Agora Catania is starting in a few days and as always, the AEGEEan will try to help you better understand the Proposals which will be discussed during the Prytania. These following ones are all proposed by the Comitè Directeur. 

EPM topic selection at Spring Agora

Proposed by Loes Rutten on behalf of the CD. This proposal aims at anticipating the selection of the topic for EPM to Spring Agora, in order to have a better correspondence of the timeframe with the preparatory work of the hosting local. Moreover, the announcement of hosting local of EPM would be made at the previous EPM, so that this factor could be taken into consideration for the topic selection. The proposed emendments to the Working Formats of Agora and EPM replace the expression “Autumn Agora” with the expression “Spring Agora” (in the Agora WF) and “the preceding Spring Agora” (in the EPM WF).

On resignation of members from elected European Bodies

Proposed by Fabrizio Bellicano on behalf of the CD. This proposal’s intention is to limit the possibility for members to apply for an elective position before they finish their duties, in case they where already elected for a different elective position at a previous Agora. The proposed changes to the WF of the Agora add that members who hold an Agora-elected position cannot run for a different elective position at the following Agora, except when the end of the previous term and the beginning of the following one do not collide. The same rationale would apply to resignations, unless announced three months in advance before Agora.

Vote of Confidence and Comité Directeur

Proposed by María Ballesteros Melero on behalf of the CD. This proposal is based on the fact that a vote of confidence against the CD is automatic in case the interim Action Agenda fulfillment is not approved by Agora, but the CD doesn’t -and shouldn’t- have control over the Action Agenda fulfillment. It is proposed to link the vote of confidence to the lack of approval by Agora for binding documents for CD such as their Activity Plan or interim Activity Report. This last provision would be added to article 21, (1) of the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe, while at article 3, (3) of the Strategic Plan and Action Agenda, point 5 (“Disapproval of the interim evaluation leads to a vote of confidence for the Comité Directeur”) would be removed.

You can find all the proposals here.

Written by Federica Soro, AEGEE-Cagliari

Just like we did for the last Agorae, for Spring Agora Bergamo you can enjoy a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for the Agora. In this round, we will be explaining you three proposals that are aimed at obtaining an easy CIA without repetitions, mistakes or overregulation, namely: ‘Simplify the CIA: AEGEE Locals’, ‘Simplify the CIA: Events’ and ‘Simplify the CIA: Planning’.

The CIA (Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense) is a document with over a hundred pages containing all the rules which govern our student association. It is therefore considered as the legal framework of the Association, and all members are obliged to follow its provisions. In the CIA we find rules about topics as Locals, Partner Associations, Honorary Members, Agora, European Planning Meeting, but also about Events and Planning.

Simplify the CIA: AEGEE Locals

This proposal will be presented by Salvatore Maraventano on behalf of the Juridical Commission, Mareike Wegener on behalf of the Network Commission and Svenja van der Tol on behalf of the Comité Directeur . The proposers aim to unify the definition of antennae by using locals instead of AEGEE locals everywhere in the CIA. Other proposed deletion, such as the use of the name ”AEGEE-” followed by the geographical name best suited to the locality in which they are situated or the organisational method of a local, are so because they consist in repetition.

Simplify the CIA: Events

Mareike Wegener on behalf of the Network Commission and Glòria Llopart on behalf of the Juridical Commission are the proposers of the proposal that aims to update LTC and Events according to the current situation. Besides that, it defines the rules/procedure currently applied for events. The definition of the event will be simplified to: “an activity, with a defined group of participants, that take place in one or more locations”. Also, the definition of an LTC slightly changes from integrating AEGEE members into involving AEGEE members in the work of AEGEE.

A European event should include at least two hours of tuition per day excluding arrival and departure days in case the event takes place for more than one night, which is now the minimum overnight stay to consider it a European Event, decreasing it from the previous two nights. It is also added that European Events must be announced to the Events Quality Assurance Committee (which becomes E.Q.A.C.) at the latest two months before they take place and undergo an evaluation if they are to count towards fulfilling the Antenna Criteria. The rules regarding the submission of events towards E.Q.A.C also change, meaning that they have to be approved by the E.Q.A.C and only confirmed by the CD. Statutory meetings are also considered to be AEGEE-Europe Events, but are not subject to the approval of the E.Q.A.C.

