The external work of our association is as important as the internal one. Since the number of international organisation is very high, AEGEE-Europe has appointed some members, called Liaison Officers to maintain a link between AEGEE and the international organisations they work with. Currently AEGEE has six Liaison Officers, namely Diego Antončić, Liaison Officer towards the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC); Marije Arentze, Liaison Officer towards the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe); Burcu Unluturk, Liaison Officer towards the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Alba Laguna, Liaison Officer towards the United Nations’ Environment Programme (UNEP); Adela-Mihaela Militaru, Liaison Officer towards The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Paul Smits, Liaison Officer towards European Youth Forum (YFJ). We asked some questions to Marije, Burcu and Diego to better understand their work.

Please, describe yourself.

 
Diego: My name is Diego Antončić and I have been a member of the AEGEE family since December 2013. I am 22 years old and I am studying European Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana. As a member of AEGEE I participated in numerous events and conferences organised by our organisation. I am very communicative and I can easily adjust to new situations. I love to travel and to learn about different cultures. Besides that, I love reading and I enjoy sports.

Marije Arentze, Liaison Officer towards the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe)

Marije: ​My name is Marije Arentze and I have been a member of AEGEE-Leiden for six years. I am studying Eastern-European studies in Amsterdam, with a main focus on transitional societies in former Yugoslavia. My number one hobby is travelling and I also love music and literature. My AEGEE history includes a few very active years within AEGEE-Leiden and my work as Content Manager for European Boards’ Meeting (EBM) Lublin 2014. At this moment I spend the major part of my free time with AEGEE Election Observation, the project I am part of for over a year and a half now, and where I fulfill the position of External Relations manager. It gives me a great deal of inspiration every day!

Burcu:  I am Burcu Ünlütürk from AEGEE-Ankara, currently trying to survive living around -30 degrees in northern Sweden where I am doing my masters degree in mining engineering and working on sustainable use of natural resources.

 
Which is the international organisation you are responsible for? And what is its main purpose?
Diego: I am a Liaison Officer towards the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in the EU. This is my second mandate as the Liaison Officer towards the CoR and my first mandate towards EESC. The CoR is the European Union’s Assembly of Regional and Local Representatives, which gathers 350 members from 28 member states of the EU. The CoR is an advisory body of the EU and it must be consulted by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU throughout the EU decision-making process on the issues that are relevant for cities and regions. The CoR members prepare and present opinions about the new European legislative proposals. One of the main functions of the CoR is to represent interest of regions and cities in the EU and to support better communication between them. In order to promote better cooperation on regional and local level, the CoR hosts numerous conferences, events and workshops, which are organised by local and regional associations. The EESC is a consultative body of the European Union that gives representatives of European civil society and economic interest groups a formal platform to express their opinions on the current EU issues. Like the CoR, the EESC can issue an opinion regarding a certain topic and it needs to be consulted by central EU institutions. The committee’s main goal is to strengthen the democratic legitimacy and effectiveness of the European Union by enabling and encouraging participation of civil organisations from the Member States in the processes taking place at the European level.

Marije: I am the Liaision Officer towards the OSCE, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. ​It is the world’s largest intergovernmental organisation with a mandate to secure arms control, human rights, fair and free elections, and other issues that are central to free and democratic states. It was founded during the Cold War and is mainly occupied with conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation in its member states. As part of this they have permanent offices or missions in Ukraine, Kosovo, Tajikistan and Armenia to name just a few. The OSCE Chairmanship changes every six months to a new member state, just like the chairmanship of the European Union. As of January 2016, the presidency is occupied by Germany. Our main focus lies with OSCE’s sub-division ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights), which works on the so-called “human dimension” of security; free elections and democratization, minority issues, hate speech prevention, etc. 40% of ODIHR’s annual budget goes to the Elections department, which organises Election Observation Missions and which is seen as the “golden standard” for election observation methodology in the world.

Burcu: I am the Liaison Officer towards the Organisation for Economic Cooperation And Development (OECD). Its mission is to promote policies which will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

Why did you apply to cover such a position?

Diego Antončić, Liaison Officer towards the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).

