A few days ago, the Council of the European Union published its proposal for “a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and au pairing”, resulting from the meeting in Brussels on the last 9th of December.

The Council of the European Union, who was under the Italian Presidency back in December, made a further step in the legislative process which will lead to an update Directive on visa issues. In fact, back in March 2013, the European Commission (EC) published a Proposal for revising the existing Directive 2014/114/EC (dated December 2004) on the conditions of admission of third-country nationals for the purposes of studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service, and Directive 2005/71/EC (Dating October 2005) on the conditions of admission of third-country nationals for the purposes of scientific research. The aim was to improve the legal framework applicable to third-country nationals, including also the remunerated trainees and au pair.

In February 2014, the European Parliament (EP) voted its first reading, serving as a mandate for the negotiations with the Council.

Despite its title, and the premises in the same text (point (2) of the Proposal: “[The Directive] should therefore simplify and streamline the existing provisions for the different groups”), this proposal was embarrassingly inadequate compared to the EC and the EP proposals.

In fact, already in the Article 1 (a) and in the Article 2 (1), the Directive makes a clear distinction between third-country nationals who apply to be admitted on the territory of a Member State for the purpose of research and study – for which the Directive shall compulsory apply –  and the ones applying in the frame of “pupil exchange scheme or educational project, unremunerated training or voluntary service”, for which “Member States may also decide to apply” (the Directive, ndr).

This reduction of the scope of the Directive, compared to the one proposed by the EC, is of huge concern. In fact, if we bring it to our association, it may mean that non-EU members may have burdens in participating in events taking place in all those countries who won’t extend the scope of the Directive to others than students.

The second biggest concern regards the fee for applying for a visa: not only is a fee foreseen, but, in its document,the Council does not foresee any limitation, but rather gives a suggestion for it not to be “disproportionate or excessive”. Again, the limit of the Council is clear: we all know how difficult, demanding and expensive it is to apply for a visa (if we didn’t apply directly, we for sure know stories from our friends in the Network), and this document proceeds in the exact opposite way than the Erasmus+ legal framework, where the learning mobility of individuals is one of the main actions to pursue the Programe objectives.

The list doesn’t stop unfortunately. Reading further in the document is clearly stated that “The competent authorities of the Member State concerned shall adopt a decision […] as soon as possible but no later than 90 days of the complete application being lodged”. Can you imagine applying for an Agora three months in advance to make sure to get the visa on time? Moreover, this provision extends considerably the “60 days” EC proposal, and even more the “30 days” framework suggested by the European Parliament.

The last remarkable point comes regarding the visa holders for studying and research considering to spend a period of time (up to 6 months) in another EU Country: despite the already long procedure spent to apply for a visa, the third-countries nationals may incur in a renew procedure for the second Member State, who is allowed to start further verification on documentation and purpose of stay.

Luckily, this is not the final version of the Directive. According to the Lisbon Treaty, this document has to go through the Parliament, who has the right not to validate it as such, but to propose modifications that will need to be then approved by the Council.

Of course, this doesn’t mean at all that there is an easy path ahead. Unfortunately, this document shares the fear to further concede facilitation for mobility in Europe. Let’s not forget that the Schengen agreement has been quoted and pointed out as one of the main factors allowing free movement to terrorists, and the happenings in Ukraine, Turkey, France, Libya (and the list may unfortunately go on) are misused and misreported to create a growing terror mood in Europe which is disruptive and mining the concept of United Europe.

That’s why AEGEE, together with the European Youth Forum and in all the possible platforms, is and has to continue campaigning for Youth Rights in Europe. An official statement has been presented, and a Policy Paper on Youth Mobility will be presented at the next Agora Asturias to be ratified.

Youth rights are at a stake, and we, European citizens, need to do as much as we can (and a bit more) to make sure we build up the Europe we want to live in.

You can read AEGEE-Europe Reaction to the Council Proposal for the Revision of the Visa Directive here.

Written by Alfredo Sellitti, AEGEE-Salerno, Policy Officer on Youth Mobility

AEGEE-București is organising the Training for Trainers (T4T) event from the 14th to the 20th of March  in Bucharest, Romania. If you wish to find out the definition of a “trainer”, what’s his/her role and how you can become one, sign up and you will discover it in seven amazing days in  Romanian style. Deadline for applications is the 7th of February. We spoke with the PR Responsible of the event, Bianca Crăciunescu, in order to give you some exciting information!

