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 proposed by the Mediation Commission, the Audit Commission, AEGEE-Aachen and AEGEE-Enschede.

Fixed term for the Mediation Commission

Proposed by Damien Lacatz on behalf of the Mediation Commission. This proposal seeks approval for the establishment of a set starting date for the term of the Mediation Commission, which now starts on the day following the end of Agora, implying that previous commissioners lose access rights due to confidenciality and thus making KT very difficult. If the proposal was to be approved, the MedCom would have a term starting on the 1st of December, allowing a timeframe for KT between the election date and the starting date. The proposal would end up in an addition of this provision to the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe, also granting the newly elected members access to all necessary data for Knowledge Transfer purposes.

Gathering of the financial documents of every European event

Proposed by Luca Bisighini on behalf of the Audit Commission. This proposal aims at making the work of the Audit Commission more comprehensive and more respondent to its features in compliance with article 27 of the CIA and articles 13 and 14 of the Financial Rules. The proposed change to the Financial Rules of AEGEE-Europe aims at collecting and checking the financial data connected to events and projects organised by locals (final budget, bank history, bookkeeping), in relation to every European event and project.

Modification of Locals’ Statutes

Proposed by Nils Barkawitz on behalf of AEGEE-Aachen. This proposal is based on the fact that to fulfill Antenna Criteria, a local should have Statutes compatible with the Convention d’Adhésion and the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe in both the original language and English to be presented to the Juridical Commission upon request or upon modification by the local, but nobody checks if changes were made during the last term. Thus the proposal is to delete from Article 6 (1).1. the expression “upon modification by the local or”.

Nomination of the JC member who is in MedCom

Proposed by Damien Lacatz on behalf of the Mediation Commission. This proposal’s aim is to introduce at Article 29, (4) of the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe a provision making it possible for the Juridical Commission to appoint a member different than its president, suitable for mediation and resolution of conflicting issues, to join the Mediation Commission.

Proposal to set all deadlines for publishing official documents at two weeks before the Agora 2.0

Proposed by Steyn ten Kate, Rik Smale and Timo Haarman on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede. Following a previous proposal during Spring Agora Enschede, this proposal aims at setting the deadline for the publication of all official documents of Agora two weeks before Agora. If approved, it would result in the addition of this provision to the Charter of Honorary Members and the Working Format of the Agora.

You can find all the proposals here.

Written by Federica Soro, AEGEE-Cagliari

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 past Agorae, for Spring Agora Enschede, once again we would like to provide you with a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for the Agora. In this third, and last round, we will be explaining you four proposals: “Including Planning Meeting in the Events, Projects and Activities”, “Changing the selection process of the hosting locals of the Agora”, “Fostering pre-Agora discussion by requiring online statements of support for proposals” and “Restriction of Reimbursement Criteria of Comité Directeur”.

Including Planning Meeting in the Events, Projects and Activities

The Planning Meeting is the event where the Strategic Plan, i.e. the guidelines for the work of the association in the following three years, is drafted. At the moment, there is no mention of this event in the CIA. Proposed by Lia Touska, on behalf of the Comité Directeur, this proposal wants to include the Planning Meeting in the CIA, defining the timing of the meeting and the procedures needed before and during the meeting. Specifically, the Planning Meeting will take place at least six weeks before the Agora in which the new Strategic Plan will be approved; the CD will be responsible for the agenda, which will be communicated to the Network at least two weeks prior the event, and the selection of the Planning Team; and the Open Call for the hosting local will be announced one year prior the event together with the Open Call for Autumn Agora.

You can read the full proposal here.

Changing the selection process of the hosting locals of the Agora

This proposal by Tekla Hajdu, Réka Salamon and Katarzyna Sokolowska on befalf of Comité Directeur, aims at increasing the transparency regarding the selection process of the Agora, so the AEGEE Network is informed about the application, has the chance to review it and can have a say in the process. If approved, it will be the Agora who will decide on the hosting local by secret ballot. This will also allow AEGEE-Europe to have a more proactive role in supporting the hosting local with possible funding opportunities and external cooperations. The CD will need to approve applications one month prior the presentation to Agora; the hosting local will be selected one year prior the event and will be required to present a progress report at the following Agora.

