As soon as I heard about the Y Vote 2014 bus tour, Y Vote on the Road!, in the United Kingdom, I knew  that I wanted to participate. I was at the Y Vote convention on ‘Mobility & Education’ in Krakow at that time, which I really enjoyed, so I applied for the bus tour as well. I had never been to the UK before and I was eager to discover the country and get to know its’ people. Even though we should have already known something about the European institutions beforehand (after all, we were promoting the elections), Luis Alvarado Martinez (the President of AEGEE-Europe) gave us a short, but very clear presentation about the institutions and the Y Vote 2014 Project anyways.

London – Political debate

In London, we had our first (and biggest) debate with six Members of European Parliament (MEP) candidates and representatives from the League of Young Voters, European Youth Forum, the National Students’ Union and Liberal Youth. A lot of interesting topics were discussed and interesting ideas were born:

“Many countries take it for granted that they are members of the EU. But if you are not just a member, but also feel European the heart, then you are also able to renegotiate the terms on which the EU exists.” The UK is more eurosceptic than most countries, but this does not mean they should be outsiders. They should be the driving force for a change.

“Every single opinion poll in Britain shows that young people (aged 18-30) are very much pro-EU, while the older generation (65+) is very eurosceptic. But the second group is three times as likely to vote, so it is crucial for young people to be motivated to vote too.” This also goes for extremists: these people are way more likely to vote than moderate voters, and thus extremist parties get more votes than they actually deserve.

“Disengaged voters raise some concern. It is going to be the Youth’s Europe for much longer than it is for the older people, and they should think about that.”

“Referendum? Exiting the EU? Why don’t we renegotiate? The EU has done good things (e.g. the single market, Erasmus, funding programmes), BUT there should be a discussion about reforming the way it works now.”

“We should bring the discussion back to individual stories and what people have brought us.” A lot has been said now on the European level, but it is still the same (local) people living in Europe.

“We do not compete with workers in China on our salary but with technology and such things! We have great (vocational) education, and we should find our place [as the EU in the world]. Nation [in the EU] have to change.”

Bristol – MEP Candidate debate

The day after, on April 3rd, we started our bus tour and headed to Bristol where we had another debate with another candidate for the European Parliament, named Kay Barnard (Liberal Democrats). A few students from the university also came, and we talked about genetically modified food (or GMO) food, youth unemployment, renewable energies, and climate change in the context of the upcoming European Parliamentary elections. It was interesting, once again, and our external participants were also very involved with the topics.

Swansea – Workshop

After a good night out in Cardiff, where we were quickly promoted to VIP guests in the club (if you have seen Jersey Shore, you can imagine what VIP means), we continued our travel to Swansea. Luis had left us in London, since he had to go to another parallel Y Vote convention in Brussels, therefore Beata Matuska (Network Director, Comité Directeur) was leading us from now on.

We put up our beautiful stand with information materials in the restaurant and asked people to join us for a workshop after. In the end we did not get any participants for the workshop. Hence, we did the workshop by ourselves, which, in the end, was also very valuable, since we got to discuss a lot of topics.

Birmingham and Leeds – Participants in the spotlight

The Y Vote bus tour was aimed at getting more people to vote and how would we achieve this, if not with a street action. We gathered, did some ice-breaking games (I am really jealous of people who can remember names within a day…), and discussed possibilities for what we could do on the streets after that. It was harder than we thought, but not impossible to get people to speak on tape. It was very interesting (and shocking), that only very few of the people on the street knew about the EU and the elections. Some voices we heard:

“Ignorance is the reason that no one wants to be part of the European Union. We need the European Union.”

“The people who support the EU do not see the downsides, so it seems they are not telling the whole truth, but at the same time, the people who are completely against it, do not see the positives.”

“We do not really know enough to be able to vote, really.”

We just had a quick stop in Leeds and implemented another street action there. We blew up balloons, played ninja in the city and did a bit of sightseeing before we left for Manchester.

Liverpool – Question time and the NUS National Conference

This was the earliest morning of our whole journey. In Liverpool we split up, so 5 of us represented AEGEE and the Y Vote 2014 Project at the NUS National Conference, the largest student democratic event in Europe with more than 1000 delegates from 300 universities. The others went for another city rally, but this time we combined the fun with thematic questions. On our To-Do-List were things such as “Take a picture with a family”, “Take a picture with a police-officer”, but with each one we had to have a talk about the European Union and the elections as well. We put together a set of three questions that everyone had to ask, which most of the time resulted in interesting conversations that often took 15 minutes or longer.

