AEGEE-Europe Reaction to the Council Proposal for the Revision of the Visa Directive
AEGEE-Europe has always been advocating for the right of free movement in Europe. With a strong belief in a unified, diverse and borderless Europe, AEGEE has been among the first Pan-European associations promoting Youth Mobility as the core action to empower students and young people in Europe to take an active role in society. Thus, AEGEE-Europe is extremely disappointed by the Council Proposal on the Directive 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. Modifying the scope of the directive, the [...]
Threat to free movement: security and Schengen restrictions in Bulgaria and Romania
The recent terrorist attacks on the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo and the hostage taking in the Jewish supermarket just outside of Paris have caused a major disturbance in European Union’s security policies. AEGEE-Europe acknowledges the grave and deep impact of these events, but would like to express its concern with recent developments around the heightened security threat and the stricter regulation of the Schengen Area. According to Romanian MEP Traian Ungureanu, Romania’s and Bulgaria’s chances to join the Schengen zone have diminished sharply now that Germany and France have become more cautious [1]. Some Schengen countries fear that accession of Bulgaria [...]
European Parliament Conference of Presidents (EP president and political group leaders) with Chair of the EU High Level Group on Own Resources
On Thursday 8 January a European Parliament Conference of Presidents took place. It was chaired by the EU High Level Group on Own Resources lead by Mario Monti. The report on EU’s Own Resources that was published last month was presented under the idea of reforming the EU funding system. AEGEE / European Students’ Forum has been monitoring the developments on the area of own financing of the European Union with special interest, predicting it as one of the most important challenges that the European institutions have to face with. As members of the organization European Movement, AEGEE welcomes the [...]
The Anniversary Toolkit is here!
It is here! The Anniversary Team is proud to present the long-awaited Anniversary Toolkit for you! You can find useful information regarding the general framework of the anniversary year, the thematic structure, different activity suggestions for the different topic, tips and guidelines for organising your perfect Anniversary event. The locals who wish to apply for the Night of the Seven Antennae event can find the guidelines in the toolkit. Application deadline: 7th December 23:59 CET Download toolkit
Witnessing when democracy is happening: European students observing the Referendum in Scotland
An election observation mission by AEGEE-Europe was present at the Scottish Independence Referendum held on the 18th of September 2014. Setting its main focus on the representation of the youth in Europe, the mission had as its goal to enhance democracy by ensuring the transparency of the voting process and the compliance with international voting regulations. The ongoing debate whether Scotland should be independent from the United Kingdom reached its culmination with yesterday's referendum. The public opinion on the matter had been divided during the campaigning process: preliminary polls had predicted an even distribution of votes on either side, with [...]
Outcome of World Youth Conference Sri Lanka
AEGEE-Europe was present in the World Youth Conference in Sri Lanka, with the participation of our Liaison Officer towards the European Youth Forum, Marko Grdosic, and liaison officer towards United Nations, Laia Garcia working on young people's involvement and participation in the post 2015 MDG process of the UN. During the 1 week conference, representatives from all the Governments in the world (both Government Official from each of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and youth representatives from each of the National Youth Councils) together with international youth prepresentatives from the biggest International Youth Networks in the world, met and dived [...]
How AEGEE is helping at the Turkey mining tragedy and the Balkan floods.
In the past days, two different tragedies have shaken our continent with too little impact on the news in many of the EU countries, which are focused into their national problems, the European Parliament elections, and in some superficial events such as the end of the football championships. In Turkey, 300 people died trapped in a mine in Soma, in the worst accident in a mine in the region in the last decades. The mourning for the victims has been mixed with outrage for the feeling that this accident could have been prevented. (1) In the Balkan peninsula, [...]
Spanish Electoral Board forbids the EU to promote voting in Spain.
On a resolution issued on the 20th of March, the Spanish Electoral Board (administrative organ that veils for the neutrality of the elections) banned the possibility of a direct encouragement of Spanish citizens to vote by any public. Concretely, it forbids the public powers to use images of people voting, urns or slogans urging to participate in the election process. AEGEE believes that such an interpretation of the law does not follow the democratic values, since one of the pillars of a democratic society is participation in the election of their representatives, and the right to vote should be encouraged [...]
AEGEE-Europe Regrets the Referendum in Crimea
On March 16, 2014, upon the prior decision of the National Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the referendum was held on the future status of the territory of Ukraine and possible succession of Crimean Autonomous Republic to the Russian Federation. We consider this referendum as illegal and illegitimate and contradicting first of all to the Constitution of Ukraine. Though the right of self-determination exists (UN Charter, Article 1), the situation is more complex in the peninsula as Crimea is voting to be not only independent but for joining the Russian Federation. Secondly, such referenda should be agreed upon [...]
AEGEE Promotional Materials Design Contest
AEGEE-Europe issues an international Design Contest to provide designs of the official AEGEE Promotional Materials. Concept: Contest is for a set of 4 different promotional materials which should have visual connection between each other. Such a promotional materials will be to promote AEGEE across the Europe. Format of designs: Poster – A2 size, colour 4/0 Leaflet – A4 size, double folded, colour 4/4 Flyer – A6 size, colour 4/4 Flyer – A6 size, colour 1/1 Design Guidelines Design must respect AEGEE Visual Identity, custom design elements are allowed and welcome Designs should be computer generated preferably in vector art form or [...]