You can read the full proposal here.

Fostering pre-Agora discussion by requiring online statements of support for proposals

Proposed by Evelien Kroon, Jochem Postmes and Steyn ten Kate on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede, this proposal wants to foster preliminary discussion over proposals prior to Agora, and introducing a requirement of support from three European Bodies for a proposal to be discussed at Agora. Considering the time needed for discussion of proposals during Prytania, even when they are poorly designed, this change would ensure that proposals are discussed in advance and fine-tuned. If the changes are approved, it will be required a change in the online voting system that is feasible and the creation of an infrastructure in which locals can already show their support for proposals before the Agora. The proposed time-frame in which the proposals could collect statements of support from European Bodies is two weeks.

You can read the full proposal here.

Restriction of Reimbursement Criteria of Comité Directeur

Current Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe Zvonimir Canjuga on behalf of Comité Directeur proposes to set clearer rules for reimbursement of moving out costs, since at the moment, the form offers too much space for misinterpretation. If the changes were to be approved, the moving out reimbursement would be limited to the amount corresponding to the trip home or next proven place of residence with the cheapest travel option possible.

You can read the full proposal here.

Written by Federica Soro, AEGEE-Cagliari

Just like we did for the past Agorae, for Autumn Agora Chisinau, once again we would like to provide you with a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for the Agora. In this second, and last round, we will be explaining you three proposals: “Remove Chair Team from EPM”, “Proposal to remove nationalities and countries from the CIA”, and “Give the Juridical Commission a more neutral role”. 

Remove Chair Team from EPM

Proposed by Lia Tuska, Human Resource Director and CD appointed member for the Chair Team, this proposal aims to finally regulate the role of the Chair Team at the EPM. Currently, the Chair Person, along with the Chair Team, presides over the EPM, choosing participants, all of this being done in cooperation with the Comité Directeur, ACT, Working Groups, Content Manager(s) and Local Organisers. In recent years, the relevance of the Chair Team has decreased and, according to the proposer, the EPM can be organised without the input of the Chair Team. Instead it will be organised by a team, representing the Comité Directeur, ACT, Working Groups and Content Manager(s).

The proposal, provided it will be accepted, will change some articles of the statutes. In the Working format of the Agora, all the references to EPM in the work of the Chair Team will be removed. In the General Financial Rules, the part that grants reimbursement to the Chair Team will also be removed.

The most substantial changes will be applied to the Working format of the European Planning Meeting. With these changes, the organisation, the selection of participants, the moderation of the sessions, the execution of the Agenda, and the collection of minutes fall to the Comité Directeur, with the help of one or more appointed people. The Comité Directeur is still in charge of appointing the Content Team who will prepare the Agenda and organise the content part in order to develop the EPM topic.

You can read the full proposal here.

Proposal to remove nationalities and countries from the CIA

Evelien Kroon, Steyn Ten Kate and Lea Watzlawek, on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede, are presenting the proposal that aims to remove any kind of reference to nationality or country in the CIA, especially in the composition of the elected bodies. In case this proposal will pass, there will be no limitation on the nationality of the elected candidate.

The local has already presented this proposal during Spring Agora 2014, but it was rejected. At this point, the Dutch local’s representatives are proposing it again, with the assumption that, according to our vision, AEGEE strives for a borderless Europe and rules regarding nationalities and countries.

For example, the Comité Directeur should not contain more than three members that share the same nationality, and at least four nationalities must be represented. In case more than three people share the same nationality, only the three that gather more votes will be elected, while the rest of the vacancies shall remain open. If this proposal passes, there will be no limitation on the nationality of the elected candidates. This means that hypothetically the (up to seven) members of the Comité Directeur can be from the same country.