Simplify the CIA: Planning

Svenja van der Tol on behalf of the Comité Directeur and Glòria Llopart on behalf of the Juridical Commission, will present a proposal about the Planning and Strategic plan. The proposal consists in deleting some articles that are repetition or outdated. Now it is clear that the Strategic plan is drafted for three years at the planning meeting and it will be approved after the consultation with the Network the article with the absolute majority. The Action Agenda is now approved with simple majority  and it’s the Comité Directeur, together with the Working groups, to carry out the necessary fulfilment. Now the CD presents an interim evaluation, but it is added that, according to this evaluation, they may or may not add new items to the agenda. It is added that a simple majority to approve the interim evaluation. While now it’s the CD to present the final evaluation, it is added the word “former” in order to have the CD member who deal with the fulfilment to present it, for the approval.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.

As we did for the previous Agorae, we want to present to you some of the proposals which will be discussed at Agora Bergamo. Don’t forget that for a complete picture you can (and should) check the entire proposal on our OMS. In this article we will be explaining four proposals, namely: “New DPPS Implementation Timeline”, “Making the life standards of members of the Comité Directeur and assistants a little bit better”, “Simplify the CIA: Resources of the Association” and “Improving the agenda setting and keeping”.

New DPPS Implementation Timeline
First, what is Data Privacy Policy Statement about? Since Agora Alicante 2011 there has been a huge debate in AEGEE regarding the lack of protection for potential sensitive data. Since Agora Patra 2014 these data have been classified in three categories: “external data” – accessible to everybody even outside AEGEE, “internal data” – accessible only to AEGEE members and “confidential data” – accessible to small groups of people and certain members who hold a position of responsibility (Netcommies, Audit Commissioners etc.). Confidential data are probably the most important one, it would be unfair if everybody could have access to private data. The DPPS was therefore ratified at Agora Patra. Among the new ideas the former MedCom worked on, a transition period was specified during which AEGEE should have implemented the DDPS. The deadline was Spring Agora Bergamo 2016, but the reform has not succeed yet. That’s why the proposer wants to propose a concrete timeline in order to have clear implementation steps in the next two years with the last stage scheduled for Autumn Agora 2017. As mentioned, the part of our statutes which will be modified is “Data Privacy Statement” – article 11, where deadline and specific steps of implementation will be changed. The proposer is Damien Latacz on behalf of the Mediation Commission, meaning that the proposers are the same people who will be implementing it.

You can check out the proposal here, get more information about the Data Privacy Police in this article or check out this presentation the MedCom prepared about it some time ago.

Making the life standards of members of the Comité Directeur and assistants a little bit better
Each member of the Comité Directeur and their assistants who are living at the AEGEE House is entitled to receive a subsistence reimbursement of ten euro per day spent in the house. Ander Guerrero Ruiz, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, submitted this proposal on behalf of the Comité Directeur. He states that the cost of living in Bruxelles has increased in the last three years, the last time the amount of money for our CD members was changed from eight euro per day to ten. If approved, this proposal is going to increase the amount up to 12,50 euro and would modify this number on our CIA, specifically in “GENERAL FINANCIAL RULES, Article 24: Subsistence Costs”.

Fun fact: if you check the entire proposal on our OMS you can see a long discussion about the cost of eggs and milk in Brussels, since the proposer used these two items as example of high cost of living.

Improving the agenda setting and keeping
Have you ever been at an Agora whose agenda gets modified the last minute? What kind of problems does it cause? According to Svenja van der Tol, who submitted the proposal on behalf of the Comité Directeur (and on behalf of the Agora reform task force, that cannot present proposals since they are not a body), last-minute changes can cause difficulties for the Chair Team to fix the agenda, create delays in the timing and problems for local organisers because of lack of rooms or materials needed. The proposed solution is to modify the CIA, specifically here: WORKING FORMAT OF THE AGORA, Article 2: Meeting and Convocation, sub. 3. Currently the agenda of the Agora has to be published at least two weeks before the event starts, but amendments to the agenda can be proposed at any time during the very same Agora. If approved, this proposal will regulate the submission of eventual amendments to the Chair team by admitting them not later than one week before the Agora, then the delegates would decide if they ratify these amendments at the beginning of the event. Once at the Agora, its members will still have the possibility to make amendments to the Agenda but, even if ratified, the Chair Team can decide based on the time and facilities. Still “the Agora may incorporate additional subjects that could not have been known one week before the Agora” in case something urgent must be discussed.