The AEGEEan: Hello, Bianca! You are preparing one important European event in your local. How is everything going?

Bianca: We took the challenge of organising an European event and, so far, things are going in the right direction. We wanted to prove that we can organise this important event, and all the members of our team are working hard in order to assure that both trainers and participants will have a great time here in Bucharest.

What is the concept of Training for Trainers?

Training for Trainers is about teaching the participants how they can deliver a good quality training. There will be six  days of specialized trainings and on the seventh day participants will become trainers themselves using what they have learned and facing their fear of public speaking. Besides the training, they will also learn a few things about Romanian culture.

What have you prepared for the participants during those seven days of action?

We want to help them understand better the importance of being a trainer, starting from answering a simple question such as “What is the role of a trainer?”, to a more advanced level, when they should deliver a training interacting constantly with the participants and adapting the level of difficulty to their knowledge. The trainers are preparing for them tips and tricks, content and challenges.

What will the trainings be about? Do you follow a specific theme?

The entire program and theme of T4T will be designed by The Academy. The participants will be given the necessary techniques, methods and tools so they can deliver training sessions on topics that matter for them, the AEGEE network and any other field of action.

Is AEGEE-București preparing the participants to “work all day, party all night?”

Of course! AEGEE-București is preparing an event in the AEGEE spirit.There will be sessions of trainings and workshops, but also time for fun, and the opportunity to meet the lovely and crazy Bucharest!

Is it the first time AEGEE-București organises Training for Trainers?

It is not the first time AEGEE-București organises Training for Trainers. We organized T4T by The Academy already in the past: it was in 2008 and the team of organisers are now Alumni. Now, in 2015, we will bring even more energy to you!

What are your expectations for the event?

I expect this edition of T4T will be unforgettable for the participants, for the trainers and for us, the organising team. I hope we will meet the expectations of the participants and we will also have a lot of fun working together. So, what are you waiting for? It’s training time!

Which are the values of your local, your pride and joy?

The values of our local are: responsibility, teamwork and intercultural communication. We love the fact that we have the opportunity to organise events for young people from other locals of AEGEE and we are proud of all of our members that are active and they call themselves “lifelong volunteers”.

Written by Gabriela Cioată, AEGEE-București

Ever since its establishment in 1999, the AEGEE Academy has been working hard to develop and strengthen the human resources of AEGEE and to stimulate the motivation of its members, by providing them with non-formal learning experiences. Last April the new board of the Academy was elected, starting their term on the 1^st of June after their Knowledge Transfer. Next to this, the Academy also signed the Convention d’Adhesion during Spring Agora Patra. The AEGEEan spoke to the board of the Academy to find out more about their achievements and plans for the future.

Currently, the board of the Academy consists of eight members, namely: Speaker/PR Responsible Andra Berila (AEGEE-Bucuresti), Treasurer Patrick Scholz (AEGEE-Aachen), Secretary John Eikosidekas (AEGEE-Patra), HR Manager and External Relations responsible Urša Svetelj (AEGEE-Ljubljana), Database Manager Michele Minuti (AEGEE-Brescia), IT Responsible and Board Assistant Costas Deltouzos (AEGEE-Patra), Alumni Coordinator, Network Communication Assistant and Board Assistant Maartje Natrop (AEGEE-Utrecht) and Mentorship Program Responsible and Board Assistant Lyda Michopoulou (AEGEE-Leuven).

Although only active for a few weeks now, the new board already has great plans upcoming, like the European School of Entrepeneurship (ESE), organised together with Youth unEmployment this September in Gran Canaria, the Fundraising European School (FRES) hosted by AEGEE-Barcelona in October, the Public Relations European School (PRES) hosted by AEGEE-Poznan in November and the Summer University Project School (SUPS) hosted by AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca in December. Besides these great events, plans already have been made for Spring 2015 too. As Andra tells us: “We are planning to organise a Self-Development European School (SES), Training for Trainers (T4T), Human Resources European School (HRES) and European School 2 (ES2).”