You can read the full proposal here.

Give the Juridical Commission a more neutral role

During Spring Agora Bergamo, a proposal gave the Juridical Commission the power to fix small mistakes and inconsistencies, without submitting proposals in case changes need to be made. Evelien Kroon, Steyn Ten Kate and Lea Watzlawek, on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede, are proposing to offer the Juridical Commission a more neutral role by removing them from the legislative process during the Agora. They propose to compare the duties of the JC on an abstract level to those of the Chair Team; helping in its preparation and execution, but in a strictly impartial role.

In case this proposal will be accepted, the status of the JC during the Agora will change in the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe, and they will no longer be members of the Agora. In the Working Format of the Agora, the JC will not have the status of Envoy anymore, they will not be in charge of the voting and the procedure of counting the votes cast,  and a new paragraph explaining the role of the JC in the Agora would be added.

You can read the full proposal here.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Like every Agora, there are proposals to modify the CIA, and, like every Agora, The AEGEEan is covering them all. In this article, we’ll provide summaries for the following three proposals: “Improving reimbursement criteria for the Mediation Commission”, “Proposal to raise the maximum height of membership fees”, and “RTC Reform”.

Improving reimbursement criteria for the Mediation Commission

This proposal was submitted by Damien Latacz on behalf of the Mediation Commision and Zvonimir Canjuga of the Comité Directeur. The idea behind this proposal was that there is currently no money allocated for the MedCom in the budget of AEGEE-Europe; it, in general, does not get any reimbursement for the Agora, while the commission is expected to actively participate and function during this event.

This proposal, if voted in favour of, will remove the clauses from the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe that deal with the prohibition of reimbursements for members of the MedCom. It will also add two new rules to article 18.12 of the General Financial Rules, that will allow for travel costs to Agorae to be reimbursed for one member of the MedCom, but that full reimbursement may not apply to the travel costs for other MedCom meetings.

You can read the full proposal, here.

Proposal to raise the maximum height of membership fees

This proposal is an rephrasing of an earlier proposal by AEGEE-Enschede at Spring Agora Patra in 2014. This proposal was then rejected, but is now brought back by Evelien Kroon, Steyn ten Kate and Lea Watzlawek of AEGEE-Enschede. For the past couple of years, members of AEGEE-Enschede were required to pay a membership fee that was higher than the maximum amount of €50,-, for which they have always been given an exception.

However, this Agora, they will propose the maximum height of the membership fee to be changed from €50,- to €70,-, which, as projected by AEGEE-Enschede, will create more financial security for AEGEE-Europe, which, in turn, would make the odds rejecting exceptions to the maximum height of membership fees asked by locals, like AEGEE-Enschede, smaller.

This proposal would affect the maximum height of membership fees according to article 1.1 of the General Financial Rules.

You can read the full proposal, here.

RTC Reform

Proposed by Mareike Wegener, on behalf of the Network Commission, this proposal is intended to curb the decrease in the number of RTCs that is organised. The proposal itself serves as a two-pronged attack; on the one hand, it is intended to make organising and participating in RTCs more attractive, and, on the other, it intends to clarify what the minimum requirements of an RTC are.

The RTCs are made more attractive to organise by adding them to the Antenna Criteria on an equal level of importance as Local Training Courses. RTCs would, furthermore, become recognised as European Events, because of which all requirements for European Events would apply. RTCs will furthermore be provided with materials for delivering the compulsory parts of the training course by the CD, and the content of which will be confirmed by the NetCom or another CD approved body of AEGEE-Europe. Financial support can be provided in accordance with chapter 5 of the General Financial Rules.

As for the requirements of an RTC, the organisers must at least provide three of the following five compulsory sessions: Member management and how to run a local, Communication with other locals, Teamwork and conflict solving, Goal setting and Strategic planning related to the Action Agenda, or a session about bodies in AEGEE, how they are working and why they exist.