Download a copy of the CIA and read it!

Simplify the CIA: Resources of the Association
While the title of this proposal can make it sound as a minor one, the amendments proposed are a lot and a bit of pacience is is required to read them all. Let’s start off by saying that the CIA parts which would be modified are two: STATUTES OF AEGEE-EUROPE, art. 33 – Budget and GENERAL FINANCIAL RULES (with more than 12 articles modified, for a total of about 50 sub.). In fact, the proposers are the most expert people in budgeting and financial matters: Ander Guerrero Ruiz as Financial Director on behalf of the Comité Directeur and Deborah Pistori on behalf of the Audit Commission took care of the content changes. The last proposer is Claudio Gennaro, president of the Juridical Commission who took care of the legal part of this proposal.

Taking into account the most evident changes, if approved this proposal will provide these modifications:

– The introduction of a detailed explanation of which are the general resources of AEGEE-Europe.

– The outgoing Financial Director preparing and presenting the Financial Report at the Autumn Agora.

– The budget won’t need to be published two weeks before the Agora anymore.

– The dates of the financial year are clearly stated: from the 1st of January to the 31st of December and they are split up in two parts, with the first one starting on the 1st of January and ending on the 30th of June.

– The exchange rate is set twice a year and not every three months anymore.

– Reimbursements should be submitted no later than 21 days after the event/travel took place, not within one month as it happens now.

– CD and Commissions’ members can receive a reimbursement even if they are not active.

– The payment will not be made in the applicant’s currency anymore, but in Euro, moreover the Financial Director doesn’t have to present a list of currencies conversion rate into Euro before the Agora anymore.

– AEGEE-Europe does not have to reserve anymore an amount for the Training Course Fund, only if an open call for this is issued.

– There will not be anymore deficit guarantees by AEGEE-Europe for locals organising Statutory Events in case of unexpected loss after the event budget is approved by the Financial Director of AEGEE Europe.

As you can see the proposal is very articulated and on the OMS there is not much explained about the motivations and the changes this proposal will give bring. So, as always, it is recommended to study it and be ready to get the needed clarifications at the relative Prytanium.  You can check the complete proposal here to form your own opinion.

Written by Mattia Abis, AEGEE-Cagliari

Here are some proposals concerning the type of members of the Agora which will be made in the Agora Bergamo, denominated “Changing the participant type of Network Commission Assistants at Agora”, “Number of Envoys for Statutory Events”, “Sending former Comite Directeur members as envoys after the end of their term”.

Changing the participant type of Network Commission Assistants at Agora

Tekla Hajdu, Hanna Alajõe and Mareike Wegener, on behalf of Network Commission, have made a proposal about the role of its Commission Assistants. Currently, NetCom Assistants do not have speaking rights, which, according to the proposers, prevent them from taking part in the internal work of Network Commission during Agora for instance, they cannot represent their locals properly if Chair Team does not grant them speaking rights.
Instead, other Assistants can apply as envoy, such as CD Assistants, who are not elected either, but appointed. According to the proposers, envoys should be not only the members of the Commissions of AEGEE-Europe, but also the Assistants of the same Commissions, integrating the article 3 of the section “Working format of the Agora”.

Number of Envoys for Statutory Events

Lucia Gavulová and Philipp Blum, on behalf of SUCT, have submitted a proposal about the number of Envoys for Statutory Events. As the Summer University Coordination Team is elected by the Agora, they think they should have the right to send all their members as envoys to statutory events. However, since every project can only send three envoys, one member of the SUCT is left out. Since the team works closely together for many months, the proposers think it is not fair for one member not to represent the project. Since questions may be asked for different responsibilities of the team, the member responsible should be allowed to explain them on behalf of SUCT.

 Sending former Comite Directeur members as envoys after the end of their term

Aleksandra Kluczka, on behalf of Comite Directeur, has submitted a proposal about sending former CD members at Agorae. The former Comité Directeur that finishes its term on the 31st of July is obliged to present their Activity Report and Financial Report during the
following Autumn Agora in order to have it voted upon by the Agora. At the moment, the former Comité Directeur members that attend an Agora are assigned with the status of a visitor. With this proposal, the former Comité Directeur would be given the chance to attend the first Autumn Agora after their term have finished with the status of an envoy.  One of the main motivation behind it is to allow former CD members to actively participate in discussion, especially those that involve projects started during their term. 