Diego: My academic experiences and different events, in which the topics regarding the European Union and AEGEE were discussed, shaped my ideals and my main interests, which I want to realize in my personal career. As a student of European studies and an AEGEE member, I am a great supporter of the processes, which are taking part in the united Europe and I am very motivated to give my contribution to the improvement of our multicultural continent. I applied to cover such a position, since I wanted to make a contribution to the functioning of our AEGEE community and since I was quite familiar with the structure of the CoR and the EESC. I am honored to be the Liaison Officer towards the CoR and the EESC and I am proud to be a part of our beautiful AEGEE story.
Marije: ​My first thought was that it would make a lot of sense for me to succeed Julia Krebs as Liaison Officer because of my position as External Relations of AEGEE Election Observation. Our project has generated quite some interest within the OSCE over the past two years, so it would be mutually beneficial for both AEGEE-Europe and AEGEE Election Observation to combine these two images towards the OSCE. Next to that I realised that an inside look into the OSCE would be complementary to my academic field of interest, namely post-conflict societies.

Burcu: I have experience in representing the organisation, creating positive public image and establishing cooperation with possible partners. Also, since my current academic work requires me to do research on OECD’s reports, I am acquainted with the work of OECD and want to learn more, which , in my opinion, will enable me to widen the communication bridge between the organisaton and AEGEE. I am strongly motivated to work as Liaison Officer and contribute as much as I can to AEGEE.

What are your main tasks? 
Diego: I represent a link between AEGEE and the CoR and the EESC and I inform the Comité Directeur and the whole Network about new opportunities and events offered by these two committees. I endeavor to involve our AEGEE members in different happenings of the CoR and the EESC in order to encourage political participation. I exhaustively analyzed the CoR’s and the EESC’s goals, policies, tasks, structure and activities, which helped me to gain deep understanding of their role and their importance for the EU. Occasionally, I follow (plenary) sessions of the committees to stay informed about the latest happenings. In addition, I am continuously up-to-date with all CoR’s news and events and I subscribed to the CoR’s newsletter.

Burcu Ünlütürk, Liaison Officer towards the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Marije: ​According to the CIA (AEGEE-Europe’s legal framework) it is my task to “maintain a constant flow of communication” between AEGEE-Europe and the OSCE and to represent AEGEE-Europe towards the organisation. ​​In practice, it is my ambition to raise interest within AEGEE-Europe for this organisation, as I see it becoming more and more relevant in European geopolitics in the coming years. AEGEE could benefit much more from the OSCE, and especially ODIHR, because they are working on a lot of issues we are dealing with as well. I am seeking ways to connect certain thematic “bodies” of AEGEE-Europe (in absence of a better word) to relevant ODIHR departments. For AEGEE Election Observation’s project team meeting, I visited ODIHR’s office in Warsaw in January, and I hope that AEGEE as a whole can benefit from the good relations we made there with ODIHR.

Burcu: LOs main tasks are to build, to continue and to ensure the relationship with the organisations and to manage the communication between them. I am the person who is responsible with Comite Directeur to secure this relation while figuring out where AEGEEs priorities and initiatives overlap with OECD and where close cooperation can be established.

 
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

The last Member of the Month of July left many exceptional nominations and AEGEE members that stood out – one of them, Laia Garcia Montufo, is currently President of AEGEE-Tarragona, member of the Pool of Representatives and Liaison Officer towards the United Nations.

Laia has been nominated due to her involvement in several youth platforms. Moreover, she is now fully absorbed in the Travel Summer University organised by AEGEE-Tarragona and AEGEE-Valencia, which is due to start on the 15th of August. And still, she is currently working on her thesis, as she has studied Architecture and Urban Planning with a minor in Sustainable Development.

Presenting a message from the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon at the   Autumn Agora Zaragoza

Like many other members in our Network, Laia joined AEGEE right after her post-Erasmus blues. “Erasmus is a lifestyle, which I suppose many AEGEEans know. During my exchanges I got to know a lot of people around the world, I made friends, I travelled and I learnt how to live on my own or with other nations in a foreign country”. But Erasmus also has a difficult side, as she says: “After returning, I was missing the international vibe so much that life back home seemed utterly boring. Soon I realized that in my city there were also a lot of Erasmus students, so I started looking for them and I found out about the existence of a group who helped foreign students. Of course, I joined it right away!”.

And it was not long until she got in touch with the European level of AEGEE. It was back in May 2012, at the final conference of the ‘Where Does Europe End?’ project in Utrecht. According to her, it might be the best event she has ever been to: “I remember thinking to myself: I am skipping a full week of classes before the finals… but after a while I just understood there are times when the benefits of skipping class are greater than the negatives as I was actually learning more than at the university! These trainers taught me how powerful Non Formal Education (NFE) can be and that learning experience triggered in me a strong desire to become active at European level”.

The Spanish Youth Council (CJE) and its situation

Laia has been very involved in the past year with the Spanish Youth Council (CJE in its acronym, from Consejo de la Juventud de España), mostly in the Structured Dialogue process, an instrument to ensure that the opinion of young people is taken into account when defining youth-related policies of the European Union by bringing together young people and the policy makers across the EU. She was involved at the national consultation in Palencia last January, and she was also chosen as Spanish National Youth Delegate to attend the EU Youth Conference in Thessaloniki in March.

On holidays!

“Unfortunately, the Senate has just given green light to its closing as it has definitively approved the text of the draft law concerning the Rationalization of Public Sector, which regulates the closing of the Spanish Youth Council with the support of the comfortable majority of the People’s Party and the abstention or the vote against from the rest of the opposition groups”. Laia explains about the situation concerning the CJE, which was threatened of being closed by the Spanish government. However, she adds, “at the very last moment, two amendments proposed by the People’s Party and endorsed by the rest of the parliamentary groups were passed, where two important points concerning the regulation of the CJE were modified, so the framework improved with regard to the initial proposal”.

She adds that, luckily, none of the more than 60 organisations that are involved in the CJE have given up: “A new framework must be found, but until the creation of the new organism that replaces the CJE, we must be careful not to have a period of time without a platform that canalizes the youth participation.”

The World Youth Conference in Sri Lanka

Moreover, last May Laia took part at the World Youth Conference in Sri Lanka, where young people from over 170 countries gathered together with Ministers of Youth from around the world, high-level officials from the UN and other civil society organisations and the private sector, around the topic of the next development agenda beyond the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) which expire in 2015. The outcome of the conference was the Colombo Declaration on Youth.

According to Laia, for the first time youth representatives were included as equal stakeholders: “In my opinion, WCY 2014 was unique with regard to the degree of youth influence over official negotiations. Rather than youth meetings in advance of negotiations and producing separate outcome documents, this conference produced a “joint declaration” endorsed by both youth and governments. It was definitely a compromise between these two ends: but an important one at that, because now we have a commitment from governments to implement the recommendations enshrined in this declaration”.

She adds that, as a result, “the declaration has strong language on youth engagement: for example it calls for the establishment of a permanent youth department within the United Nations with representations in member countries to support and follow up local youth programs and also calls on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to establish a permanent forum on youth, for youth and governments to facilitate a sustained dialogue including on the Post- 2015 Development Agenda”.

3rd Council of Members of the Great Silk Way

The Great Silk Way organisation

If all of her activities and involvement have not been impressive enough, Laia recently became representative of the Great Silk Way International Youth Union, an organisation established in 2012 in Azerbaijan which connects more than 30 youth-led organisations from Asia, Europe and North Africa based on and designed for strengthening intercultural dialogue, cross-border cooperation and increasing role of youth in these issues on a global level.

She was elected as the focal point of GSW in Spain. These focal points are youth organizations or active young individuals “who coordinate the activities of GSW in that particular country. This means we ensure participation of local young people in international projects organized by GSW, make sure to disseminate information on opportunities (youth exchanges, volunteering, internships etc.) that can be useful for young people”, Laia explains. “In addition to this, the focal point has the right to initiate and coordinate national or regional level projects and events with the support of GSW. Basically we become the voice of GSW in our country at the same time feedbacking on the needs of local young people to be then reflected in decisions taken by the organization on high level”.

…and still, time to devote for AEGEE!

AEGEE-Tarragona members at the Agora

Laia’s involvement in youth platforms doesn’t stop her from being very active in AEGEE. As president of AEGEE-Tarragona, she is currently very busy organising the Travel Summer University in cooperation with AEGEE-Valencia. She has done a big task by promoting the European level in her antenna, since there are some AEGEE-Tarragona members that have become active in bodies such as the Language Working Group, the Eastern Partnership Project and the Action Agenda Coordination Committee. “I try my best to minimize the gap between my local and the European level. Therefore, I keep the members updated about all the relevant information on the many opportunities our association offers throughout our local meetings and social networks”.

According to her, AEGEE-Tarragona has around 30 members, “but the core team of the most active ones is smaller, so it is easy for me to be in contact with them and try to motivate everyone to contribute. Also, the fact that I am active on the European Level  makes things a bit easier when it comes to promotion as interested members can always come to me and ask for personal advice. And you know what? Some people just need a little push!”