You can read the full proposal, here.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

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

‘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 Spring Agora Bergamo 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 four proposals that are aimed at changing the elections and the work of Juridical Commission, namely “Clarifying the procedure for withdrawing motions (and proposals) from the agenda of the Agora”, “Proposal to introduce a maximum fee for statutory events”, “Simplify the CIA: Case Study Trips” and “Allowing Case Shadowers for the Mediation 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, and, in another document, also the Working Formats of the different bodies and all kind of rules (General Rules, Rules of the Network Commission, Antennae Criteria, etc.).

Clarifying the procedure for withdrawing motions (and proposals) from the agenda of the Agora

Eveline Joore, Evelien Kroon and Wietske Jousma on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede submitted the proposal that aims to clarify the procedure of withdrawing motions and proposals. AEGEE-Enschede members start from the case when motions and proposals are withdrawn by submitters during Agora without discussing them further, for example because they don’t believe in the proposal anymore or there were some amendments that changed the original proposal/motion, regardless of the possible interest in the topic by other delegates. According to the proposers, once the items on the agenda are ratified, those become Agora properties, therefore in order to withdraw a proposal/motion, original proposers must do so with the approval of the Agora which has adopted an agenda indicating that the motion will be debated. Although this proposal aims to regulate how proposals are withdrawn, the changes involves the general approval of the possibility of the Agenda modification. Now, in order to modify the order of the topics listed in the agenda a simple majority is required. If this proposal would pass, a qualified majority is required to remove topics and and votings from the proposed agenda.

Proposal to introduce a maximum fee for statutory events

Also submitted by Eveline Joore, Evelien Kroon and Wietske Jousma on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede, this proposal describes the aim to have a maximum fee for our statutory events. Currently the participation of the Agora should be free for all members (of the Agora), but, in the same article of the Working Format of the Agora, it is specified that local organisers can charge participants for some additional services and the exception must be approved by the Financial Director. The average cost of Agora participation fee in the recent years is 50 euros. The proposers argue that a maximum fee for the statutory was never agreed on and they therefore propose to set a maximum fee of 14 euros per night in order to keep the Agora affordable for every AEGEE Members. Therefore the Autumn Agora, which normally lasts from the Wednesday to the Sunday (four nights), would have a maximum fee of  56 euros. The Spring Agora, having usually one day more opening on Tuesday and having people leaving on Sunday (five nights), would have a maximum fee of 70 euros. Also, the maximum fee can be increased by a maximum percentage based on the Eurostat Euro Area annual inflation statistics of the calendar year.

Simplify the CIA: Case Study Trips

Svenja van Der Tol and Aleksandra Kluczka on behalf of the Comité Directeur and Claudio Gennaro on behalf of Juridical Commission are proposing to simplify the articles concerning the Case Study Trips. A case study trip has been used a lot in the past, for instance when AEGEE was expanding to the East. The changes now specify that the Case Study Trip has the purpose of researching in the interest of AEGEE and the complementary aim is its promotion. Participants can be from a local or from a body, replacing the old Working Group or a Supporting Committee on the European level, and they will be selected by the organising team based on their motivation. Moreover, two third of the total participants must be an AEGEE member. In case the proposal will be adopted, it is added also that after the approval of the Comité Directeur, the organising team would decide on the topic, the time schedule and the locations covered and a report with results and a financial overview should be presented within one month after the trip took place.