However, it’s not only the new board that is new. The Academy itself also got a new status, signing the Convention d’Adhesion at Spring Agora Patra. As Maartje explains: “Since we signed the Convention d’Adhesion, we are no longer a working group. It was a strange place to be in, as we have never really been a working group and therefore couldn’t comply with the requirements. Now we are officially an independent partner organisation of AEGEE, but serving the network remains our main priority. In practice you will not really feel or see the changes, it is just paperwork, but we will keep on rocking as always.”

And rocking is what the Academy has been doing lately. Thanks to the hard work of the former board, the Academy managed to “make the Academy rise from the ashes like a phoenix”, as Antonija Parat said before. “We have had an amazing board term.”, Maartje says, which also shows in the achievements made during the past half year. “We built a new website including an interactive map of trainers and a trainer database, a big online materials database, a new HR booklet, new HR strategy with different levels for trainers (candidate, trainer, senior, alumni), new PR strategy including a new Facebook page and small recruitment movie and we have been rocking a lot of European Schools, Training for Trainers and trainings at the Agora. We did a lot of work behind the scenes as well, like standardizing templates for presentations, Open Calls and creating knowledge transfer manuals for the future boards.”

The database for training materials is a never ending but very thankful job, according to Michele. “Brick by brick we build a house. I am collecting materials of trainers and especially of Academy events and some Network Meetings. At the moment we have the materials, but we have to update them and increase the quality. The best part of my job is that there is no end. My motto is: ‘To collect data is a step for knowledge, but to share is a step for community.’” Another important job is the website, which got updated in January. “The previous website of the Academy had an old fashioned design and its content was rather outdated, so when we launched the new one all of our trainers were excited about it”, Costas says. “The new website’s design is fresh and modern, the content is better structured and easy to find and we have some new features. The main addition that made everyone happy was the trainers’ database. Now it’s easy for everyone to see a list of our trainers and alumni with details about them and where they are located.”
Although the Training for Trainers that took place in April in Budapest already resulted in twenty new trainers, the Academy is always open to new applications. This can be done by applying on the website through a form, or by attending the next Training for Trainers in Spring 2015. Want to find out more about the Academy? Take a look at their website!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

These past days, The AEGEEan has got to know better the local that was elected as Local of the Month of March – AEGEE-Leuven! They organised a brilliant exchange between European and Palestinian students in the framework of the EuroArab Project last February, which was the reason for their nomination. 

The antenna, located in the famous Belgian student city, was founded in 1991 and resurrected around the year 2006. In the words of Heleen Yu, current president of AEGEE-Leuven: “We have always been a small local due to the oversaturated market of student organisations in Leuven”. At this moment, the local has around 50 members, of which 12-15 are active.

The School of Social Entrepreneurship

The School of Social Entrepreneurship (SSE) was an exchange between ten members of AEGEE-Leuven and ten Palestinian students from the West Bank, that AEGEE-Leuven organised in cooperation with the Palestinian NGO Sharek Youth Forum in the framework of AEGEE’s EuroArab-project. As Valérie Boiten, the coordinator of the exchange, explains, the ten Palestinians came to Leuven for a week, where the participants attended lectures, training activities and workshops concerning the idea of a social business.

Some of these workshops were provided by AEGEE members Wessel Reijers (AEGEE-Enschede) and Mathieu Soete (AEGEE-Leuven), but other organisations like JUB International, RootAbility and SPIT [ed. a local social business] were invited too. The participants also spent one day in Brussels to visit the European External Action Service headquarters where they could learn more about the European Neighbourhood Policy and the external actions of the EU, especially the ones concerning the situation between Israel and the West Bank. They also attended a session on quality jobs at the European Youth Forum headoffice. However, AEGEE-Leuven also offered a very rich social programme: dancing to traditional music and tasting Palestinian typical food, an ice-skating evening and a ‘Belgian night’ are only some of the highlights.

But, how did the adventure of the School of Social Entrepreneurship begin? The idea came up for the first time in June last year, during a study visit for youth workers where Valérie met Mahmoud, representative of Sharek Youth Forum, and the idea of organizing an exchange together started to grow. A few months later, Valérie and Dima (the project manager of Sharek) started to develop the plans of organizing SSE more concretely, and the application for the Youth in Action programme was sent to the National Agency in Brussels, which approved the project.

They agree that the challenge was pretty big for such a small local: “It was challenging to combine the multiplicity of tasks, but I guess this is something everyone who has ever organized an AEGEE event will recognize”, Valérie says. “Just when you think you’ve taken care of everything, something new pops up! There are literally a thousand things to think about and the Youth in Action procedures can be very exhausting”. Yet, in the words of the organisers, the biggest challenge was to ensure that the Palestians could get to Belgium in the first place! “We all know the hardship they face, and how their abilities to travel freely, even within their own country, are extremely reduced. It was very difficult to get through the visa procedures, they almost didn’t make it on time. Only two days before the project would start, the visas were granted. A huge relief!”, Valérie concludes.

AEGEE-Leuven, a small but active local

Only a few weeks after the SSE concluded, AEGEE-Leuven was already planning their new event, a local Y Vote 2014 conference. They invited Professor Christoph Crombez, who is an expert on European economics and politics, and Saïd El Khadraoui, a Leuven born and raised MEP. Both gave a short talk on the importance of the past European Parliament elections and the value of the vote of the youth. As Tom Etienne, current Treasurer, explains: “This was particularly interesting, because one point of view was clearly from an academic side, whilst the other one obviously came from a politician”. The event managed to gather a group of international students who asked about all kinds of issues, such as transparency and democracy in the EU, the financial crisis, the environment, and of course the results of the upcoming elections, and it concluded with a very active debate among the guest speakers and the young people.

AEGEE-Leuven is ackowledged for having organised many successful European events in the past couple of years, ranging from Travel Summer Universities, to a Network Meeting, and a thematic event in cooperation with the Human Rights Working Group. According to Heleen, “good teamwork and knowing each others’ strengths is I think in our case our advantage when it comes to organising exchanges. Almost everything is organised by the board, with a limited amount of help of volunteers, which we are grateful for”. Valérie adds that one of their biggest achievements has been “our growing rate of members over the past two years. From a small group of people we’ve seen our membership base evolve quite quickly, though of course we’re still quite small – but charming! On the other hand it is also nice that people seem to find us whenever it’s about European affairs or European organisations. We’ve been contacted quite a few times this year for projects, research and press articles”.

In fact, Leuven is widely-known as one of the biggest and most vibrant student cities in Europe. More than 40,000 students come to live there each year, and around 7,000 are international students coming from over 140 countries. As Heleen says: “It seems rather easy to reach international students since we are in the ‘international students organizations’ category. We are invited by the university to join the info fair for new incoming international students every semester”. However, she adds that, when it comes to reaching the Belgian students “it is more difficult, since there are not a lot of students who are particularly interested in meeting international people, as most people already have their “usual” group of friends and stick to this. But we see a change now, we think that more and more Belgians are open to their international fellows”.

The local has no future plans yet: there will be a new board elected at the start of the academic year which will surely surprise with new events and activities. Meanwhile, we wish AEGEE-Leuven the best and congratulate them once more for such a big achievement!

Written by Anna Gumbau,  AEGEE-Barcelona

During AEGEE’s European Schools (ES) everyone gets inspired and even more motivated. These trainings have a unique, empowering atmosphere, yet the value of the experience can only be understood after attending one. The Information Technology Committee (ITC) in cooperation with AEGEE-León is organizing an Information Technology European School (ITES) in May, 25-30. The AEGEEan interviewed Giuseppe Colicchia (Peppe), speaker of the ITC as well as Nuria Viñuela Rodríguez, coordinator of the event.

The AEGEEan: The ITC rocks. You all are very dedicated to creating a new OMS (Online Membership System) as well as organizing the next ITES where IT knowledge will be shared and discussed among the participants and trainers. Tell us what this ITES will be about?

Peppe: Taking into account the needs of our association, we’ll try to determine which are common situations where IT resources – in terms of collaboration tools and well known software – could be useful, and how. I guess there’s a common thread within these kind of activities made by IT responsibles (and board members in general) across the network, and sometimes the availability of working examples could help a lot. So, stop reinventing the wheel and let’s share best practices! Teambuilding and knowledge sharing need to be keywords in the Committee: OMS for instance is possible just if we make it sustainable, with proper development and support teams.

The AEGEEan: You became a member of the ITC after ITES 2013. What motivated you in joining and why do you think it was a good decision?
Peppe: Last year’s ITES was organized by AEGEE-Debrecen, where trainers gave a global overview of AEGEE technological infrastructure followed up by global needs (with a set of possible solutions) and topics of general interest. My aim was to know more about the AEGEE world – it was my second event after EBM (European Boards’ Meeting) in Valletta – especially from a point of view that fits with my personal interests. It has been definitely a good decision! That general overview and the concepts learned were the kick start to be active on the European Level, and I still get much more of what I give: this keeps up my motivation!

The AEGEEan: European Schools are always exceptionally intense events of our association. What would you tell to potential applicants why participating is highly recommended?
Peppe: We’ll have not less than 25 hours of lessons, where the curiosity of participants will be satisfied by an open space full of resources. It’s not our intention to further explore a single tool or scripting language, it would be in contrast with the idea behind the event: propose a solutions-oriented approach to help board members solving weekly issues using common instruments. The nature of the event is open, some sessions (a 20%) will be filled on demand and participants will be invited to show ideas and solutions as well: sharing is caring, see you in León!

The AEGEEan: AEGEE-León was selected to host the training event. What should we know about the organising antenna?

Nuria: AEGEE-León is a pretty big antenna, with approximately 100 members, our Summer Universities have been among the highest rated ten for several years now, and we work a lot into the already finished Youth in Action Program and now Erasmus+ (we already had 2 European Volunteers, and we will host an Erasmus placement with us). At the next Agora, Spring Agora Patra, we also will sign a Twin Contract with AEGEE-Catania.
Last year we celebrated our 10th anniversary, and this year, with all our new and motivated members, we are in the best moment to host an event as the ITES is. Last months we hosted an RTC and we are working hard preparing and exchange with more locals and our SU.

The AEGEEan: What can participants expect from the city and the social programme?
Nuria: León was founded as Roman settlement and since that time we have a very rich culture and history that you can feel in all the city, with monuments, the old town, our cathedral, the ancient streets…

León has a good atmosphere since it is a students’ city: during almost all week you can find open places to have fun with your friends, drink a beer or even better, a great wine,  and taste our famous and delicious tapas.

In the social program our participants will see by themselves all these aspects: the cultural side, but also the student nightlife.

The AEGEEan: Tell us, why our readers should not second guess themselves but apply instantly to this great event.
Peppe: Take a look at our webpage: would you say it was made in 15 minutes without any deep knowledge? There are no tricks, just resources to use properly and to adapt to your needs. After the event I’m quite sure you’ll be able to create a page much better than this.

Nuria: Because the ITES is not only going to be a European Training School, it will be an event for sharing, sharing of knowledge, best practices and experiences. It will be a good training for all the participants to be ready, to become more active AEGEEans. Also, the end of May is the most beautiful season to enjoy León and its spirit. :)

Thank you for your answers. It surely is an excellent opportunity to broaden our horizon on IT matters. Grab the chance, check out the event’s website HERE and apply HERE.

Written by Balázs Kovács, AEGEE-Debrecen

European School of Entrepreneurship

5-12 December 2011

Catania, Sicily

I’m a billionaire, sang Travie McCoy. So will we. Meet the young entrepreneurs of AEGEE!

The European School of Entrepreneurship (ESE) was a real pioneer in every sense among all the AEGEE trainings. It was not just the first edition of ESE, but also the topic was uttermost interesting since it did not deal with internal issues as other European Schools. The entrepreneurship and self-employment are also ones of those subject areas which gained more importance in the past years, as it was stated that these can be one of those solutions in one’s life which can help to get out of the crisis.  

Discovering European School of Entrepreneurship

The first time I heard about the European School of Entrepreneurship was in Alicante and I found it an amazingly good idea at the very first moment. Being the part of the biggest interdisciplinary youth association of Europe, I felt the need of different possibilities of self-development, and this European School was perfect to fill the gap.

Everyone wants to be a part of ESE

ESE was a result of a great cooperation: the host local, AEGEE-Catania coordinated the work perfectly, what has been done by the main coordinator, Peppe Gianni was really impressive. The trainers came from AEGEE-Academy, the Youth Unemployment Project, Network Commission and the YoutHub Catania Student Incubator. AEGEE-Catania invited several external speakers which spiced up the entire week and according to the evaluations, the participants found it motivating and incredibly useful.

Important lesson learned