Some of you have doubtlessly been following, and maybe even waiting for this for a long time, but finally we’re happy to say that we’re going to launch (again) this amazing project from AEGEE-Europe. Of course, we’re talking about Europe on Track which will debut with its 3rd edition starting in Brussels on the 20th of April, and finishing on the 20th of May at Agora Bergamo. Sounds amazing, right? Keep on reading to get to know more about this project’s edition and the project coordination team members!

In the first edition, the project had won the European Charlemagne Youth Prize in 2013, because of its aim to capture youngs’ vision and wishes for Europe. Now, six lucky ambassadors divided in two teams will travel throughout Europe taking part in AEGEE events, interviewing youngsters, documenting the whole trip and delivering sessions about the main topic of this edition: Borderless Europe.

Besides this main topic, there is also room to discuss about several other subtopics. The project collaborates with the Civic Education Working Group preparing sessions and creating a common background knowledge from which we can discuss about the findings of the present and the future of a Borderless Europe. However, the main goal of the project is to raise understanding and create a constructing and vivid debate by fostering the exchange of ideas, opinions, to reflect on what is happening now and to forecast what we want for Europe in the future.

The project ambassadors will record all the opinions, ideas, proposals and findings that will be generated with the hosting locals and participants during this intense one-month trip. At the end of this railway adventure, all the results will be presented at the Spring Agora Bergamo and to the European Commission later in this year. Hopefully, lots of inspiration and thoughts will come up from young people all over Europe.

Empowering youth is essential for shaping its future, with the help of civic education in building a common and borderless Europe. And is there any better example of understanding Borderless Europe than travelling all around Europe by train and exchanging opinions with other Europeans?

While open calls for locals and ambassadors have been launched recently, for the last three weeks the project coordination team has been secretly working hard to make this possible.

Réka Salamon, Vice-President and Project Manager of AEGEE-Europe, is the project manager. But she won’t be alone with this. Those who are taking care of the PR of the project are: Ksenia Lupanova (AEGEE-Moskva), Architecture student and former PR of the Summer University Coordination Team; Héctor Larraz (AEGEE-Zaragoza), General Motors maintenance foreman and Audiovisual Communications student; Oğuz Tosun (AEGEE-Ankara), Environmental Engineering student and former PR- director of his antenna.

Managing the content we have: Sofia Lobakina (AEGEE-Voronezh), currently living in Napoli studying Social Sciences and Communications; Viktoriia Leonenko, former Secretary of AEGEE-Kyïv and External Relations/University teams leader of Agora Kyïv 2015; and María Ballesteros (AEGEE-Bruxelles), Translator and Interpreter and Political Science student, currently working in the Revision Commission of her antenna and living in Paris; 

The route will be planned by Tola Akindipe, not an AEGEE-member (yet), working as a compliance officer in Lisbon and running the Refugees Welcome there; Nicola Guida (AEGEE-Napoli), Architecture and Building Engineering student, involved very actively in AEGEE for several years, both in the local and European level; Alp Güvercin (AEGEE-Utrecht), Spatial Planning and Urban Design student.

As you can see, the PCT is consisting of a great variety of nationalities, backgrounds and working specialities. However, that doesn’t make it harder to work all together, but it’s being totally the opposite: we are working hard to make Europe on Track 3 awesome.

You can apply for Ambassador here or apply as a hosting local by sending your applications to europeontrack@aegee.org until March 23 (23:59 CET).

Written by María Ballesteros Melero, AEGEE AEGEE-Brussel/Bruxelles

Every year, the ceremony for the European Youth Award takes place in Graz, Austria, in order to reward the most innovative and socially valuable projects in the field of human rights and democracy, created by young Europeans. AEGEE is an official partner of this contest, and this year Holger Schmitt (Network Director of AEGEE-Europe) represented the association. Currently, he is part of the online jury.

“The Youth Award wants to demonstrate the potential of young people to create innovative solutions through internet and mobile technology”, Holger explains. The partnership between AEGEE and the European Youth Award was established last Spring by former CD member Kathrin Renner. As a result, AEGEE-Europe sent the open call to present projects to the Youth Award to the whole Network, and it is now one of the juries of the contest.

Holger, Network Director of AEGEE-Europe, will be part of the Jury of the European Youth Award.

According to Holger, who represented AEGEE as part of the Grand Jury, the European Youth Awards aims to promote creative and innovative solutions proposed by young people to improve the society and the environment in general. It’s also a unique way of honoring and motivating young people to be active citizens and create initiatives to improve their environment or provide solutions to everyday problems. “For me it was impressive to see the incredible variety of projects in the fields of nutrition and healthcare, online-learning and open science, arts and games, resource management and sustainability, open government and social cohesion, financial literacy and smart consumption as well as urban development and e-mobility”, Holger says.

Holger became part of the Online Jury when Kathrin told the new Comité Directeur about that possibility: “Since I heard about the EYA award before and I was working in the field of Online Governance I seized the opportunity. Before, I have already been part of the Online Jury for the European Public Sector Award EPSA  which has a similar process of online evaluation, so I was already familiar with the process and the structure of the Online Jury”. As an online juror, he was assessing the creativity, innovation and social value of the projects and, as he says, experienced many different concepts and mindsets.

Selecting projects with a strong potential

Before Holger started evaluating the projects, he had a short discussion with the organisers, “where they presented me with the process and the requirements of the Online Jury: as Juror you are presented with a set of criteria for the evaluation of the projects, including the content, design of the platform, innovation, initiative, interactivity, impact and social value”. For each one of these criteria there was a list of indicators to evaluate them from 1-6, and during the four weeks of August he evaluated the cases in two rounds. The first round was aimed to make a preselection of the most innovative and mature projects in order to choose the digital champion in the second round. “I evaluated most cases by myself but luckily I did have the support of my CD team-mates in order to help me to assess several projects”, Holger adds.

When asked about the topics of the project, Holger highlights the variety and the strong messages that the projects presented had: some of them wanted to raise awareness to Third World problems, like a simulation game to develop an African village, trying to survive as a slum boy in the Phillipines in a simulation or promoting solar-run electric water pumps for people in crisis areas. Meanwhile, other projects aimed to increase transparency and exchange with policy makers, for example by asking questions to politicians, who would answer in video statements, or platforms to take part in online consultations of policy processes.

Moreover, other projects aimed to improve personal surroundings, like bringing together jobseekers and jobemployers locally, providing freespace for arts in the dense urban places, organizing seminars and youth projects or promoting free and quality education outside of the formal education system in the community. “I particularly liked projects that combined the digital community with local projects to strengthen cooperation in your home-city and this way provide solutions to everyday problems”, Holger adds.

If we take a look around our own musical tastes, most of us will agree that there are so many songs, from traditional ones to pop musicc, that don’t reach a major audience because of the language barrier. What is more, we would find it hard to find any song related to European integration at all, or barely no European symbols in the latest videoclips.

With these ideas in mind, AEGEE-Düsseldorf member Benjamin Feyen has decided to take up again an idea he had many years ago in order to connect two of his passions: music, and AEGEE. He has found in music a perfect channel to spread ‘Europtimism’, and he is currently looking for motivated members that would like to embark on his project called FAME, which stands for the multilingual  name Fabrik AEGEE-ènne de Müzik Europea. The AEGEEan has just had a chat with Benjamin about the idea behind this new musical project.

Benjamin, how did you come up with the idea of launching a project about music?

I love music, so it is quite obvious to combine this with another thing I love: AEGEE. However, the basic idea of what will now be the FAME project came up already six or seven years ago, even before I joined AEGEE. At the beginning there were two things that I noticed: I would probably never have known many great songs written in languages other than English if my friends from abroad hadn’t introduced them to me. And, feeling more and more European, I became aware of the fact that there are not really any famous pop songs dealing with Europe or aspects of the European integration, neither are songs that make the European flag appear in a music video clip (which I believe it deserves, just as the US flag, for instance).

Connecting those two things, the basic idea for this project was born, and after I joined AEGEE I felt our association was the perfect environment to make it possible. Together with other AEGEE members (at this place I should not forget to mention Alperen Yavuz, Rüya Beril and Dawid Sierzant), the idea was then further developed during the “European Ideas Factory” of AEGEE-Europe which took place in Gliwice in 2010. Unfortunately, we never managed to start off with the project. But I believe it is never too late for a good idea, so now the time has finally come.

Which is the main aim of the project? Would you like to promote European integration through music?

Yes, that’s the main aim indeed – and music is a perfect tool to spread Europtimism, because everyone listens to music and it can be used in many ways. But even more than that, FAME also wants to foster the variety of European languages and musical traditions. Music is an important part of our culture, but at the same time it also carries culture, e.g. languages, typical sounds, rhythms, instruments or dances, and thus tells stories.

Besides that, worldwide hits such as Dragostea din tei or Gangnam style prove that it is not crucial to understand the songs’ lyrics if the tune is catchy enough, so why does the English language have to be so dominant in modern pop music? Personally, I would also love to hear more non-English music in the clubs during AEGEE events, but that’s a different topic…

And which are the type of musical creations you would like to see in this project? 

Everything is possible, as long as the songs fulfill two criteria:

1. The lyrics have to be written in at least two European languages;
2. and they have to deal with Europe or any aspect of the European integration in a positive or constructive way, taking AEGEE’s values and mission into account.

The rest is open to the creativity of our participants. The “perfect” FAME song would actually combine those two criteria and even refer to it in the way it is produced. To give an example: A love song ballad about – let’s say – a Russian and a Spanish who meet in Greece. It could be a duet between the two of them with the verses sung in Russian and Spanish and the chorus in Greek, using the balalaika and flamenco guitar and combining it with some syrtaki-style rhythm.

Or, to give another (less complex) example: a hip hop song about the EU’s founding father Jean Monnet, using sound samples from a speech. Or a hard rock song complaining about still existing borders in Europe that need to be overcome. You see, there is lots of space for the FAME participants to unleash their creativity.

Each song will be a little project on its own, providing the greatest possible freedom for the participants (i.e. songwriters, musicians, producers etc.) within the basic guidelines of FAME, as well as ensuring an individual sound.

Do you look for members who are experienced in music, or any AEGEE member can join?

Indeed there are many ways to contribute for every AEGEE member, even if you’re completely non-musical. Of course we need songwriters, musicians and singers, too. But in order to promote the songs in a proper way, many more things have to be done. An important aspect of the project will be the production of video clips for the songs – therefore we need e.g. screenplay writers, film editors, actors and actresses, costume designers and many more.

Of course this also depends on the money we’ll be able to raise, thus we also need people experienced in fundraising as well as experts for social media and viral marketing. This project definitely has the potential to become really huge, but even if it attracts only a few AEGEE members and if we have no money at all, it can still be realized on a small scale. In fact it could be just me recording a little song at home with my guitar, but of course it would be so much more awesome to get dozens of AEGEE people from all over Europe involved.

As you have mentioned, the project could not be possible some years ago in your first attempt. Why was it?

When we developed the project during the “European Ideas Factory”, we were all very enthusiastic, but quite soon we realized that we were too busy with other stuff, inside and outside of AEGEE. Even though we had already started promoting the project within AEGEE, it was still not too late to stop it without harming anybody. Concerning my personal situation, from April I will be out of the AEGEE-Düsseldorf board after three years as its president, so now there is some space for me to dedicate myself to the European level of AEGEE.

And why do you think AEGEE needs a project related to music?

Because there is none yet, at least not such a big one, and I know many AEGEE members who make music and would certainly like to join such a project. Whenever I told somebody about FAME in the past, the reactions were very positive. Plus, the idea behind this project perfectly matches the “Spreading Europtimism” part of the new Strategic Plan.

Do you expect to make it an official AEGEE project?

That would be great, but of course it depends a lot on the project team I’m about to start forming. As I said above, I believe that FAME has the potential to become a big project, and it would be awesome to have it as an official project of AEGEE-Europe. But step by step, first let’s see if anybody is interested in joining me in the project team.

And have you already found some members interested in it?

Indeed the first participants already joined and started working on a song, however in the project team I am currently the only one. But it’s been just two days now since the project was officially made public within the AEGEE world by sending the open call for team members via ANNOUNCE-L, so I’m expecting the first applications during the next days.

Apart from that, it’s definitely nice to see that the number of “likes” for the Facebook page as well as the number of subscribers to the mailing list FAME-INFO-L has begun to grow constantly. So I assume there must be a general interest in this project.

So, as soon as you have your first team members, which are your first plans going to be? Will we see the FAME project in Patra?

I hope we will be able to get into work very soon: preparing fundraising activities, making the project known among AEGEE members, building up a communication infrastructure, starting to cooperate with other bodies in AEGEE, sending out a first open call for songs, and so on.

Without promising too much, I can say that the plan is indeed to release a first FAME song including a videoclip already in April! I mentioned above that some people are currently working on a song, and I am confident that the final result will be impressive. I hope that the song will also help to make the FAME project popular among AEGEE members, and it would be great to present the video clip at the AGORA and maybe even play the song during the parties. But that depends on the Chair Team and the local organisers, of course..

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona/AEGEE-Leuven

The Eastern Partnership Project concluded last November in Autumn Agora Zaragoza, where their results were presented. But that does not mean it is over. The latest developments in the countries of the Eastern Partnership, and especially the EaP Summit in Vilnius, have shown that there is still a lot of work to do, and so The AEGEEan has spoken to Adrian Browarczyk (AEGEE-Poznan), Project Manager of the new Eastern Partnership Project, about their future plans.

The AEGEEan: Adrian, the Eastern Partnership Project concluded in Zaragoza with a standing ovation to the team. Now is the turn for the EaP[2]: why was it decided to launch a second ‘edition’ of the EaP?

Adrian Browarczyk: Since 2010 many things have changed. The EU program developed into an important diplomatic tool in frames of the Neighbourhood Policy. A significant number of binding agreements has been signed between interested sides and the level of bilateral cooperation between EU and EaP countries is quite gratifying even though some of the target countries proved their independence of choice in a surprising way (i.e. Armenia suddenly assigned to Customs Union roadmap at the end of 2013). Nonetheless, internally we also managed to step further by bringing the issue closer to an ordinary AEGEEan by means of a series of conferences, workshops, trainings and cultural events. In total we did a great job we are still proud of. Such backpack filled in with valuable experiences made us feel that we cannot leave the matter that quickly – it appeared that many crucial challenges are still far ahead which obviously means we are obliged to keep going with the undertaking Alla Resheten and others are parenting.

Which points is this edition going to have in common with its predecessor?

First of all, I would like to emphasise that even if we decided to keep the name of the project, we share the logo in a refreshed version and the team structure to a certain point resembles the previous one, we are basically a new creation issued by people who significantly didn’t contribute to EaP before. Nevertheless, as for the points we do share, I am proud to state that some of the members of EaP, namely Alla Resheten, Daryna Skryl and Armenak Minasyants, granted us with their support and advice – they form today a consultancy body which i.e. points out things we could focus on and motivates us to work further on things they find important. Furthermore, regarding the thematic sphere, a new project crew came up with the idea of centering on civil society development in six program countries as well as on promotion of active citizenship and raising awareness of its importance within our network, mainly in the EaP area. These points coincide with the priorities EaP had before, yet we aim at developing them by adding the value of structured dialogue and studies on gender equality in target societies.

And which new things are you planning to introduce?

I would like to begin with the team structure. Firstly, we introduced a position of the Impact Measurement Manager. This move was motivated mainly by our willingness to examine the impact we have in a structured way, keeping it transparent and helpful for generations to come. Secondly, when I was thinking about the strategy our project should implement, I realized that we need a group of people helping us in seeking for materials, analyzing resources and supporting in content creation. These are the reasons our Research team was constituted. Thirdly, as for the project’s plans, I would see us closely cooperating with locals from EaP region in terms of promoting liaison relations, organizing events related to main project aims and also sharing an overview on things we may not be aware of. Being visible externally by strengthening links with our partners (i.e. Civil Society Forum) and taking active part in shaping policy AEGEE-Europe strives for are among goals I would like to achieve with our team.

Can you tell us about activities that you are currently planning?