When asked about her future plans, Laia says she is currently finishing her tasks as Liaison Officer towards the UN and the Pool of Representatives, but she plans to keep involved both in the local and in the European level. “Wait, I forgot something!”, she adds. “I do know one of my next steps in AEGEE! After having organized two Summer Universities and one Summer Event… I think next year will be about time to apply for my first Summer University as a participant!”.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

You might have heard of them quite often in our Network. The Liaison Officers are the contact people of AEGEE-Europe towards different institutions and organizations. However, you might be wondering: who are they and which are the organizations they are dealing with? The Liaison Officers are introducing themselves and their work in the following article.

The Liaison Officers towards the United Nations

The UN is interesting for AEGEE, because they have a lot of initiatives related to youth (participation). Very often the UN is asking NGO’s for their opinion on youth issues or offering opportunities for youth participation that can be interesting for our members. The purposes of the United Nations, as set forth in the Charter, are to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of people; to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these ends. The Charter established six principal organs of the United Nations, which are: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council ECOSOC, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and Secretariat. The United Nations family, however, is much larger, encompassing fifteen agencies and several programmes and bodies.

The Liaison Officers Team of AEGEE-Europe towards the UN is working with the following UN bodies:

• ECOSOC, UN Youth Delegates Programme, Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth: Alin-Florin Calin (alin-florin.calin@aegee.org)
• UNEP, UNESCO, UN Education First: Andrew Bartolo: (andrew.bartolo@aegee.org)
• UN HABITAT, UN Volunteers Programme, UN WOMEN: Laia Garcia (laia.garcia.montufo@aegee.org)
• UNDP, UN and Civil Society, UNDEF: Álvaro Espinosa (alvaro.espinosa@aegee.org)
• WHO, UNAIDS, UNFPA: Sygrit Andringa (sygrit.andringa@aegee.org).

If you want to know more about this team, read this article published in The AEGEEan, where part of the team was introduced in detail.

Fenia Megremi – Liaison Officer towards the OECD

My name is Fenia Megremi, I’m studying International and European Relations and I’m currently a member of AEGEE-Paris. Recently I became Liaison Officer towards the OECD, a significant partner organization of AEGEE.

What is the OECD? 

Its acronym stands for the Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development. It brings together 34 countries with the aim of developing better policies for better lives. In fact, in the OECD, the governments co-operate, share experiences and seek solutions to common problems that affect the lives of ordinary people around the world directly.

Bram Houterman – Liaison Officer towards the World Bank

My name is Bram Houterman, from AEGEE-Amsterdam. I am now finishing my studies in International Economics and Political Science in Amsterdam. People who wrote a thesis already know what a delightful process I am facing at the moment. I have served in several positions within AEGEE and I feel honoured to be selected as Liaison Officer towards the World Bank.

I think the World Bank (WB) could be of key value for our network. The core operation of the Bank is to provide loans to less developed parts of the world with the goal of reducing poverty. The loans come with a lot of conditionality, therefore the Bank enables and stimulates transition in many areas of the society. Lending also takes place in Europe as the Bank provides many loans in Eastern Europe.

For students from over the whole continent the Bank may be interesting because of its large database and interesting studies that are conducted. The Bank also organizes many events related to youth and participation, which may be very relevant for our members. An example is the annual Global Youth Summit in October.

I will keep you updated on interesting events that are organized, but also on other topics such as essay competitions and interesting research. In case you want to have more information about this institution (or about other international financial institutions such as IMF, EBRD, EIB), please do not hesitate to contact me (bram.houterman@aegee.org).

Marko Grdosic – Liaison Officer towards the European Youth Forum

I’m Marko from AEGEE-Zagreb and this will be my second mandate as the Liaison Officer towards the European Youth Forum. My interest in the organisation started even before my year in the Comite Directeur, and during that period the work done and connections developed gave a good background to further develop the cooperation between AEGEE and YFJ.

The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Representing 99 youth organisations, both National Youth Councils and International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations, we believe youth organisations are the tool through which we empower, encourage, involve, represent, reach out and support young people. The Youth Forum brings together tens of millions of young people from all over Europe, organised in order to represent their common interests.