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.

‘Towards a most imponderable homogeneity of language’ is hard, like literally difficult to understand. We often use very complex words and phrases to specifically convey what we mean. If you understood that first line, for instance, you are either a highly educated English speaker or Google. In short, in some cases, when we simplify or even remove overly complex phrases, they become much better for us to understand. This might also be the case of the CIA (Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense). That’s why the AEGEEan decided to cover four proposals in this article that are intended to do just this. These are: “Simplify the CIA: SUCT”, “Simplify the CIA: Working Format of the Agora”, “Simplify the CIA: AEGEE Partner Organisations”, and “Simplify the CIA: Organs of AEGEE-Europe”.

What they mean by?

The main argument of the proposals we are presenting to you is that, first of all, some sections in the CIA have become outdated and need to be amended to properly reflect the association as it is today. Secondly, some sections contain a lot of deadwood: parts of a document or section that are no longer useful or helpful in an explanatory sense. These proposals would thus eliminate any phrases that are unnecessary.

Simplify the CIA: SUCT

This proposal was made by Philipp Blumm on behalf of the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT) and by Claudio Gennaro on behalf of the Juridical Commission (JC), and it is largely concerned with the phrasing of certain bits of the CIA. This proposal mainly aims to rephrase just a couple of lines in the ‘Working Format of the Agora’. The only proposed amendment in this part of the CIA that will change any regulations, is that SUCT members are now only elected to serve between two Autumn Agorae. The bulk of the amendments that propose changed regulation can be found in the ‘Summer University’.  The proposed amendments are, firstly, that the Comité Directeur will no longer appoint one member out of the members of SUCT. Also, SUCT may now host an open call for vacant spots to find a member to fill in this spot. This member, however, will afterwards still need to be elected at the Agora. Other amendments are that the Project Manager can now be entrusted with the task of being a Treasurer, and that Knowledge Transfer would now specifically include passwords and that it will now happen within one month after the Agora. The proposal also calls for the option of organising a SU to only become, in general, limited to antennae or in co-operation with antennae. Lastly, specifications for a Travel Summer Universities (TSU) will be loosened, especially with those regarding the budget.

Simplify the CIA: Working Format of the Agora

Another proposal that was submitted by Claudio Gennaro on behalf of the Juridical Commission, in collaboration with Svenja van der Tol, on behalf of the Comité Directeur (CD), is Simplify the CIA: Working Format of the Agora. This proposal is also concerned with updating the CIA in order to reflect the current affairs of the association. These proposed updates would mean that it no longer requires the Agora in order to approve the annual and internal financial report. The annual and internal financial reports still need to be approved, of course, but they no longer have to be approved specifically as they would be presented by the Financial Director (because the guy or girl can slip up or stammer during his or her presentation, or accidentally include a fresh typo for the presentation that reads €1000.- instead of €100.-). Another proposed change is to include the Action Agenda and four members of the SUCT as one of the items or people to be voted upon or elected respectively by the Agora. Another specification would be the deadline for announcing the amount of to-be-elected-candidates at the next Agora by the JC to be specified two months prior to the Agora. Also, temporarily appointed members of the Chair Team, that is to say not-elected members, need to be ratified at the next Agora.
The Chairperson would be exempt from participating in procedural motions. The proposal still bars the Chairperson from participating in discussions. Another amendment would be that the Secretary of the Agora would no longer be required by to send the minutes of the Agora to the CD within two months of the Agora. Lastly, according to the proposed amendments for Article 17, all decisions of the Agora would from then on out come into effect at the closing of the Agora.

Simplify the CIA: AEGEE Partner Associations

This joined proposal is by Svenja van der Tol on behalf of the CD and Salvatore Maraventano on behalf of the JC, and it includes some changes in regard to AEGEE partner associations. The proposed changes would let all AEGEE partner associations bear all the rights and responsibilities vested in the undersigned Convention d’Adhésion, and improve communication between AEGEE and the partner association. The proposal would also remove any specific references to the AEGEE-Academy, because, according the proposal, the newly introduced general regulations regarding the partner associations will, by definition, also be applicable to the AEGEE-Academy.