As we are currently brainstorming about the action agenda I am only able to name these ones we really would like to happen. Apart from organizing a series of trainings on youth participation and related topics, we are planning to help locals in hosting Active Citizenship Action Days. The event formula will be chosen in cooperation with hosting antenna, nonetheless we would like to follow the example of the convention YVote 2014 Project has created. Moreover, as we do see the importance of democratic processes, we have established already a link with the Election Observation Project which allows us to contribute to a wide range of election observation missions. Some of our members participate in the Short-Term Observer E-Learning course organized by OSCE /ODIHR in order to gain the knowledge that will allow them to legally examine elections’ reality mainly in the Eastern Partnership region. Regarding other initiatives we plan to undertake I would mention a two-week long “Bus/Train tour” through Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova with participants from the Eastern Partnership area and other European countries. The event will target the promotion of the structured dialogue at all levels and  will also underline the importance of being an active citizen in mentioned countries. Panel discussions with experts, different workshops and trainings will be organized in order to achieve the main project goals. As for the activities we would like to hold in a bigger external perspective I would name the ones where we are considered as partners: the side event of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum that will take place this autumn in Tbilisi and a series of initiatives mentioned by Armenak Minasyants, the Policy Officer on European Integration, in his Action Agenda. Eventually I am sharing with you our current action achievements: apart from publishing a couple of articles, participating in EaP Young Leaders Forum, organizing workshops at Zaragora and NWM Poznan, we recently supported the conference on recent Ukrainian events in Lille and we set up a cooperation with AEGEE-Bratislava in order to provide them with content during their SU organized along with AEGEE-Lviv and AEGEE-Odessa. Two other ‘work-together’ suggestions appeared lately from Europe On Track 2 and EuroArab sides – stay tuned and do not miss updates on our brand new website!

At the same time, the protests in Ukraine struck short after the Agora in Zaragoza. Has it influenced the ideas of the project in some way?

We feel much more motivated and eager to follow the thematic direction we have chosen. Recent events in Ukraine proved that the state of active citizenship there still remains a challenge to work on. Both sides of these clashes showed that Ukrainian people are not fully acquainted with the model of civil society other European countries share. Therefore, we would like to contribute to changes that will surely happen not only in Ukraine but also in the whole region. We would like to support the EaP youth in their call for democracy and the rule of law. I feel that with our project we are able to have an impact to a certain extent on the birth of the societies completely aware of their rights.

What about you, Adrian: what motivated you to be the Project Manager?

Adrian Browarczyk

It was a conjunction of different circumstances. The main reason I considered becoming the Project Manager was Alla’s suggestion at the previous EaP live meeting in Brussels last spring. I was thinking about it a lot during summer holidays, noodling over whether my leading skills and strengths are sufficient for such task. When I counted up the possibilities this challenge brings along I decided on stepping further and taking the responsibility of managing the project. From the very beginning I had people around who supported me with so much needed advice at that time. With Roland Papp (AEGEE-Budapest) and Marta Wnuk (AEGEE-Poznań) we dealt together with the first tasks and shaping the idea we would like to implement straight after Spring Agora Patra. I would also like to mention my personal interest in the Eastern Partnership issue, which has been developing since I was accepted as a member of the project’s team in 2012. My motivation grew when I had a possibility to represent AEGEE-Europe with Armenak Minasyants at Eastern Partnership Youth Forum in Kaunas last October. Since then everything seems to be moving in the right direction.

During your time in the first Eastern Partnership Project, which were the most valuable lessons that you learnt?

I finally got used to function in the international environment of youth activists who really did see the importance of the matter they worked on. We faced many quaint questions which I liked a lot as at the same time I was developing my interest in specific areas (I did research on Moldovan and Transnistrian youth and topics related to the internet freedom in Azerbaijan). We used to work late with grant applications and other tasks which actually determined my further work profile – EaP team mates receive my emails even at 4 in the morning. Another lesson I learnt is that while cooperating with partners from EaP region you must be very patient because some of the topics you touch are sometimes differently perceived. Nonetheless, over one year of active membership made me feel that I acquired enough knowledge to work on my own from now on.

Which are the outcomes you would like the project to have?