Allowing Case Shadowers for the Mediation Commission

This proposal is presented by Damien Latacz on behalf of the Mediation Commission (MedCom). If approved, it would change the working format of the Mediation Commission by adding a new figure to the MedCom: the case shadower. Damien Latacz argues that cases that the MedCom are handling might proceed also after a term is finished, thus forbidding the previous team to advise the new one, except from the Knowledge Transfer period. With this proposal, the MedCom would have the possibility to have case shadowers on certain cases. The shadowers can only be previous members of the MedCom and they are assigned only on a specific case, not having access to any data but only to the ones of the case they are involved with. S/he wouldn’t have voting rights and s/he would be removed from his/her position once the case would be closed (no longer than two weeks after the closing). His/her role would be merely advisory.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Just like we did for the last Agorae, for Spring Agora Bergamo we want to provide you with a short and easy summary of the proposals submitted for the Agora again. In this first round, we will be explaining you four proposals that are aimed at changing the elections and the work of Juridical Commission, namely “Requiring support of two bodies besides the submitting body to discuss a proposal at the Agora”, “A new procedure for elections and polls, part I (public ballots)”, “Appointing instead of electing the Secretary of the Agora” and “Giving the Juridical Commission the power to fix small mistakes”. 

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 and all kind of rules (like the antennae criteria and financial rules), and, in another document, the Working Formats of the different bodies.

Requiring support of two bodies besides the submitting body to discuss a proposal at the Agora

This proposal was submitted by Lucas Zoetmulder on behalf of AEGEE-Delft and by Wietske Jousma on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede, but it was conceived by the Agora Reform Task Force, which has been working since Autumn Agora Kyïv on improving our Agorae. The proposers want to reform how a proposal is submitted to the Agora. Currently, every member and organ of AEGEE-Europe can present a proposal by themselves on behalf of their body, resulting sometimes in easy withdrawing of proposals. This proposal therefore aims to have two additional bodies or locals to support the proposers. The principal submitter is still the one defending the proposal in front of the Agora, but they can be assisted by the supporting members or organs.

Appointing instead of electing the Secretary of the Agora

This proposal will be presented by Svenja van der Tol, the Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe, on behalf of the Agora Reform Task Force. This proposal starts from the assumption that the elections of the Secretary of the Agora cost time not needed, since normally there is only one candidate for the position and often even less, forcing the Chair Team to appoint anyway an interim Secretary. With this proposal, the Autumn Agora only elects the Chair Person and the Vice-Chair person and the Secretary is appointed following the same procedure of the IT assistant for a period of one Agora. S/he can extend his/her term for more Agorae if the Chair and Vice-Chairperson appoint her/him to. These proposals won’t change the accountability of the Secretary who is still required to send minutes two months after the Agora – not receiving any reimbursement if s/he is not in time with the delivering – and remains in charge of all the changes until the Agora approves them.

A new procedure for elections and polls, part I (public ballots)

Eveline Joore, Evelien Kroon and Wietske Jousma on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede are the proposers of the proposal that aims to change how the votings are conducted. The suggestion of the proposers is to replace the current run-off voting system with the Schulze method. This method allows voters to order candidates according to a preference order, resulting in having as a winner the candidate, who is preferred by a majority over every other candidate in pairwise comparisons. According to the proposers “AEGEE should move beyond the traditional practises of democratic decision-making that have proven to be unsatisfactory”, without any specific reference on when the system we have now proved not to be up to expectations. Proposers specify that they want to apply it, in the beginning, to public ballots, such as EPM topics. There, with a list of topics, delegates would rank the topics according to their preferences, instead of voting for only one topic. According to the Schulze method, the k top-ranked topic will be the winner.

Giving the Juridical Commission the power to fix small mistakes

This proposal will be presented by the Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe, Svenja van der Tol, on behalf of the Agora Reform Task force and it was developed by Lucas Zoetmulder of AEGEE-Delft. The aim of this proposal is to give the Juridical Commission the possibility to intervene directly in the CIA for changes, as it happens now, but without having to prepare a proposal to be voted on. Instead, the Juridical Commission will present the changes to the Agora in order to be ratified by our General assembly. All the changes must be notified to the Network one month prior to the Agora. The system will be the same as the one already used with the minutes of the Agora, and, in case the changes are not ratified, the non-ratified version of the CIA is still the one to be considered valid. According to the proposers, this can ease the work of the JC and remove long-lasting discussion during prytania, making them more accessible to new members. Of course, the JC will have the power to fix minor mistakes and inconsistencies and they can not altered the text by any means.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona