t have such plans, but you never know.

How do you plan to fit the NetCom responsibilities into your timetable?

As I am playing my last basketball tournament this week and finishing my bachelor studies this year, my main responsibility will be AEGEE and hopefully master studies in Belgrade, so there
won’t be any problems with my schedule for sure.

It is said that AEGEE-Academy is the most attractive body in AEGEE. Also, through a joke, the Public Relations Committee became the tallest body and The AEGEEan – the sexiest. What would the Network Commission be like?

The most active, of course!

Thank you and good luck in Enschede!

Written by Liliya Buyukliyska, AEGEE-Sofia