Ermanno Napolitano – Liaison Officer towards the OSCE

I’m the new Liaison Officer towards OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe). I have covered many positions in AEGEE-Europe, such as President of the Juridical Commission and Mediation Commissioner, but this new position gives me a different experience, because my task is also to build and mantain external relation with this important organization.

Do you know what OSCE is? Here is a small introduction:

OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses political-military, economic, environmental and  human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities.

All 57 participating states enjoy an equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

Security touches on many aspects of the way we live and are governed. The OSCE’s comprehensive view of security covers three “dimensions”: the political-military; the economic and environmental; and the human dimension.

The OSCE’s activities cover all three of these areas, from “hard” security issues such as conflict prevention to fostering economic development, ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources and promoting the full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Here is the complete list of what OSCE covers:  arms control, border managment, combatting human trafficing, combatting terrorism, conflict prevention and resolution,  economic activities, education, elections, environmental activities,  gender equality, good governance, human rights, media freedom and development, military reform and cooperation, minority rights, policing, roma and sinti, rule of law, tolerance and non-discrimination.

Why would OSCE be interesting for a student? As you can see OSCE covers an impressive number of thematics, there are a lot of opportunities to develop new projects and ask OSCE support, or to participate in OSCE  projects and conferences.

Furthermore this year the Human Dimention Implementation Meeting (HDMI) will be organized again, which you can read about in this article published by The AEGEEan.

Whoever is interested to participate at HDIM or in general to some project related to OSCE please don’t hesitate to contact me at ermanno.napolitano@gmail.com

Ante Sellis & Nina Gustafsson – Liaison Officers towards the Committee of Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee

Nina Gustafsson

This year, our Comité Directeur decided it was time to incorporate two other European organisations, namely the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), to the already very impressive record of organisation dealed with by the Liaison Officers-team of AEGEE-Europe. Since both of these organisations are official advisory bodies of the European Union and both increasingly touching upon subjects, which are relevant for all AEGEEans, it was obvious for the CD to appoint two Liaison Officers to these organisations.

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the EU’s Assembly of Regional and Local Representatives, giving a voice to the regions and cities across EU member states. The CoR is a political assembly counting 353 members from 28 member states who are regionally or locally elected representatives, for example mayors or municipal council members. The CoR is an advisory body of the EU and must be consulted by the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament throughout the EU decision-making process on issues that are relevant for cities and regions.

The 353 members sit in one or more of the six Commissions within the CoR, where they prepare opinions based on the European Commission’s legislative proposals and bring out the perspective of cities and regions on a certain issues. The Commission where AEGEE has most interest in is the Education, Culture, Youth and Research (EDUC) Commission, although it will also be of interest to follow the developments in other Commissions, for example in the fields of employment, equal opportunities, environment, citizenship and fundamental rights. If the CoR feels that a certain issue needs further action or should be paid attention to by the other EU institutions, it can also issue an own-initiative opinion. Another important task of the CoR is consultation with stakeholders across the EU, such as local and regional authorities, associations, non-profit organisations, and networks.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) calls itself the bridge between Europe and organised civil society, which means that its basic task is to enable the civil society of Europe to be heard at the European level. Since this organisation is an official advisory body of the EU, the EESC must be consulted by the EU institutions on certain issues. In addition, like the CoR, it can also issue an opinion towards these institutions on its own initiative.

The EESC currently consists of 353 members, which are selected from various economic and social interests groups in the member states. Furthermore, the EESC has six different sections that cover more specified issues. The Employment, Social Affairs and Citizens (SOC)-section will be the section where AEGEE has most interest in as it is covering topics such as employment, education, health, gender equality, culture, and citizenship.

As said before, this year two Liaison Officers will work closely together to cover both organisations. These Liaison Officers-teamies are Nina Gustafsson and Ante Sellis. Nina is a 25-year-old recent graduate in Public Policy from the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, and also holds a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies from Maastricht University. She was an active member of AEGEE-Maastricht between September 2007 and August 2012, and President of the XXIInd Board of AEGEE-Maastricht in 2010-2011. Currently, Nina is a member of AEGEE-Brussels and recently finished a traineeship at the Joint Directorate for Translation of the CoR & EESC in Brussels. Ante is a 23-year-old master student in International Relations and a member of AEGEE-Groningen since August 2009. After being active in several committees on local level, she was Secretary of the XXIVth board of AEGEE-Groningen in 2011-2012. This year she also became active on European level by being a proofreader for the ‘Key to Europe’.

Written by the Liaison Office of AEGEE-Europe