As a team we are certain that adding a youth perspective to the Eastern Partnership initiative of the European Union will be a significant contribution to building a united European society. I believe that we will be able to influence the recognition of youth power in target societies and that our work will contribute to establishing a strong civil society based on youth engagement. Consequently, I do hope we will successfully raise awareness on the role that active citizenship has in the transition states and that we will obtain young people with knowledge and tools regarding citizens’ rights and duties. I also believe that, by means of our actions in cooperation with the Election Observation Project, we will prove the importance of the participation in voting processes. Finally, I wish we will effectively promote and therefore increase effectiveness of Eastern Partnership program youth involved in the structured dialogue led with EU and regional stakeholders

Team structure of the Eastern Partnership Project:

CORE TEAM:

• Project Manager – Adrian Browarczyk, AEGEE-Poznań
• Content Managers – Roland Papp, AEGEE-Budapest and Marta Wnuk, AEGEE-Poznań
• Impact Measurement Manager – Léa Hannaoui-Saulais, AEGEE-Lille
• Financial Manager – Claudio Armandi, AEGEE-Napoli
• FR Manager – Zoltán Hradszky, AEGEE-Budapest
• PR Manager – Mert Can Yilmaz, AEGEE-Ankara

TEAM MEMBERS:

• FR Support team: Izawetta Manuel, AEGEE-Poznań and Cerem Çavdar, AEGEE-Ankara
• PR Support team: Clemens Adler, AEGEE-Karlsruhe and Alice Nitsch, AEGEE-Bamberg

RESEARCH:

• Damiano Deidda, AEGEE-Cagliari
• Saskia Heller, AEGEE-Hamburg
• Mara Bubberman, AEGEE-Groningen
• Ferran Huidobro Casamitjana, AEGEE-Tarragona
• Ivan Bielik, AEGEE-Brno

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

So where do we stand at the very moment? We are excited since our own little baby called “Health4Youth” is going to get an official name and it´s learning to smile. Don´t be afraid of getting lectures “We know how you should live your life and now we are going to point finger,” because that´s not going to happen! What we want to show people, is how they can adapt some parts of their lifestyle, in order to make themselves feel better and prevent diseases. And all this, if anyhow possible, in an attractive, motivating and interactive way. And from what we have seen in the last weeks, the Network really wants to support us with that!

We have contacted our close friends and distant acquaintances from all over AEGEE to help us hosting the events that we want to organize. And although we are not yet going to share were all these magic, healthy events are going to happen, we guarantee it will be legen…wait for it, since health is worth waiting for…dary.  All that we can say, is that we expect to have a real healthy impact within AEGEE and hopefully outside of AEGEE as well.

But we cannot have great events without great people in our team. In the Project Development Meeting in Nijmegen last September, six of us gathered to share our thoughts and visions and we drafted our official outline, which has been accepted by the CD. This will lead us to our great moment on stage, the signing of the contract during AGORA Budapest for becoming an AEGEE-Europe project, which we are really excited about. But that´s not all that will happen at the AGORA:

During the AGORA, you can also find us at the Fair, where we will do a little interactive healthy game and share the word about our project. Although we have a great team, we could use all the support we can have. Next to being at the Fair, we also have our own workshop, which is named How important is Health4You(th)? A little hint on the topic, this will be a pretty nice and sweet workshop which will hopefully inspire a lot of people to make a difference in their own or other people´s lives, even if it´s a small one. Because no matter how healthy you think you live, there´s always room for improvement.

So this is where we stand, on the brink of becoming an AEGEE-Europe project and about to burst into action with a very positive and healthy attitude. The next 1,5 year are going to be a great ride on a roller-coaster, and we´re going to enjoy it!

Written by Matthijs Overhaal, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Original article

Y Vote 2009

 Y Vote 2009 is at the same time the AEGEE project that gained most visibility among the media and policy-makers in recent years and the AEGEE project that dealt most explicitly with solely European Union affairs. This was inevitably made possible by the grants of the European Commission Youth in Action fund for youth projects. In brief, Y Vote 2009 was aimed to encourage and empower young people aged 18-24 to cast their vote for the European Parliament elections taking place 4 to 7 June, 2009. In the 2004 European Parliament elections, 67% of the people aged 18-24 did not vote. We focused on elevating this rather bad achievement. Of course, voter turnout rate can, and should, be higher at all times, but here we talk about the first-time voters, the future electorate, and the future leaders of Europe.

Details about how did we work this out in practice will follow, but let’s first look at the actual voter turnout rates and compare them to previous EP elections. In 2004, the previous elections mobilized 45-47% of the EU voters. We detect a spiraling trend, because in 2009, in total 43% of the voters headed to the polls, and every single 5 years the turnout rate falls by on average 3%.

So at the end of the day, was the project then not successful? I am absolutely convinced that such a question is impossible to answer objectively. One has to bear in mind that we dealt with possibly the biggest conundrum of those interested in the future of Europe. AEGEE turned towards the very essence of EU integration – that European decision-making is not only for its citizens, but also with its citizens.

From the outset the Y Vote 2009 project resembled the heart and mind of its founder, and later Project Manager, Dragan Stojanovski. It was first of all a genuine product from young, idealist students. One can see this unmistakably in the final manifesto, the Youth Agenda 2009, that rounded up the outcomes of a real cycle of one-week conferences. Furthermore, it was a product of young people who truly care for the European story, and who believe in active contribution to society for the sake of democracy.

Original article

The whole campaign started with a launching conference in Vienna, September 2008. On some 15 big one-week conferences thereafter we visited student cities across the EU. It was stimulating that in each city we were welcomed by local members. So, the campaign moved completely within the realm of possibilities that AEGEE offers. Every such conference tackled a specific theme, for example, Creativity and Innovation, Education, or EU on the world stage, and on each of these conferences the experts in our network were invited to lead workshops for participants (who were, by the way, both members and non-members). In the workshops (small group work) and panel discussions with Members of European Parliament, university professors, and other leaders the participants got plenty of room to share their thoughts. What is more, it was a time to have ferocious Oxford debates, display their uncertainties about a lack of knowledge about a topic, ask questions to panelists, develop communication skills… Thanks to the social program and cultural, touristic activities everybody had the chance to feel comfortable enough to make all these things happen.

Participants got to know Y Vote 2009 in various ways, mainly through our blog, e-social networks, and following sound cooperation with other International Youth NGO’s like BEST, and the European Youth Forum (umbrella organisation AEGEE is a member of). Aside of this participant-empowerment dimension of the project, the other paramount challenge we had to square up to was to find people, young and old, EU citizen, and then to engage in dialogue with them or simply to catch their eye with our message ‘Y Vote? Why not?’. One way or another you have to find those voters, which can be hard if you planned a street action in the open air just when it starts raining.

More importantly, a street interview, or ‘canvassing’ in jargon, is also a reality check. Talking to random people made us realize things and learn about the increasing complexity of a globalizing world, its impact on individuals, and the environment in which young people are growing up, fully with its own values. We learnt quickly that you have to meet them further than halfway–the message of voting is important, and so is the means of getting attention. This came out as well during the UK Tour, a special part of the project dedicated to the United Kingdom, widely known to be by far the most eurosceptic EU member state. While getting attention about EU affairs is assumed to be most difficult in eurosceptic countries, this did not entirely ring true for our efforts in the UK. There we could tour the city centers in our mobile Y Vote van, drawing the attention of all passers-by as we blew balloons with our slogan, we screamed, and the van’s speakers boosted loud music.

Original article

To highlight one last aspect of the campaign is not difficult to choose. Campaigning in the 21st century cannot do anymore without presence on the internet. Millions of people have a profile on social networks like YouTube and Facebook – and it does not take a genius to see that these are opportunities that can generate extremely high levels of interest with a relatively very small effort. All year long, from different parts of Europe, from different Y Vote events, material was gathered to be uploaded little time later, video-editing, funny and thought-provoking video clips that make democracy truly reach out again into households. And it was marvelous to see Facebook statuses of hundreds of friends show ‘I voted for European elections’, not to mention the on-line comments on the Y Vote 2009 performance on Europarl.tv’s Election Night broadcast. Yet still not everybody has replaced older-fashioned communication for e-social media. One sunny spring day in 2009 the president of AEGEE, Dragan Stojanovski, got a best wishes message from the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano. By telegram.

By the way, the Youth Agenda 2009, the manifesto that outlines all that young people desire from the presently sitting members of European Parliament, can be sent to you by the author upon request. Working diligently on Y Vote events, together, towards the biggest democratic happening on our continent, being increasingly more excited during the last three weeks leading up to the elections, has something fantastic about it. Something that voluntary work deserves.

Written by Thijs de Wolff, AEGEE-Utrecht and Y Vote Content & Formats Manager

Originally published in Key To Europe 2009-2010