Simplify the CIA: Organs of AEGEE-Europe

This final proposal has been submitted by Svenja Van der Tol on behalf of the the CD and by Glòria Llopart on behalf of the JC, and, like the proposal regarding AEGEE partner associations, also affects the Statutes (CIA) of AEGEE-Europe. The proposed changes, aside from a number of reformulated phrases, are that candidates for the presidency, who were not elected, would now be allowed to present themselves for another post in the CD; AEGEE partner associations would now simply get three votes, instead of having to send a specific amount of delegates to the Agora; Each CD member would need to present their own activity report on an Ordinary Agora, the Financial Director would need to present an additional financial report, and the Agora would need to vote on these reports. These generic reports would now replace the more specifically named moral reports. Part of Article 15.8, which stated that “The Secretary of the meeting is responsible for the minutes of the Agora”, part of 15.11, which stated that “The representative of the Audit Commission may intervene if the Agora asks them to do so”,  and part of 15.13, which stated that “The Agora approves the management of the Comité Directeur for the period since the last Agora”, would all be omitted. A final amendment would be that now only half of the delegates, instead of half of all members of the Agora have to request to vote via a secret ballot.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Just like we did for the last Agorae, for Autumn Agora Kyïv again we want to provide you with a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for the Agora. In this second round, we will be explaining you three proposals that focus on improving our biggest project to date: the Summer University project. These proposals are called ‘Improving SU (I)’, ‘improving SU (II)’ and ‘SC+ criteria reform’.

 
The Summer University project was established in 1988 and has been involving more than 2000 young people every summer ever since. Students from all over Europe spend on average two weeks together in different places, learning new cultures and languages and sharing great experiences. Since its establishment, the Summer University project has been one of the most successful projects and it has been shown how much AEGEEans cares about it. The Summer University Coordination Team is the body that runs the project, of which the members are elected during the Autumn Agora.

The first proposal is called ‘Improving SU (I)’ and was proposed by Ander Guerrero Ruiz (Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe) on behalf of the Comité Directeur. This proposal aims to ensure a better use of the finances of the SUCT, which are currently administrated by one of the four members who composes the team. Right now, the SUCT is free to use their budget in a way they find most suitable for the project and the team itself, but the first change the proposal wants to make is that they will need the approval of the Financial Director, who will give advice on drafting the budget. Also, a new role will be added to the ones already existing (Project Manager, IT responsible, PR responsible, Treasurer and Publication Responsible): the Fundraiser. Another thing that will be added is that during the Autumn Agora, where the SUCT will present their report, also a report about expenses and trips must be presented. Moreover, if a member of SUCT is attending the Spring Agora, an interim report, a presentation of the budget and an update of the status of the SU project has to be presented as well. Lastly, big expenses need to be announced one month prior to the Financial Director who can reject them on a mutual decision with Comité Directeur.

Here you can read the full proposal.
‘Improving SU (II)’ is also proposed by Ander Guerrero Ruiz (Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe) on behalf of the Comité Directeur. It aims to raise the daily fee for the SU Course/SU Course+. Currently, Summer Universites are divided in three categories: SU Course, SU Course+ and Travel Summer Universities and the fees are divided in two categories: 12 euros for SU Course and 14 euros for SU Course+ and TSUs. According to the proposer, in fact, organising a SC is not cheaper than organising a SC+ or TSU and maybe this discourages small locals to organise a Summer University. This may be the reason why the amount of locals organising a SU has been rapidly decreasing in the last few years. By unifying the costs of the fee, we can see if  this decrease is because of financial problems of the locals or there are other reasons to be detected.
Here you can read the full proposal.
The last one is ‘SC+ criteria reform’, which is proposed by Matthijs Overhaal and Jorge Miguel Vielva on behalf of the AEGEE-Academy. This proposal aims to change the approach towards the SU Course +. Currently SC+ has a duration between 14 and 28 nights with at least 20 hours of tuition per week and a minimum of 15 participants. The proposers believe that the potential of this type of Summer University is not exploited to the fullest, so they would like to decrease the minimum of nights to 11 and have at least 36 hours of tuition in total. One of the requirement to organise a SC+ is to have the support of the university where the Summer University is taking place and lessons must be thought by professional teachers. The proposer are adding The AEGEE-Academy to the academic support to foster Non-Formal Education with their qualified trainers, which can allow more flexibility and, according to Matthijs and Jorge Miguel, might encourage more locals to decide to organise a SC+.