One of the questions was: “Name three things that you know about the European Union”, and to our surprise, a lot of people could only come up with one thing. In the end, these three questions proved to be very valuable, since we could compare answers instead of going through all the conversations.

Durham – Our last city

Our last day had arrived, and we spent it in Durham, a cute little town located almost in Scotland. There actually is an AEGEE local in Durham, and they provided us with a very nice tour-guide that had set up another city rally to make us move through the city. We split up in groups, asked people about the upcoming elections, and distributed so many balloons, that it felt like every single kid in the city was walking around with one.

To sum up, it was really great to participate in this event. Content-wise, we could have reached way more people and could have worked much more efficiently, for example by promoting our workshops before we actually arrived at the university. It seemed like we appeared out of nowhere and disappeared two hours later. With a clearer plan and more visibility before the event, we could have put our work into more tangible results. The participants were very pro-active and I learned a lot about the UK and how people actually see the European Union – especially that its citizens are not at all as euro-sceptical as we hear. I also learned that technically, there is a lot of information about the EU distributed, but people are not going to search for it themselves. It is really weird to me that students have not heard about Erasmus. Projects like the Y Vote 2014 therefore should not stop after the elections. It should be carried on to keep the European Union in people’s mind, because that is the only way for people to be informed about the EU. Yes, between 22nd-25th of May and after, my Facebook timeline was flooded with voting-related posts, but what about the weeks before? Yes, political parties put up their huge posters two or three weeks before the elections, but do they mention the European Elections, or even Europe on it? Many of them do not.I wish that this beautiful project may continue, and make Europe visible all the time, not only at the time of the elections.

Written by Philipp Blum, AEGEE-Aachen

The Member of the Month of April is…Lavinia Manea from AEGEE-București! “Volunteerism is not just a word” according to Lavinia, and she proved that by being an active member, not only on the local level, but also on the European one and having key roles in the WDEE (Where Does Europe End) and Y Vote projects and working as Content Manager for the EBM Lublin.

The AEGEEan: Lavinia, you have been elected as the member of the month. Congratulations! Could you introduce yourself for those who don’t know you yet?
Lavinia:  I’m Lavinia Manea from AEGEE-București, and along the years I have been involved in different projects, mostly on European level: I worked three (wonderful) years for the Where Does Europe End (WDEE) project as External Relations responsible and trainer, I worked for EBM Lublin as Content Manager and currently I am finishing my tasks for the Y Vote project, for which I worked as part of the content team, as EU affairs “expert” and trainer.

The AEGEEan: When did you join AEGEE and, in particular, why?
Lavinia: I joined when I was 19, during my first university year, but in fact I found out about AEGEE while I was in high school. I was preparing to take the university admission exams when I discovered AEGEE. I liked the idea and I promised to myself that once a student in Bucharest, I would join this association. And so I did. At the beginning, what drove me towards this choice was mostly the idea of meeting new people and developing new skills. I was moving to Bucharest from the “province” and I was eager to expand my horizon outside the university environment as well. Little did I know how important AEGEE would become in my life.

The AEGEEan: You have done a great job as a trainer for the Y Vote. Why did you choose to be part of such an important project?
Lavinia: Well, this is an interesting story. When I graduated from my second master degree, I thought I would never become involved again in an important project, due to the lack of time that a job would have implied. Having graduated from what many consider to be a prestigious graduate institute, the logical “next step” would have been a job in Brussels or elsewhere, in a field related to international relations and/or diplomacy. But I like to do things differently and I’m not afraid to go “right”, when everyone else goes “left”, if this is the right thing for me. So when I considered my options, I realised that what I love most is working with people to promote values I believe in. I am a striver for a better world, and that always begins with us. So I did something that many considered insane: I put my career plans on hold for something less prestigious but richer in essence: travelling across Europe as a volunteer and inspiring young people to become a driving force for change in our society. I was often asked what did I do after graduating from the College of Europe, followed by how much (money) did I make. But as you know, in AEGEE we don’t make money, we make “people” and that is much more valuable in the long term. Human resources are our planet’a greatest asset if well-managed. We can either make or break everything.

Of course, none of this would have happened if I hadn’t believed in this project: in its necessity, its potential and in the people behind it. No achievement was ever the result of a one-man show. So knowing well my cause and believing in the people I worked with was essential. I cannot thank the Y Vote team members (including the Comite Directeur and the local organisers) enough for all their effort and enthusiasm.

The AEGEEan: Is there an AEGEE member in particular who has inspired you in your work? Why?
Lavinia: The are many people who inspired me and continue to do so. But if I should point to one person in particular, then I would mention Veronika Braun, former member of AEGEE Passau, and Y Vote 2009 PR Responsible. The reason I mentioned her has to do with timing more than anything else. I met her while I was attending my first Youth in Action event, in Rome and it happened to be a Y Vote convention. Her energy, her ambitions and the results of her work, triggered in me a strong wish to becomes active at European level. From that point on, I met many other inspiring people but that particular event was the beginning of everything for me. It would be unfair though, not to mention -if only briefly- my former WDEE team members Percin Imrek (AEGEE-Çanakkale), Thomas Leszke (AEGEE-Köln), Kasia Bitka (AEGEE-Kraków), Casper Wolf (AEGEE-Utrecht) and Juan Sordo (AEGEE-Oviedo) and of course, my (soon also former) Y Vote team members Ola Kluczka (AEGEE-Kraków), Léa Charlet (AEGEE-Paris) and Javier Mendoza (AEGEE-Tenerife). All these people taught me something valuable and I am grateful to them for that.

The AEGEEan: Are you currently working on any projects or initiatives belonging to AEGEE?
Lavinia: Yes I am, although they are mostly related to tying loose ends. I am finishing my last tasks related to the Y Vote project, working on the Position Paper resulted from the EBM and waiting for the results of an Erasmus+ application for the Europe in Exchange project. Should that be successful, I will work on organising a youth convention in Poznań, together with the other team members: Jorge Miguel (AEGEE-Valladolid), Cerem Çavdar (AEGEE-Ankara) and Sanja Zivanović (AEGEE-Zagreb).

The AEGEEan: What about your next plans both on the European and on the local level?
Lavinia: For the moment, apart from finishing my ongoing tasks, I do not have specific plans. I like to believe that when nothing is sure, everything is possible, therefore I keep my options open. If I believe I can bring added value to a certain initiative, I take the challenge. However, realistically speaking, the Y Vote project was the last important initiative I got involved in to this extent. Whatever may follow should be compatible with my working life as well. I am saying this because out of the past six months, three I spent travelling with AEGEE, working sometimes 18 hours a day together with my team mates. I am not complaining, of course. Nothing is better that working until exhaustion for what makes you happy. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity but it is time to step aside and let other young people take over. AEGEE represents a great opportunity for self-development and I hope as many people as possible take advantage of it. But while I have no certainties as to my future in AEGEE, one thing I can guarantee is that I will always support AEGEE as much as I can, throughout my career. Because AEGEE needs not only committed members but also committed alumni. And I hope that when they leave AEGEE, most of our prominent members remember that volunteerism is not something we do only when we are young and inexperienced. Volunteerism is something we all need to do once in a while, no matter how “busy” we become. Doing good things for reasons other than money or personal benefit is, in my opinion, the only way we can truly pretend to be creating a better Europe and a better world.

Written by Larisa Smajlagic, AEGEE-Verona 

Three Spanish and two Polish locals compete for the award to the Best Thematic Event of The AEGEEan’s Choice Awards. All of them have cooperated with several projects and organisations in order to bring a thematical taste to their events, which have proven to be a great success. You will hear the final result in Agora Patra – meanwhile, we invite you to get to know the nominees!

To start with, AEGEE-Las Palmas was awarded as the Local of the Month the past November for the YVote2014 Convention on the EU Democratic Gap. The Canarians have shown that, despite being a small antenna, they can bring high-quality events to their city and have a big impact not only in the AEGEE network, but also on their local media. The AEGEEan has interviewed Carmen Martín, main coordinator of the event.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us briefly what was the event about, and which were the main activities?

Carmen: The event was about the YVote2014 Project in general and specially about “Bridging the EU Democratic Gap”, which means to try to fill in the existent gap between Brussels and peripheral areas as Canary Islands, whose inhabitants don’t feel sometimes really European, because of the distance between our island and the rest of Europe.

You cooperated with the YVote project, how was the collaboration with them?

It was great, actually really fluid, with a lot of Skype meetings in which most of people in charge were present and with an open communication. AEGEE-Las Palmas team did not know all the members of YVote team, but that was not a barrier; we worked easily and efficiently all together.

Which were the biggest challenges of organizing the event, and how did you solve them?

Actually there was only one challenge, and it was related to Youth in Action grant, which arrived to AEGEE-Las Palmas bank account during the event (and we really had to make magic and ask for money to pay what we had to pay in advance). Everything else was really easy; the cooperation inside AEGEE-Las Palmas team and between us and YVote team, the great and motivated participants that we had, the organizational staff related to the hotel and sponsors… I would organize this event again thousands of times!

And which were according to you the best things of organizing this event?

The best things for me were, first of all, my team; they really made everything way easier to me, and we grew up as a team, seeing that everything was possible with open communication, a good mood and people who understand you and appreciate you. Second; our relationship with our University, City Council and other sponsors improved a lot (they could see that we are also able to organize other more ‘serious’ events, rather than just fun Summer Universities). Third: We got a lot of visibility in our city; we were on the news one of the days and in three different radio interviews. Furthermore, we got to know people from other associations and Europe Direct, with whom we made a great net of contacts for future events.

Why do you think you should win the Award to the Best Thematic Event?

Well, I am sure many other antennae organized great thematic events, but from my point of view, I will try to explain why I think AEGEE-Las Palmas should win this Award: Because even if we are a young (five years old!) and small (31 members) antenna, we manage to motivate our members to stay active both at the local and European level, to organize important and serious events as this one and because the event was just perfect from all the points of view: I’ve been told this from organizers’ side, participants’ side and YVote team’s side, so what else could I add? If we all agree on this, I think the rest of the Network should know about it!

On the other hand, AEGEE-Kraków organised last year the AEGEE Model of United Nations, which consists of a simulation of the discussions and procedures taken within the UN, as if they were delegates of their Member States. Katarzyna Michalska, main organizer of the event, explained to The AEGEEan how the MUN was.

Could you tell us briefly what was the event about, and which were the main activities?

AEGEE Model of United Nations was an international United Nations simulation conference during which participants played the role of UN Member States delegates generating a common approach on major issues of international politics. During the three days of meetings, divided into a few sessions, the participants discussed, following the official procedure, the different ways of solving one of the actual international conflicts in order to create a resolution which would be compatible with the ideas of Human Rights and Peaceful Conflict Resolution. As delegates of the UN Members States or Observer States, they did their best to defend the position of the state which were representing. The project consisted of two simulations of United Nations meetings: one on the conflict in Mali and one on the issue of the rights of North African refugees in Europe.

Which were the biggest challenges of organizing the event, and how did you solve them?

First of all, we decided to organize an international event in which we had no experience. It was difficult to create something totally new and unknown for us but, as we love trying new things, we took on this challenge with no fear. Fortunately we managed to find our experts – people experienced in the field of United Nations simulations who were available for any questions and concerns we had during preparation and also conducted our conference making it as professional as other prestigious events this type. Another challenge we had to face was the lack of funding sources. We had limited budget but we were so determined that even until less than week before the project we were struggling to get funds from many sponsors and finally got enough money! Moreover we had some difficulties in finding suitable place for the project but luckily we had a huge support from the university authorities who gave us an opportunity to organize it in one of their institutes.

And which were according to you the best things of organizing this event?

For me one of the best things of organizing this event was the great pleasure of doing it! Working with inspiring people who were truly motivated and dedicated to the project gave me a lot of energy and made me enjoy every single moment of organizing the project as well as the event itself. Beside the amazing team, I’d mention all of our small achievements which contributed to our final success, such as establishing valuable partnerships, getting funds or finally finding out about the surprising number of applications for our event!

Why do you think you should win the Award to the Best Thematic Event?

I can proudly say that thanks to hard work and determination of my team all the goals we set before organizing this event were achieved. We wanted to create a unique interactive learning experience which young people could enjoy and benefit from at the same time. What is worth mentioning, our project distinguishes itself by its up-to-date topic. It aimed at spreading and sharing knowledge about the problems of the modern world and the role of the United Nations in solving them as well as giving the participants opportunity to develop their diplomatic skills of compromise, negotiation, understanding of foreign affairs. Our goal was to encourage to study and discuss the issues of global importance. The positive feedback we got from the satisfied and happy participants eager to take part in the next edition of the project strengthened our belief that our event was a big success that we should be proud of.

AEGEE-Zaragoza is also nominated in this category. This time, by hosting the EuroSD – European Structured Dialogue conference, which gathered several International Youth Organizations in order to draft a joint statement to be sent to the European Commission. It was the first time that this consultation process was taken at a European level, as Beatriz Nasarre, former president of AEGEE-Zaragoza, explains.

Could you tell us briefly what was the event about, and which were the main activities?

The event was a European conference about the Structured Dialogue (It is a process of consultations launched by the European Commission and the European Youth Forum in order to pinpoint the needs and concerns of young people from all over the European Union), that gathered over a dozen International Youth NGOs. Besides writing the recommendations and a joint statement, we organized city tours around the city, and also a press conference where we transmitted that we would like the voice of young people to be heard.

You cooperated with other student organisations and AEGEE-Europe, how was the collaboration with them?

It is always very positive to strengthen the cooperation with other youth associations from outside AEGEE, whether they have a similar profile as us or not. It makes us see the things from another point of view, and it is always very rewarding. The people attending events like this one are always interesting and gratifying to work with!

Which were the biggest challenges of organizing the event, and how did you solve them?

The most difficult thing was to organise everything in a very complicated date, the beginning of July, with lots of previous work to do and during the exams season. The application of the Youth in Action grant was also another issue, also because we had many people around the Summer Universities. But in the end, with hard work we can achieve everything and afterwards we all left to our SU’s, and that was a very well-deserved vacation…

And which were according to you the best things of organizing this event?

Feeling part of such an interesting project, being “the first ones” of organising such an event, and especially feeling proud of the work we did. As always, with lots of works and nerves from the organisers, the feeling when the participants congratulate you because they have really enjoyed the event has left us speechleess. And, of course, proud of being able to wear such an awesome t-shirt designed by our Uncle Joni!

Why do you think you should win the Award to the Best Thematic Event?

Well, first of all because… have you ever seen such an awesome logo and t-shirt!? The event was a whole success and the thematics of the event were really interesting – with this European Structured Dialogue consultation we can really make an impact in the European Commission. Besides, the organisers devoted an important amount of their summertime, so we should definitely win – anyway, thanks to The AEGEEan for nominating us and we wish the best luck to the other nominees!

And finally, AEGEE-Alicante was also nominated for one of the most outstanding pre-events of Spring Agora Zaragoza, the MEDITERRANEANLY! event in cooperation with the Health4Youth Project. The antenna told The AEGEEan about the secrets of their success…

Could you tell us briefly what was the event about, and which were the main activities?

We wanted to show to our participants how beneficial, easy and fun can be having a healthy lifestyle and how to achieve it with some little changes in their day-to-day habits. That’s why we tried to make them used to a Mediterranean diet and to keep a daily routine of exercise.

The main sports activities we organised were a yoga and a zumba class, both early in the morning at the beach with professional trainers, as well as a walk on the sand, and some outdoor games. We also had the chance to hold a first aids workshop and to visit a ecological vegetable garden run by local farmers.

You cooperated with the Health4Youth Project, how was the collaboration with them?

They are very kind, three of their members (Maria Arends, Sygrit Andringa and Elmar Guliyev) came to the pre-event to give a hand with the programme by conducting some very successful workshops, such as the one about the effects of the consumption of alcohol on your body, and the one about the effects of not sleeping properly well.

Which were the biggest challenges of organizing the event, and how did you solve them?

We programmed to spend the last day and night on a camping site hoping that the sun will stay out the whole event (we are in Alicante, it never rains, but when it does, the whole sky falls down!); so just in case we were aware of the weather cast, which unfortunately turned out to show lots of cats and dogs planning to rain that day. We had to reschedule the programme, and that means: not camping and staying in the hostel (luckily for us not booked), cancelling a bbq and the goodbye party in the countryside, and replanned the whole last day at the very last moment just the day before. We contacted an ukulele teacher who improvised an amusing lesson for beginners, then, we went up to visit the Santa Barbara’s castle and in the evening we participate in an international beer pong contest. So it actually went pretty well taking into account that none of this was planned.

The other big challenge was to cook every meal and make it with a huge presence of vegetables. A wide range of tasteful dishes, from couscous to guacamole, including paella and vegan burgers, to name but a few. After the event took place, we collected all the recipes in a cookbook which can be download from here http://goo.gl/mw6wio Readers, feel free to use it and to send us comments afterwards!

And which were according to you the best things of organizing this pre-event?

Maria Teresa: Everything! I love the cooperation between the organisers and with the H4Y team. The organisational capacity that we had. It was my first event as organiser, and I learned a lot about AEGEE, and about my antenna. I’m very proud to have been part of that effort.

Isa: Choosing participants is usually a bit like playing the lottery, and definitely that time we hit the jackpot: we got such a great group of pleasant participants! Moreover this event was also useful for the antenna to activate some new local members and I am personally interested on the main topic of the event, so it was great that we carried it out, and even more, as a pre-event of ZarAgora!

Melissa: I didn’t know anything about AEGEE and I didn’t know anyone, so when I knew about this event, at first, I was attracted by its programme, and then, I had the opportunity to go as helper and I tried to do my best. We showed to all the participants the best things of our Mediterranean lifestyle in a great atmosphere and everything went perfect! For me, it was an incredible experience and the perfect chance to know and realize how amazing AEGEE is. After this, I felt in love with the AEGEE spirit and now I can’t imagine my life without it!

 Why do you think you should win the Award to the Best Thematic Event?

Even if it was a small one (in days and in number of participants), it was one of those events in which once it’s over you can feel that, despite of the unexpected changes, everything went well. After the last dinner, still sitting on the table, some participants started to thank us spontaneously for the atmosphere, the organisation and the activities of the event, they said that they really felt like they were at home. Once they went back home, they kept sending us lovely messages and Elmar (AEGEE-Bakı and Fundraiser of the H4Y Project) even made a cute video http://youtu.be/im9xOYW5eM8! They made us feel that this event was not only a H4Y event, but also an event about friendship, fellowship, teamwork, solidarity, and lots of AEGEE love.

 AEGEE-Poznan was also nominated, in cooperation with the Eastern Partnership Project, by their I’m for East! Festival. The AEGEEan has contacted them in order to know more about their event – so stay stuned in order to hear their responses! And remember, you still have a few time to vote: it is YOUR choice!

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona/Leuven

]]> ../../../2014/03/31/yvote-2014-convention-in-wien/ Mon, 31 Mar 2014 13:38:44 +0000 ../../../?p=22065 Earlier this month, 32 young people from all around Europe gathered in one of Europe’s economic, political and cultural capitals, Vienna, to participate in the sixth Y Vote 2014 Convention, the topic of which was about the role of the EU in the world. A very important subject since, in the context of eurocrisis and rising euroscepticism we are facing… Read more →

These are days of uncertainty. The crisis threatens to make Europe a smaller and darker place. What is the future of education in Europe? What can we do to improve it? In the Y- Vote Convention on Education, Research and Mobility organized by AEGEE-Kraków (from the 4th to the 9th of march0) some responses were given.

Erasmus +
The convention began with the new Erasmus+ program for 2014-2020, which became effective on January 1, 2014 and has caused great confusion. The main novelties are the unification of the old programs of formal and informal education Youth in Action, Erasmus, Comenius, etc. and its extension to sports education and vocational training, as well as greater opportunities for agreements with partners outside the EU. It is expected that the new Erasmus will simplify the paperwork for new agreements, to ensure a more equitable system of scholarships and to reach the entire European population (students, teachers, workers, etc.).
Following this, the importance of mobility programs and the need of institutional support was discussed. The wide range of social and personal skills they provide are useful when entering the labor market. In addition, cultural exchange and knowledge of reality they provide are vital for a united, educated and democratic Europe.

Quality of Education
Then, the discussion focused on “quality of education ” and the need for an education that meets the needs of the individual and society despite cutbacks situations under the excuse of the crisis. Education is not a cost: it is an investment.
Regarding the normal, non-formal and informal learning, it is also necessary to improve the poor recognition caused by public authorities and companies and the lack of tools to measure it.

“Visit” of MEPs
A visit of two Polish MEPs was scheduled for a colloquium. To everyone’s disappointment, they did not come, alleging scheduling problems. So we had to throw our questions about the European policies to their assistants. We got the feeling that there are going to be only a few solutions from the highest levels and that the Erasmus generation will have to make a change, so that working on platforms like AEGEE in the near future will become more important than ever.

Students Agenda for Europe
During the last few days of the event, we wrote the final document which will be presented to the next European Parliament: the recommendations for Students Agenda for Europe.
The process started with identification problems within the competence of the EU and then the proposition of feasible, concrete and clear solutions.

Y Vote?

Lately, disappointed by the political situation that led to disaffection of young people regarding the system, rather than in rebellion, had resulted in disinterest in politics. Why vote? Because in the Parliament the future is decided. Your future. Our future. You can decide with your vote. If you do not vote, no one else will decide for you. Vote. And even if you disagree with all political options and even with the same system, do not make abstention: vote spoiled ballot-paper. Abstention is just to renounce to a right. Voting is to decide. Decide.

More European
It was not just a meeting on education but also on Europe and its people. Every day and night, the great organisers of AEGEE-Krakow showed us the charm of their city, the university capital of Poland. It took us a week to learn about the customs, the past and the dreams of the others. And about ours.

And the last night came. Find the missing sock across the room. Zips. “I have to spend the last zloty: let’s go for beer!” Then a shower and the European Night.
And back to your city. But only to your city. Because all the time you were at home.

On May 25, do not forget to vote in the European Elections.

Written by Javier González Moreno (AEGEE-León).
Pictures courtesy of Karina Kubis (AEGEE-Kraków) and Karolina Kubala (AEGEE-Kraków).

Do you believe in coincidences? Well, at least we believe it is very coincidental that we are writing this article about the Y Vote 2014 Convention on Gender Equality precisely on the 8th of March – International Women’s Day, the day chosen by the United Nations to vindicate Women’s rights across the globe.

It has been a few weeks since the fourth thematic conference of the Y Vote Project took place in the stunning city of Paris where, thanks to the Y Vote project team and the awesome organisation undertaken by AEGEE-Paris, almost 40 young Europeans got the chance to learn, discuss and share their visions on gender equality issues in Europe, especially in the context of the European Parliamentary elections that are taking place in May.

Privileged enough to have the opening ceremony held in the Maison de l’Europe as well as most of the lectures and seminars held in the European Parliament Representation in Paris, the participants rapidly and easily engaged in the topic that seemed to be an issue of the past century, but is still a considerable matter in the present societies. They realised that many thoughts, opinions and meanings were hidden under the words “gender equality”, ranging from what every participant understood by “feminism” to male discrimination or women stereotypes, and they even learnt new things about LGBT rights. It was observed that the most interesting and passionate discussion took place when assessing an impact the environment we live in (media, school, civil society etc.) has on forming gender awareness.

Under the lead of the Y Vote team (Léa Charlet – Project Manager, Lucille Rieux – member of the Comité Directeur, and Lavinia Manea – representative of the content team), the participants learnt about the role of the EP and the importance of the upcoming elections, and discovered what is the situation of gender equality in different EU countries. With no surprise, they realised how diverse and different the EU countries are in this respect. They also figured out how limited the EP is in terms of its competences regarding this matter, but looking for necessary and feasible solutions, the participants came up with a bunch of creative recommendations.

After a hard working day of drafting and writing recommendations, the participants spent the last day in the Serbian Embassy in Paris, where the Ambassador provided them with all the necessary elements for having an unforgettable farewell and closing ceremony: Serbian exquisite food, official speeches, assessment exercises and great views of the Eiffel Tower.

Days of the Convention finished and participants were reflecting on their experience: “It has been a week since the Y Vote Paris ended but I still feel its impact”, “I know now that we can do more than we think”. Although being non-neutral actors, we are certain that this Convention had a great effect on all the participants: learning about the EP elections and discussing such a controversial topic as gender equality. This made all of us more aware of what we can do as citizens to achieve better and more equal societies.

Are you still wondering what your first step to become an active citizen should be? Well, it is easy: don’t forget to vote in the EP elections!

Written by Raquel Alcega Giner (AEGEE-Barcelona) and Carlota Lifante (AEGEE-Alicante)

Youth unemployment is on the main agenda in many EU member states, particularly in Greece, Spain and Portugal, where an alarming number of young people are unemployed. The YVote2014 Convention in Agrigento addressed this topic with 25 people from different EU contries.

Youth unemployment is on the agenda of all European governments, and also of the European Union. In order to discuss this situation and to contribute with new ideas and concepts to fight youth unemployment, 25 people from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy met in the lovely town of Agrigento, in southern Sicily, to tackle these big issues.

The convention on Youth (Un)Employment was the third one of the YVote2014 Project and the second one focusing on one specific thematic, right after Las Palmas’ convention about the democratic gap in the EU.

The days were filled with brainstorming, discussions and workshops on topics like how to bridge the skills mismatch between what young people learn and what is demanded in the job marked, what is the added value and the role of youth organizations like AEGEE in being involved in the fight against youth unemployment, which obstacles prevent young people to start their own business and what kind of help young people need to be able to find a job. Some other specific topics were the implemention of the newly decided youth guarantee, which seeks to provide every young person with either a job, education, training or apprenticeship within four months after finishing school and what should be done about helping persons in special need (NEETs, acronym for Not in Employment, Education or Training).

During the conference, many projects and initiatives on how to fight unemployment among young people in Europe were presented. At the same time, the participants had the possibility to discuss with the mayor of Agrigento as well as with the local state attorney, Ramondo Alaimo.

Special mention was given to the task of encouraging small businesses and start-ups as well as social businesses as means to fight youth unemployment. During these workshops, the participants developed themselves concepts on how to start a social businesses in their environment.

Despite of creating business plans, everyone discussed and developed measures and objectives to fight unemployment. These ideas were used to formulate recommendations towards Members of European Parliaments in the last two days.

Focusing on the upcoming European elections, participants simulated a discussion between supporters and opponents of voting in the EU elections in 2014. In this workshop, group works and discussion circles were formed in order to find arguments and explanations why to vote and what are the concerns that people who refuse to take part in the elections have.

All of the participants enjoyed the unexpected comfort and luxury of staying in a 4-star hotel with very decent working facilities. Special thanks go to the organisers from AEGEE-Agrigento who made all this possible and provided everyone with a great and very informative convention in beautiful Sicily.

Written by Holger Schmitt, AEGEE-Berlin

How do you feel about being an antenna already?
We are really proud of it, because we have been working very hard to be upgraded. It was our dream when we started and now it has become true. But this is only the beginning.

What local activities do you organize to motivate members?

Normally we arrange social meetings in bars, go for tapas and wine, have endless dinners where we discuss about our next steps… On the other hand, we also enjoy hiking, cycling and going on weekend trips, an amazing opportunity to make knowledge transfer with a less intense planning than a Local Training Course (LTC).

This summer you organised your first Summer University, how did it go?
At first we had to do a huge effort because we did not have all the contacts we needed in Valladolid. Eventually, and after a lot of lodging problems, we found very interesting contacts and they were nice enough to organize quite a good TSU, according to the evaluations.

Will you organize a Summer University (SU) next year as well?

We are not sure. It depends on how many active members we can count on during the Summer period in Valladolid. Nevertheless, we have such good memories from our last SU that we will try our best to organize it again.

You also organized a Y Vote 2014 event, why did you choose to do so?

At that moment our motivation was growing and several of our most active members were really interested in the topic of the next Parliament Elections, so we decided this was the best opportunity for our antenna to show that we could also organize an event focused on a serious topic for youth and really contribute to the important projects being developed within our association. With regard to the topic, AEGEE-Valladolid liked the focus and the objectives of Y Vote 2014 project, therefore we supported it very strongly. We consider that, in these hard times for Europe, it is important that the voice of youth is heard by the European leaders, especially the EU parliament members, so we can help improve the future of Europe.

How did the event go?
Undertaking this project was a true challenge for such a young antenna and we are really happy about the results. The organization was tough, due to the lack of active members in our antenna, but we were happy to see how all our members came together to help out during those days. The event was a success especially thanks to our highly-motivated participants and all agreed on the relevant lessons learnt through the interesting program developed by the Y Vote 2014 team and the logistics and cultural activities we provided. More importantly, thanks to this project AEGEE-Valladolid gained greater recognition within our City Hall, our university and quite a few local and regional institutions and we are convinced this will come in handy during future events.

What lies in the future plans of AEGEE-Valladolid? What will you be working on in 2014?
We are thinking about organizing a language tandem in the city to be in contact with Erasmus students, attract new members and activate the ones we already have.

Moreover, as AEGEE didn’t exist in Valladolid, the antenna is establishing contacts with all kind of bodies and entities (University, associations, City Hall…) so it’s very complicated in the beginning. That’s why our biggest milestone is getting the full recognition from the University of Valladolid and we will continue working very hard on it. This recognition will make it possible to reach a significant step for us in Valladolid, so we will be able to access a huge amount of students and an important support to organise events and to establish alliances.

It is great to see a new antenna working on so many projects, contributing to the Network in a great manner and at the same time managing to grow. 

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København