Here you can read the full proposal.

You can read the CIA here.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Just like we did for the last Agorae, for Autumn Agora Kyïv again we want to provide you with a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for the Agora. In this first round, we will be explaining you three proposals that are aimed at improving the CIA and the work of Juridical Commission, namely ‘Improving the CIA one step at the time (8): Fixing mistakes’, ‘Clarifying the role of the Juridical Commission at the elections at the Agora’ and ‘Removing the appointed Comité Directeur member as observer and advisor of the Juridical Commission’.

Now you may wonder: “What is this CIA you are talking about? Is AEGEE-Europe secretly American?” Simply said, the CIA (Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense) is a document with over a hundred pages containing all the rules which govern AEGEE-Europe. It is therefore considered as the legal framework of the Association, and all members are obliged to follow its provisions. Although no secret agents are involved in it, it is one of the most important documents. In the CIA, which you can read here, you can find for example the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe, the Working Formats of the different bodies and all kind of rules (General Rules, Rules of the Network Commission, Antennae Criteria, etc.).

Now that we know what the changes are about, we can continue to see which ones they actually are. ‘Improving the CIA one step at the time (8)’ was submitted by Glòria Llopart on behalf of the Juridical Commission and aims – as the name already suggest – to improve the CIA by correcting small mistakes that can occure during the years. The proposal contains three points.

The first change is to delete the Parisian address of our Headoffice mentioned and add the address in Brussels instead. As you might know, AEGEE-Europe has an house and a office where the Comité Directeur is living and working, located in Brussels at Rue du Noyer/ Notelaarsstraat 55. The second change aims to replace the word ‘dissolution’ with ‘deletion’ in the part dedicated to the Convention d’Adhésion (CdA) signed between Locals and AEGEE-Europe. Right now the CIA states that “Notice of termination from the Convention d’Adhésion by one or the other party will bring about the immediate dissolution of the AEGEE local in question”. This has to be change, because AEGEE-Europe can only attribute or change the status of a locals according to the criteria it has to respect. Only the local Agora can decide to dissolve the organisation, while AEGEE-Europe can only delete the antenna for not having respected the CdA. The third change is made to the General Rules, specifically article 2: Strategic Plan. In this article, the Main Fields of Action are mentioned, which were removed in 2013. This proposal therefore aims to take out the Main Fields of Action.

You can read the full proposal here.

The second poposal is ‘Clarifying the role of the Juridical Commission at the elections at the Agora’ and is submitted by Glòria Llopart on behalf of the Juridical Commission. During elections, the role of the JC right now is ambiguoos, since it is not clear if the Chairperson (who presides over the Agora) is in charge of the elections or just has to announce them, because the word “supervised” left margins in the interpretation. By changing the respective articles in the Working Format of the Agora and the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe, the Juridical Commission will be in charge of the entire process of elections, from preparing the ballots to counting the votes.

You can read the full proposal here.

The third proposal is ‘Removing the appointed Comité Directeur member as observer and advisor of the Juridical Commission’, submitted by Claudio Gennaro, Glòria Llopart and Salvatore Maraventano on behalf of the Juridical Commission. Right now, the JC of composed by three commissioner and an observer from Comité Directeur (which is at the moment Pablo Hernández Rodríguez, External Relation Director of AEGEE-Europe), and eventually JC subcommissioners. The main issue the proposers are pointing out is that there are some trouble in terms of communication. In fact, in case a question concerning legal advice in a case involving CD, the JC can’t use the mailing list freely as an observer from Comité Directeur is there and this could result in an unfair procedure. This forces JC to discuss those kind of matters (like the discussion of this proposal) with their private accounts, where subcommissioners can’t participate in the discussion. According to this proposal, removing the observer could grant the absolute impartiality of the work of JC and ensure that the communications would stay within the mailing list, which is the official communication channel.

You can read the full proposal here.
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

During Spring AgorAsturias, the new members of the Juridical Commission (JC) got elected, namely: Claudio Gennaro (AEGEE-Cagliari), Glòria (AEGEE-Heidelberg) and Salvatore Maraventano (AEGEE-Palermo). The AEGEEan interviewed them about their work and their aim for the upcoming term.

The AEGEEan: For those who do not know you yet, can you briefly introduce yourselves?
Claudio: I’m a law student in love with AEGEE, sports and music.
Glòria: I’ve studied law and I’m a member of AEGEE-Heidelberg. This term, I’m surrounded by Sicilians in the JC, so let’s see if I learn some Italian (or Italian law!).
Salvatore: I recently obtained my degree in law and now I’m dedicating myself to the JC and to my passions, travelling and surfing, while I try to find a way to start a career in the international law field.

Maybe not everyone knows what your actual work looks like. How exactly would you define the work as a member of the Juridical Commission?
Juridical Commission: You wouldn’t say it, but the work of the JC is very challenging. Basically, you have to answer questions and follow procedures according to the Corpus Iuridicum AEGEEnse (CIA). But some questions are very complicated, they have a lot of implications. It takes the right mix of knowledge, attention and creativity to solve them. We usually discuss a lot, present our argumentations and decide together. It is completely inspiring for a person with a juridical academic background. It’s like solving complicated puzzles for a math student.

Why did you apply for Juridical Commission? What is your personal motivation?
Claudio: After already two years in the JC I felt this chance as a new opportunity to be helpful for the association and its members.
Glòria: I applied for a second term in the JC because I really like the work here: it’s very interesting and at the same time you have fun with your colleagues.
Salvatore: I’ve been an active member of my antenna for three years. One of them as treasurer and two as president. At some point I felt like I had to give something more to the network and I decided to apply as subcommie, before, and as commissioner, later.
I also thought that this experience would be a nice boost to my CV and a way to learn new things. And in fact I am learning a lot.

What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected?
Claudio: It is always a great emotion to see your name on the big screen of the Agora, even when there are three places available and only three candidates.
Glòria: Although only three persons applied and three positions had to be covered, the results of any elections are always exciting!
Salvatore: I was not present at the Agora I was elected in, so I just received the photo of the screen of the results and the congratulations of the people. It was an honour. The JC is a body I consider of utmost importance and I’m proud to be part of it.

What are your specific aims for the upcoming term? Is there any concrete goal you want to achieve?
Juridical Commission: Continue with the process of simplification of the Corpus Iuridicum AEGEEnse. We dream of a smaller and coherent CIA that is easy to consult.

What about your Subcommissioners? Who are they and what are their tasks?
Juridical Commission: The subcommies of the JC are or were law students who help the commissioners in their daily tasks. They have already supervised elections and checked statutes of locals. This term, we have the luck to have an international group of motivated subcommies: Danica Petrovic (AEGEE-Beograd), Elisa Tabbì (AEGEE-Catania), Lucie Ostrà (AEGEE-Brno), Monika Mojak (AEGEE-Lublin) and Mateusz Zsoturma (AEGEE-Kraków).

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Sofia/Thessaloniki

Just like we did for the last two Agorae (namely Spring Agora Patra and Autumn Agora Cagliari) this year again we want to provide you with a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for Spring Agorasturias. In this round, we will explain you three proposals that will affect the Antennae Criteria, one of them specifically clarifying what happens if a local modifies its Statutes. Read more about ‘Antenna Criteria: Restructuring and Improvements’, ‘Making Activity Report and Activity Plan coherent to board term’ and ‘Modification of the Statutes of Locals’.

The first two proposals were submitted by Andrea Schmelz and Mario Galea on behalf of the Network Commission. The first one, ‘Antenna Criteria: Restructuring and Improvements’, wants to restructure the Antennae Criteria in order to make it easier for locals to find which are all the criteria that they have to fulfill. Right now, if you are an Antenna, you have to follow the criteria to become an Antenna too. What this proposal wants to do, is to separate the criteria to become a Contact, to become a Contact Antenna, to remain a Contact Antenna, to become an Antenna and to remain an Antenna in order for locals to find them easier, without changing their content. Besides that, there are also some content changes that will make some criteria more clear. The changes made in this proposal can be found here.

The second proposal, ‘Making Activity Report and Activity Plan coherent to board term’, intends to clarify and cohere when the Activity Report and the Activity Plan should be sent. Right now, the Activity Plan is sent by the new board one month after their election, stating their future plans. Once per year, they send the Activity Report where they present the achievements of the year that passed. The Comité Directeur and Network Commission use this information to make sure that the locals are doing well. In order to make it clear when the new board should send the Activity Plan, the proposers suggest to have the new board send their Activity Plan one month after they start their term instead of the election, since some boards begin their term several weeks after the elections. The Activity Report would then be sent after the board term is over. You can find all the changes of this proposal here.

The third proposal, ‘Modification of the Statutes of Locals’, is submitted by Joris Veenhuis, Claudio Gennaro and Glòria Llopart on behalf of the Juridical Commission and aims to ensure the equality between AEGEE-Europe and the locals. How? When a local modifies its statutes, they should send them to Juridical Commission. Why? AEGEE-Europe and the locals have signed the Convention d’Adhesion (CdA), the partnership contract between two associations which are engaged to be clear to each other. Locals are aware of the changes in AEGEE-Europe’s statutes since they must be approved at an Agora. However, after the first approval of the statutes, which happens before a local signs the CdA, AEGEE-Europe can only access the statutes of the locals upon demand. This is inequitable. If a local changes its statutes in a way that does not follow AEGEE-Europe’s principles, AEGEE-Europe will only know if a member exposes that issue. With this proposal, future problems about statutes can be avoided. All changes made to achieve that can be found here.

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Sofia/Thessaloniki

Just like we did for the last two Agorae (namely Spring Agora Patra and Autumn Agora Cagliari) this year again we want to provide you with a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for Spring Agorasturias. In this first round, we will be explaining you three proposals that are aimed at improving the CIA, namely ‘Improving the CIA one step at the time (6): Fixing small mistakes’, ‘Improving the CIA one step at the time (7): Charter of Honorary Members’ and ‘Abolir le français en tant que seconde langue officielle de l’Assemblée générale et des statuts des sections locales’. 

Now you may wonder: “What is this CIA you are talking about? Is AEGEE-Europe secretly American?” Simply said, the CIA (Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense) is a document with over a hundred pages containing all the rules which govern AEGEE-Europe. It is therefore considered as the legal framework of the Association, and all members are obliged to follow its provisions. Although no secret agents are involved in it, it is one of the most important documents. In the CIA, which you can read here, you can find for example the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe, the Working Formats of the different bodies and all kind of rules (General Rules, Rules of the Network Commission, Antennae Criteria, etc.).

Now that we know what the changes are about, we can continue to see which ones they actually are! The first two, ‘Improving the CIA one step at the time (6) and (7)’ were submitted by Joris Veenhuis, Claudio Gennaro and Glòria Llopart on behalf of the Juridical Commission and aim – as the name already suggest – to improve the CIA one step at a time. The first one, ‘Fixing small mistakes’, does so by fixing some mistakes that sneaked in over the years and clarifying the Organs of AEGEE-Europe. With this, you can think about mistakes like the wrong article number referred to due to other changes having been made over the years and some unclear things, like the difference between ‘ordinary members’ and ‘honorary members’. You can find all the changes and the reasons for them here.

The second proposal, ‘Charter of Honorary Members’, aims at improving the Charter of Honorary Members, because there turned out to be some questions about it. This proposal doesn’t really affect the content of the Charter, but does try to make it easier to read and understand. The Juridical Commission has also tried to make the Charter a bit smaller by removing some things that don’t really have to be regulated, like the administrative responsibility of the award. The exact changes to achieve an easier to understand Charter of Honorary Members can be found here.

The third proposal, ‘Abolir le français en tant que seconde langue officielle de l’Assemblée générale et des statuts des sections locales’, is submitted by Léa Charlet (Policy Officer on Gender Equality) and Paul Smits (Comité Directeur). It’s written in French to emphasize its aim, namely abolishing French as the official second language of AEGEE-Europe. When reading the CIA, you may notice that at the end of it there is also a translated version in French, and at several points in the CIA you  may find French being mentioned as an alternative language for English, for example as the official language of the Agora. Antennae and Working Groups also have to provide a copy of their statutes in English or French, which the proposers think is not necessary. They therefore propose to delete French as the second official language of AEGEE-Europe. All changes made to achieve that, can be found here.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen