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THE NEWSMAGAZINE OF EUROPEAN DEMOCRAT STUDENTS

APR 2011 50th YEAR / ISSN (2033–7809)

No. 44

European identity

The European role in the Arab revolution

Towards a European Identity

Yugoslav war – view of the new generation

Actualities ActualitiesChairman’s letter

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Editorial 2

Chairman’s letter 3

Garrick Club

Tom Spencer 4

Freedom Fighters

Ibrahim Rugova – The Ghandi of Balkans 5

Actualities

The European role in the Arab revolution 6Elections in the Lukashenko System 7New voting model for EDS 8Central European Policies - Hungarian Priorities 9

Bullseye on

War in Yugoslavia – the view of a new generation 10-11

Reports

Chechen Republic in 2011 – a half life 12Be Hungarian, be Danubian, be European! 13

Theme

Towards a European Identity 14-15Shape your EDS 16What makes me feel European? 17European Year of Voluntary Activities 18

Events

Higher Education in times of crisis 19Winter University in Brussels 20-23EDS Academy – episode 1 24

Universities

University in Leoben – a view underground 26

Dear Readers,The fourth edition of Bullseye is in your hands. As EDS walked into its 50th year of existence our editorial team, commit-ted to its cause is bringing you the latest issues that concern European Students.

In this issue, you will have the chance to read all the latest news from all over Eu-rope, and of course all the latest on North Africa, plus all the up-date from European Democrat Students.

A warm thanks to all the people that worked really hard for prepar-ing this edition of Bullseye.

Special thanks to the editorial team and editor in chief for their com-mitment and hard work through this period.

Enjoy Reading.

Georgios TsieleposEDS Vice- Chairman

EditorialThe journalist is the person who after being kicked out from the door returns by the window. It is the way to touch topics which are not always pleasant to read. Why do people feel uncomfortable with some of them? Because sometimes we would rather forget about injustices occurring somewhere far away from us, than do anything and take responsibility. However, only by showing existing prob-lems and calling for their resolution can

we change the world, however pathetic it doesn’t sound. Nowa-days many things happen in which the press has made quite a big contribution. If there was no press in Egypt, who knows how events there would have finished? In my own opinion - quite fast and bloody. By calling to the attention of international opinion events in their country, the people of Egypt have won. However, even the ‘winning’ is very painful.

In this issue you can also find articles which sometimes do not make for easy reading. One of them is a report about last year’s elec-tion in Belarus – keeping in power the last dictator of Europe. Also I would like to bring to your attention an article about Chechnya. Fortunately, we have also good things to report. The newly intro-duced Leadership Academy Programme or the campaign Shape Your EDS for example, which I hope you will like. Personally, I am es-pecially happy to welcome contributions from the Secretary General of the EPP, Mr. Antonio Lopez Isturiz White, and Mr. Bálint Ódor, Deputy State Secretary for EU Affairs in the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of Hungary. It is a great opportunity that they can share some views with us.

In conclusion I would like to say thank you to all the people who had been involved in the work of publishing this newsmagazine. This is the third issue of BullsEye in this working year. Sometimes it has not been easy, but we have managed to keep working even with some struggles along the way. I believe we have all learned something. There is one sentence I heard quite often in the time I had serve as Editor-in-chief; “You are very stubborn”. I am looking at the clock now and I need to agree.

Enjoy reading

Sandra Falkowska Editor-in-chief

Content

The newsmagazine of European Democrat StudentsISSN Print 2033-7809, Online 2033 7817April 2011, 50th year, No. 44Editor-in-chief: Sandra FalkowskaEditorial team: Juraj Antal, Philippe Deswel, Jakov Devcic,Benjamin Greeling, Matthew Lewis, Matija Magerl, Germaine Nsanzimana, Edijs Ostrovskis, Anika Sonnenberg, Georgios Tsielepos, David WorrallContributions from: Bence Bauer, Bulat R. Betalgiry, Azra Avdagic, Jean-Baptise Dabezies, Cathrine Gräber, Artur Issaev, Samuli Kauranne, Antonio Lopez Isturiz White, Michalle Malev, Bálint Ódor, Andreas Perotti, Tom Spencer, Thomas Uhlen, Johann Jakob Wulf, Florian WöhryPhotos: Balázs Szecsodi, Philipp KehrelDesign: REPRO-print, SloveniaPublisher: European Democrat StudentsB-1000 Brussels, Rue du Commerce 10Tel.: +32 2 2854-150, Fax: +32 2 2854-141Email: eds@epp.eu, Website: www.edsnet.eu

Chairman’s letter

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Dear friends,

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Tom Spencer, Chairman of EDS 1972 –1974

From Ice Pick to Ice Pack?

Garrick Club

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In the late 60s and early 70s, the universities of Europe were dominated

by the Left. A Left that was arrogant, fractured, but still convinced that they were the future. Trotskyites con-tested with garden-variety Marxists and hard line Sta-linists. I recall a passionate Trotskyist speech at my own university, calling for

an open mind in choosing allies. It was magisterially put down by a member of the Revolutionary Anarchist Federation with the words: “the only time Trotsky had an open mind was when he had an ice pick in it”.

Such was the atmosphere in which Conservative students were required to operate. A generation abandoned their tweed jackets and sherry drinking to defend fundamental democratic freedoms and personal liberty. These pioneers of the Centre Right learned how to counter extremist tactics and subsequently took control of many university student unions themselves.

Just as the student Left was international, so the student Centre Right learned to make alliances across the linguistic and politi-cal debris of their parents’ politics. Conservatives, Moderates, Christian Democrats, Liberals, Gaullists and Giscardians made common cause. In 1974 the European Union of Conservative & Christian Democrat Students (ECCS) adopted the new name “Eu-ropean Democrat” to express the solidarity of the Centre Right. They did so hoping that the senior parties would follow their example.

From the campuses of 1968 the struggle evolved into a conflict with the Moscow financed student and youth organisations of Eastern Europe. Those tested in the strife of student politics went on to fight for a stronger European Union, with powerful federal institutions, that would attract the other Europe held in thrall behind the Iron Curtain.

EDS pressed for direct elections to the European Parliament and subsequently for the European Single Market. By virtue of

their pan-European experience they became advisors to their national political parties as the process of the European integra-tion deepened. When the Berlin Wall fell, they already had the experience, the contacts and the passion to be in the vanguard of those helping recreate free societies in the East.

After all this grand drama it was perhaps inevitable that EDS should see an over concentration on Classical Liberal econom-ics. There was a loss of focus on those other conservative tradi-tions suspicious of state power, such as Burkean Conservatism Proudhonian Federalism. Somewhere along the way, EDS failed to notice the great environmental issues of the day. Some flirted with euro -scepticism and its bastard step sister climate scep-ticism. They retreated into academic debate about flat taxes and missed the environmental clarion call to their generation of Europeans. What does the Centre Right have to say about a climate-constrained Europe in a post-American world?

Graduates of EDS under forty are ideally placed to be advocates for their generation inside the EPP family. If they recognise cli-mate change as the greatest market failure in human history, they can speak out powerfully on behalf of inter-generational jus-tice and the need for much technical and intellectual adaptation. After all they are the ones who will live to see the chaos of a ‘four degree world’ if nothing is done by this generation of politi-cians. While there is an urgent need for intelligent debate about mechanisms for countering the warming of our planet, there is no need for more recruits to the well-financed ranks of ‘useful idiots’ dancing to the tune of the fossil fuel lobbies. Environment driven migration, energy security, the loss of glaciers feeding the great rivers of Asia with their vast agricultural populations, geo-engineering and the role of the military in a warming world all require high quality thought of the kind EDS and its alumni have provided in the past. Each generation of EDS activist has responded to different challenges. I have no doubt that the same will be true for this generation. Now however they can call on the rich personal and intellectual heritage of their predecessors who will occupy some of the most influential positions in European politics. EDS has moved beyond the politics of the Trotskyite ice pick. It urgently needs to mature into the politics of the Arctic ice pack.

Freedom Fighters

IbrahIm rugova - The Ghandi of BalkansThere is no way to peace - peace is the only way (Ghandi)

Peace prizes given to Ibrahim Rugova:1995 - Peace Prize of Paul Litzer Foundation, Denmark.1998 - Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament.1999 - Peace Prize, City of Münster2000 - Peace Prize of the Democratic Union of Catalonia,

Barcelona, Spain.

If there is anything which you can be really proud of as a politician, I would point out two specific issues. First of all is to have the knowledge that be-cause of you, people in your country achieved something and second – be-ing respected even by your enemies. Such a person was Ibrahim Rugova.

Born in 1944 Rugova very quickly faced the politics of the region as his father and grandfather were executed soon after his birth. Rugova studied philology in Pristina and French literature in Sorbonne. Journalist and a writer, he became a professor at University of Pristina. As most of academics, Rugova was a member of the Communist Party, from which he had been expelled, when he urged people to correct the constitution. In 1989 he was one of the founders of Democratic League of Kosovo, the party which demands both democracy and self-determination for the province. Democratic League of Kosovo opposed policy of Slobodan Milosevic who negated autonomy of the region, by establishing a shadow government and “Parallel Social System” to provide education and health services to the Albanian population, which was either excluded from or choose not to use the equivalent services provided by the Serbian government. As Albanians from Ko-sovo boycotted official elections to not legitimize Milosevic regime, on separate elections in 1992 Rugova hold majority and was elected president of Kosovo, unrecognized by Yugoslavia.The most important political message of Ibrahim Rugova was always to keep peace. He always supported Kosovo’s independence but strongly opposed the use of force as a mean of achieving it. He instead advocated a policy of Ghandi-like passive resistance. The pacifist Rugova stuck doggedly to his approach based on non-violent opposition to the Serbian regime, constantly reiterating his willingness to enter into dialogue with Belgrade. At the same time, he en-deavoured to win over world opinion to his people’s cause. He never faltered in urging the international community to step up its pressure and offer Kosovo protection. For his work in building peace, he was awarded a Sakharov Prize for the free-dom of thought by European Parliament in 1998 – in the time where tensions between Serbians and Kosovo Liberation Army has been growing. Believing that the way is only in peace, Ibrahim Rugova signed peace agreement at Rambouillet on 18th of March 1999.Just a week later, after refusal of Belgrade to honour the agreement, war started with the engagement of NATO.For Rugova, this time was really hard. He was kept under virtual house arrest, later he had been forced to go to Belgrade – where he was called to Serbian state television to end the war.In 2002 Ibrahim Rugova was appointed president of Kosovo. On this posi-tion Rugova continued to campaign for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia. However, he insisted that it had to be achieved by peaceful means and with the agreement of all parties. In the following years, because of his pacifist approach, he had been facing violent opposition including bombing of his car.Ibrahim Rugova died in January 2006, defeated by lung cancer. During his political career he never gave up his belief that keeping peace is the most important goal. And always he followed an important advice given by Ghandi:

Be the change you want to see in the world.Sandra Falkowska, EDS

What started as an isolated pro-test in Tunisia has provoked a wave of intense protests of the people in many countries in the Arab world demanding for freedom and expecting better living conditions.

The departure of Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak has opened a his-torical window of opportunity in Middle East politics, a transition of closed, undemocratic models of governance into true demo-cratic systems that will respond to the legitimate aspirations of the citizens of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.Nevertheless, the European Union (EU) was slow to react to this new situation. We were not able to foresee the events and when they finally happened we didn’t react in a timely and decisive manner, proving again that there is still a long way ahead for forming a coherent and unique voice in world affairs.Although the EU has expressed its solidarity with the Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan peoples, and has applauded their courage and determination, while strongly condemning the violence, es-pecially in the case of Libya, European reaction has been slow and the EU wasted too much time.That’s why we need a strong political response. Reviewing the Euro-Mediterranean Union project – which was nearly aban-doned after the failed initiatives of the EU Spanish Presidency (1st semester of 2010) – would facilitate this process since is the only forum which currently gathers all the countries from both sides of the Mediterranean.We, in the European People’s Party (EPP), have made it very clear that we are on the side of the people in these coun-tries. We will try to do everything is in our hands to pro-mote a peaceful transition to freedom and democracy, with an especial attention these days to Libya.We, the EPP, have strongly condemned Gadaffi’s at-tempts to violently crush the popular protest move-ment against his government. The EU has already taken urgent measures against Gaddafi’s regime and is consulting other world actors on sanctions

which can be taken by the United Nations Security Council. Ac-cording to the available information sources, what is happening on the ground in Libya is in violation of International Humanitarian Law and thus, all those responsible should be held accountable.The EU must show solidarity with the countries struggling for de-mocracy and thus put into practice the aspiration of a common foreign policy that will help to overcome the current turmoil and achieve peace and prosperity. Moreover, we must closely moni-tor all future events and work together actively in such a way as to facilitate and expand the transition process in the Arab world.

Nevertheless, every country has its own distinct features and should be treated and analyzed distinctly. We should also keep in mind that state institutions are and will always remain a strong symbol of the identity of a country, thus we need to encourage the revolution of the Arab world to be built on solid and serious structures that will lead their countries in the short, medium and long term to the path of freedom, democracy, and prosperity.

The peoples of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya have now the responsi-bility to build peaceful, stable and democratic countries and, at the same time, the European Union and the EPP should stand by their side and reinforce their efforts with all possible means.

However, and if the situation in Libya continues to threaten its population and the stability of the whole region, the EU in coop-eration with its allies and in coordination with UN, may have to take more decisive measures.

As Secretary General of the European People´s Party, I firmly believe that youth will play a very important role in this process of democratic change. They will change a status quo that has

been entrenched for too long, and it is also their responsibility to lead their countries towards their own model of freedom and democracy for the sake of the next generations.

Today more than ever, we Europeans must promote in the region our fundamental values – freedom, democ-racy, peace, solidarity - and be à l’hauteur of the cir-cumstances.

Antonio López-Istúriz WhiteSecretary General of the European People´s Party

Actualities

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The European Role in the ArAb revolution

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Actualities

Elections in the Lukashenko systemAllow me to say firstly that last December’s presidential elections in Belarus where neither fair, nor democratic. But besides such banal statements I wish to make some points which will probably surprise most readers, maybe even confuse them. These are my subjective experiences from my three days visit to Minsk where my boss, the German Member of Parliament Georg Schirmbeck and I were taking part in the OSCE Election Observation Mission for the Presidential Election 2010.

Around a hundred teams of electoral observers were supported by local drivers and interpreters, briefing packs and surveys. We started out well prepared to visit the poll stations in Minsk to observe the voting procedure. The local officials, the manager of the poll stations not only welcomed our team and granted us open access to necessary information, they were even proud to have the opportunity to show us how reliable and conscientious they were in fulfilling their tasks. No hiding, no objections to the work of international observers. At the closing and counting we were given a real opportunity to observe the count procedure and were granted full co-operation from the officials.

We took the opportunity to speak with citizens who had no link with the inner electoral process and who clearly held no part in the “Lukashenko show”. The atmosphere was very relaxed and the opposition was granted space to campaign in during recent days, as we had already observed upon our arrival. Protests were not allowed but were tolerated in practice. What we have seen in the polling stations was correct and nothing to condemn. Therefore I cannot support the sweeping condemnation of the elections. It simply was not the totalitarian crackdown all too easily portrayed by the press. The criticisms by people and politi-cians from across Europe who did not take part in the mission, who commented on the elections from their comfort-able and hopelessly distant living rooms make me positively angry. Sure, their conclusions are often drawn from reports of colleagues or friends in Belarus, but do these opinions which are dis-seminated in German, Polish, French or Brit-ish media actually change anything?

“Who else should we vote for?” was the main point of most of the people we talked to. Where is the opposition? Where are the alternatives to the president? How can we, how can the Belarusian people develop a working and cooperating opposi-tion? With EDS and our partner organizations

and foundations we are taking positive action in coaching Bela-rusian prospective leaders. Change has to come from inside.

In the evening of the election day, tens of thousands of demon-strators protested in Minsk against electoral fraud. It took nearly two hours of not just peaceful protests, of hard and unjusti-fied provocations of the staff before the protests were violently dispersed by the police. Naturally it is unacceptable that state forces act in such an inhuman way against their own people. The protests served as a valve for all the helplessness and the anger at the President and the repression. If the President does not want things like this to occur again next time, he has to give the floor to the opposition now. Integration instead of isolation. He has to let the people decide. However, it should be pointed out that condemnable acts are not exclusively the responsibility of the state but are being committed by both sides. With due re-spect for the protests, Presidential candidates should not involve themselves in these riots on the streets, trying to push police busses away or even damage equipment and facilities.

In the week prior to the election on Sunday the early voting was carried out. At these days Lukashenko was ensuring his majority by letting militaries, students and other groups vote with very considerable group pressure and discipline. This has to be changed to make the voting system more transparent and free. The political regime in Belarus is made-to-measure for President Lukashenko. So we should not feign surprise each time when elections take place but help Belarus on its way of

Western integration.

In countries where information is one-sided and fear is widespread, you do not really even have to tamper much with election results. In any event the popular Western assumption that Lukashenko’s regime is the last dicta-torship in Europe is both incorrect and unfair. Analysts are not really sticking out their necks when they pre-dict that Vladimir Putin will win the next Russian elec-tions. The differences between him and Lukashenko are merely formal in nature. If Europe speaks of the last dictatorship, it’s so as not to have to admit that it is all too happy to deal with regimes wholly on a par with Lukashenko’s. For sure Lukashenko is a dictator in Europe. But not the last one.

Thomas UhlenEDS Chairman 2008/2009,member of Electoral Observation Mission in Minsk

Actualities

Central european poliCies – Hungarian Priorities

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2011 is the year of Central-Europe in the EU: Hungary is president of the Council of the Union during the first six months followed by Poland in the second half of the year.

The consecutive Hungarian and Polish presidencies give a special Central European accent to the EU process. There is a unique opportunity to present the situation of the region, its diversity and richness as well as the particularity of some Euro-pean issues and challenges. Focusing the attention on the region increases the chances of finding more appropriate European an-swers for our joint European concerns. The safety of our region should be based on good neighbourhood relations. We have a good reason for enhancing the cohesion and the coherence of our broader surroundings by multilateral regional cooperation. The cooperation of the Visegrad group countries, the Central-Eu-ropean Initiative, the SECI or the upcoming EU Danube Strategy cooperation stemming from the Ulm process on the initiative of Austria and Romania demonstrate quite well this line. These regional cooperations may increase the attention of the whole EU on its Central-European segment and its additional val-ues. This approach may and should result in catching up of the Central European region to the EU average. This line encourages achieving a more cohesive and more competitive Union. Speaking of the priorities of the Hungarian EU presidency we promised to do everything to advance the accession of Croatia with the option of closing the negotiations during our presidency. High on our agenda is the enlargement of the Schengen zone, towards Romania and Bulgaria. We are firmly engaged in re-in tegrating the Western-Balkans in Europe. Together with the Polish presidency we support the Eastern partnership project of the Union embracing Belarus, Ukraine, Moldavia, Georgia, Arme nia and Azerbaijan. It is in the geopolitical interest of Hunga ry that the EU integration of these countries be furthered. We have great expectations about the adoption under our presidency and later implementation of the EU Danube region strategy adequately symbolizing the readiness of the countries concerned to harmonize their territorial-development-, energy-, environment-, and transport policies.

The European Council’s historic decision in February to create a Single European Energy Market and eliminate external energy dependency confirmed the Hungarian Presidency’s priorities. A secure energy supply is also our national priority but the coun-tries of our surroundings have the same interest as they depend largely on a unique or very limited number of import sources, too. “Europe 2020” is written on our flag and the first steps are to be made in the year of 2011. The EU’s job creation and economic growth programme, should be a response to a number of chal-lenges so that Europe remains competitive, in comparison with the rest of the world, particularly with the quickly emerging Asian markets.Strong Europe with a Human Touch – this is the motto of our Presidency. The response to the huge challenges Europe faces nowdays should be more and not less Europe. Our programme is based on the human factor. The overarching goals of the Hun-garian Presidency is putting Europe at the service of its citizens. We welcome the agreement on the European Civil Initiative, and the Presidency will follow the same path in its efforts to over-come any legal impediment to joining the European Convention of Human Rights. The Hungarian Presidency wants to promote the enforcement of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.We also deal with demographic issues, improve family polic-es and increase efforts to fight against poverty and for social inclusion. It is a political priority of the Hungarian presidency, to reach an agreement at the highest level on the European Framework, for National Roma Integration Strategies. Involving youth in decision-making and improving youth employment are also in the focus of the Hungarian Presidency. During the time of the Hungarian Presidency, recommendations will be prepared for the highest levels, to improve the situation of young people.The consecutive presidencies in 2011 provide a unique opportu-nity to promote Central European culture. On the official website of the Hungarian Presidency (www.eu2011.hu) all events and the programmes of the Presidency are available.

Bálint Ódor, Deputy State Secretary for EU Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary

Actualities

A new voting model forEDS

EDS c o n t i n -ues on the path

of structural changes, aiming to make the organi-sation more dynamic and to improve the experience of tangible outcome for our members. After three years of preparation, ideo-logical discussions and re-visions, The Council was finally able to agree on

restructuring the entire voting system EDS uses. The changes agreed upon during the Winter University in Brussels will come into effect from the beginning of the working year 2011-2012.

EDS has used for most of its history a system where each member was granted one vote in all meetings of the Council, regardless of the size or political achieve-ments (or the lack thereof) of the member. While this system can be said have treated every member equally, predating the fall of the Iron Curtain and the eastern enlargement, its obvious shortcomings on the field of promoting democracy were brought under ques-tion repeatedly during the past years.

By restructuring its internal structures, EDS once more emerges as a forerunner on issues of promoting unification and democracy. When the new system is deployed, EDS becomes the first Pan-European organisa-tion to have a voting sys-tem that not only takes fully into account the en-tire range of diversity with-in our membership, but also uniquely encourages each member to be active and to contribute by re-

warding active participation with more votes. Obviously also more conventional measures such as the number of members or political impact of the organisation will also result in additional votes.

EDS is first and foremost a political organisation, with majority of its membership being traditional student or youth organisations of political parties in their respec-tive countries. However, EDS also has multiple mem-bers who are not directly involved with only one like-minded political party in their domestic country. Many of these NGOs participate on the very field where young people are for the first time properly introduced to the mechanisms of democracy and democratic decision-making - the Student politics and elections. In the re-form we wanted to recognise the value of this work. Therefore the new voting systems includes a unique mechanism where the added votes based on political impact may be measured either by achievements of the traditional parties in national elections or the result of the organisation itself in student elections.

The Bureau of EDS is now facing the challenging task to prepare everything in order to ensure a smooth transi-

tion to the new system. A smooth transitional phase is essential to ensure that the reliability of the vot-ing and anonymity of se-cret ballot are preserved through the transition. Necessary information needs to be collected from the members and verified before the number of votes for working year 2011-2012 can be confirmed at the Summer University. Also the Bureau needs to think about the technical details of how the actual voting will be performed in future.

Samuli KauranneEDS Vice Chairman,Membership & Statutory Questions

A simplified representation of how the number of votes for each organisation will be calculated

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BullsEye on BullsEye on

Yugoslav war - a view of new generation

I still remember lying on the grass one high summer day in 1990, playing behind the old Yugoslav car my family used to own when my father ran out of the

house yelling ‘it has started, the Serbs have taken Knin!’. I was only four back then, but I kept quite a vivid memory of this event that had turned my childhood from a leisure carefree paved track to a long and winding road of living in constant fear and insecurity.

My father has always been known for exaggerated political state-ments like the one I’ve mentioned, but I remember that on that high summer day in 1990 nobody took him for granted. Everybody left whatever they had been doing and went to whatever source of information they could find first. I remember this fuss completely getting my attention [however impossible it might seem to catch the attention of a four-year-old] and the next thing I remember do-ing was listening to radio news together with my entire family. They were reporting about Serb militia and paramilitary forces placing logs on vital roads in vicinity of the city of Knin thus blocking access from continental Croatia to its seaside parts. This incident became known as ‘Balvan Revolucija’ and is a perfect illustration of the ten-sions which have been omnipresent in Croatian political life in 1990 and which would lead to a full scale war in less than a year.

Complete failure of the concept of ‘brotherhood and unity’ soon be-came most obvious as the world witnessed ruthless massacres tak-ing place and unseen hatred released among two peoples. Tensions that had been piling up for 50 years had finally broke and there was no mercy. The term ‘ethnic cleansing’ had to be introduced in the international criminal law system to legally describe the crimes that had taken place during the next four years of the war.

The worst atrocities in the Homeland War happened during and in the aftermath of the battle of Vukovar where there has been systematic killings of all non-Serb population after the city which put up 8 months of resistance fell to occupying forces. My fam-ily underwent a personal tragedy when we saw my father being captured and taken to the infamous POW camp ‘Manjača’ after the fall of Hrvatska Kostajnica on local Serbian television. I remember him coming home after two months of captivity looking exactly like the people found in Nazi concentration camps in 1945 – underfed, sick and beaten up. The war ended in 1995 with a Croatian military victory. Eastern-most part of Croatia, including Vukovar, remained under occupation until 1998 when it was peacefully reintegrated into Croatia.

Today, 20 years after the first victims died nobody can argue that the Homeland War didn’t have profound effect on Croatian society. Besides the most elementary things like dead, wounded, displaced and missing citizens as well as ruined towns, villages and roads, Croatia had a huge social problems coming its way. The war left Croatia with a heavy burden of questionable privatisation processes which are a direct result of the chaos which the country found itself in amidst of. Croatia was pushed on a road of crony capital-ism instead of a real democratic transition and true free market economy. It also left Croatia with more than 300 000 war veterans who continuously asked for their welfare rights. Political transition never actually took place, as the centre-right parties found com-fort in nationalism being their sole distinguishing feature, taking on both socialists and conservatives in their ranks while the leftists remained more-or-less communists. Of course, the proceedings at the ICTY in Hague didn’t help as many soon realised that the justice was blind also to the obvious aggression Croatia had suffered .Even though the list of problems that emerged from the war could go on forever it has to be said that today, in 2011, Croatia is finally on the verge of getting over it. In the last 10 years, huge steps have been made in normalisation of Croatian-Serbian relations. It was no longer a question of life or death whether you’re orthodox of catholic, and Serb minority parties have even become included in the ruling coalition. Economic and social ties between Croatia and Serbia grow stronger by each passing day and it is becoming more and more clear that the war hatchet is finally buried. Croatia is about to finish a tough, long process of negotiations with the EU and it is finally about to take its rightful place amongst the sovereign and united nations of Europe. One day, when Croatia, Ser-bia and the rest of the Ex-Yu countries join the European Union, the process of healing will be done and the principle of ‘brotherhood and unity’ will come to life once more. This time, I hope, it will be built on much sounder foundations such as respect for the differences [and not neglecting them], tolerance for fellow man, and cooperation in mutual interests.As for myself, I will still get the chills every time I hear somewhere a war is starting or a town is being attacked as I will always keep in mind that fear and anxiety that an air raid siren brings to children which I have experienced myself. And even though you might not, you should keep that in mind too!

Matija Magerl, EDS

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Serbia – the long way back to Europe In the Name of »Brotherhood and Unity« – Perspective of A Croat

In 2010 it is exactly 15 years since the Dayton Accord was signed; a peace-agreement, which officially ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina

and at the same time, included the country´s controversial con-stitution, which is in force until today. While on first sight there is not much left to remind of the tragic events between 1992 and 1995 – thanks to numerous donations and investments from the International Community great parts of the country have been rebuilt and even modernized, beyond the surface Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a deeply divided and unstable country with governmental structures unable to implement any of the desperately needed constitutional reforms for stepping closer to a possible EU-membership.

Ethnic rivalry remains all-conquering problemLast year´s general and presidential elections, dominated by

nationalistic and populist rhetoric and a complete ignorance of important economic or social problems, only proved once more that the country is still mired in political deadlock as well as ethnic rivalry, which is the main reason why B&H always is at least one step behind other countries from the region. It is the only former Yugoslav Republic (except Kosovo) still under the protectorate of the International Community and, besides that, it continuously fares worst of all Western Balkan countries in terms of Euro-Atlantic integration.

One step forward, two steps backA ray of hope could be seen in the new visa-liberalization re-gime, which enables citizens from Bosnia and Herzegovina to travel without visa into countries of the EU since December 2010, as well as in the efforts that have recently been put into reconciliation, improving bilateral relations and cooperation

with other countries from the region, Serbia and Croatia in first place. However, as experience unfortunately shows, policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina usually can be described as “one step forward, two steps back”, which makes it hard to believe that any sustainable improvement is to be expected until a majority of people stop putting ethnicity before competence and prosper-

ity. In the end, what can be learned from the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina is that 15 years are definitely enough time to eliminate all external scars of war, but the way towards internal stability and political unity seems to take far, far longer.

Azra Avdagic

Bosnia and Herzegovina – still on a stony path towards European Integration

Yugoslav

One year ago the people of Belgrade held huge parties in the middle of the cold winter: For the first time in almost two decades of isolation Serbs

were allowed to travel without a visa in most countries of the European Union. Thereby for most of the population a long-cherished dream came true, because Serbia would finally fully belong to the European community, and there would no longer be continuing blame for the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the bloody Balkan wars. The move refers to the promising demo-cratic development in Serbia during the last ten years.

5th October 2000 was an important date for the country: at that time in Belgrade, hundreds of thousands Serbs demon-strated against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic when they stormed the parliament, the worldwide symbol for the sover-eignty of people. “Gotov je” – in English, “he’s done” - echoed through the streets. It was a real revolution. A revolution which took place after other European revolutions.

What followed, however, was a pretty brutal tussle: the alliance of 18 parties necessary for the overthrow of Milosevic broke apart. The pro-Western Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who was a democratic leader and oriented towards European and trans-atlantic integration, was forced to compromise.

There was controversy over many things, for example about the question of whether Milosevic should be extradited to the In-ternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Djindjic prevailed, but he paid for his fearless approach with his life: In March 2003 he was killed by an assassination. He died a few hours before he would approve the arrest of 200 criminals, many of whom were involved in crimes during the Balkan wars, drug trafficking, and in about 50 political murders.

“If Djindjic was still alive today, Serbia would have joined the EU long ago” is a sentiment often heard today in Belgrade. It may be that this statement is true. As it is, everything just takes a little bit longer.

Twice, the country has changed its name as a result of the self-dissolution of the former multinational state. From the Fed-eral Republic of Yugoslavia it became the State Union of Serbia-

Montenegro, and finally, the Serbian Republic. Nowadays the Serbian Republic is a member of almost all international organi-sations. Even NATO, which once dropped bombs on Belgrade, incorporated Serbia in 2006 into its Programme “Partnership for Peace”.

In December 2009 President Boris Tadic formally applied for EU accession. However, two obstacles remain on the road to Europe: one is the de-facto recognition of the fact that the former Serbian province of Kosovo will never be a part of Serbia again. And second: the extradition of the worst of all war crimi-nals in the Balkans and he who is responsible for the massacre of Srebrenica; Ratko Mladic.

With the Albanians in Kosovo, Belgrade has recently begun direct talks on practical issues - from car registration to the recognition of academic qualifications. This could be seen as a quite similar situation as existed in the frame of the German-German basic treaty between West Germany and East Ger-many. With this contract both sides tried to simplify the daily life of the people. As has been the case with this German treaty, the talks between Serbian representatives and representatives from the Kosovo do not include political questions.

As for the extradition of Mladic, Serbia will never tire of pointing out at every opportunity, that it is just a matter of time before the former army chief of the Bosnian Serbs will be transferred to The Hague. But somehow, time and again nothing happens. You play on time in Belgrade. But until now the EU has remained firm and holds its condition for Serbia’s further access to Eu-rope.

Serbia will in future be tasked with further stabilising the region, as traditionally it always has been a regional power. That means that it has to strengthen bilateral relations with its neighbours, such as with Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina. Possibilities can be found in the European Energy Community, the Danube Strategy or other regional cooperation projects. But the most important aspect is to continue the way on the pro-European path in order to become again a part of Europe!

Jakov Devcic, EDS

The

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Reports

The Chechen Republic, or Chechnya, a mountainous nation roughly the size of Belgium situated in the Northern Caucasus region of Southern Europe, has endured many tragedies and upheavals since the onset of second Russian-Chechen war in late 1999. It is a sad statistic that during 2000-2002 Chech-nya was generally considered the most dangerous place in the world and its beleaguered capital Grozny was designated as the most militarily destroyed conurbation in Europe since the end of World War II.Most large scale military confrontations in Chechnya had dimin-ished by the end of 2004. However, the Chechen national re-sistance fighters from the pro-independence movement have maintained a resilient guerilla warfare campaign against the Russian military and pro-Russian Chechen militias throughout the entire period from 2005 to date. The overall situation inside Chechnya at present is unsafe and uncertain.In 2003, the newly installed pro-Russian republican leadership, first led by Akhmad Kadyrov (assassinated in 2004) and now headed by his son Ramzan Kadyrov, publicly declared its full political allegiance to the Russian government in a referendum widely condemned as rigged by the international community. Since 2004, the Russian federal government has funded a number of restoration programmes in Chechnya, mainly in the field of civilian reconstruction. Seven years on, the result, on the face of it, is the Chechen capital Grozny being successfully reincarnated from the total devastation at the height of military hostilities. Grozny has been largely rebuilt from wartime ruins to the extent that it is quite unrecognizable even to its own in-habitants, let alone any visitors; other towns like Gudermes and select villages (chosen mainly by their affinity and loyalty to Kady-rov’s family) have also seen ma jor redevelopment works. Grozny

today is a modern looking town, boast-ing a newly built central mosque said to be the largest in Europe; belying the Chechen capital’s recent horrid reputa-tion, once commonly described as ‘hell on earth’.

And yet, for all the positive aspects of modern life inside Chechnya, there are serious problems that plague the long suffering civilian pop-

ulation of the republic. First of all, today practi-cally no political freedoms exist in Chechnya and people cannot openly express their views, let alone scrutinize or criticize executive branches

of government, for fear of their lives and safe-ty. Being an apologist of the ruling regime is a positive credo, but to even question its efficacy can be literally life-threatening. There is only one power in charge: that of Mr Kadyrov and his rul-ing elite, and no one can challenge it in any way for fear of brutal suppression and reprisals. Of course, the ongoing omnipotence of Kadyrov’s autocratic regime is directly dependent on its continuing political endorsement and economic and military backup from the Russian federal government.

The second major problem in Chechnya is massive unemploy-ment, reaching up to 70-80% according to some non-govern-ment estimates. Despite reconstruction and other projects taking place nationwide, there is little scope for continuous em-ployment of Chechen citizens, as the government is evidently un-able to create new job opportunities and enable sufficient work access for people. In the absence of a well-defined state eco-nomic recovery and development programme for the Chechen economy, the situation with mass unemployment is expected to deteriorate further.The third critical problem in Chechnya is systemic corruption in every branch of government and state agencies, from the low-est office clerk to the highest bureaucrat. In fact, it is virtually impossible to secure and maintain any office or obtain any public service without giving or taking bribes in nearly every aspect of civilian life. Everywhere, from hospital treatments to school education, welfare benefits, government employment, business

taxation, legal and documentary services, - a vast contingent of local bureaucrats extort large bribes for delivering services to members of the public. There is zero transparency in public service offices and ordinary Chechen citizens are forced to re-luctantly accept the existing status quo as the de facto unwrit-ten ‘rules’ of government in modern Chechnya.The future of the Chechen republic looks uncertain and poten-tially volatile. The turbulent mix of political repression, lack of employment opportunities, and pervasive state corruption will lead to further radicalisation of Chechen youth and progressive marginalisation of older generations of Chechen citizens. To prevent such negative outcomes, the incumbent Chechen gov-ernment should seriously tackle the corruption in the public sec-tor, improve employment prospects for citizens, and introduce reforms to establish political freedoms and individual rights of expression. However, given the Chechen government’s nega-tive record on protecting human rights and liberties, its lack of a cogent macroeconomic vision, and its own complete im-mersion in the culture of nepotism and widespread corruption, the prospects for progressive democratisation and tangible im-provements to living standards in the Chechen Republic in the foreseeable future remain weak and probably impossible.Bulat R Betalgiry Artur IssaevNorth Caucasus International secretarydevelopment analyst CDS, BelgiumInternational School for Caucasus Studies, Tbilisi, Georgia

Chechen Republic in 2011: A HAlf-life

Reports

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the “Young citizens Danube Network“ (YCDN) challenges youth within the “European Union Strategy for Danube Region“ (EUSDR).

European countries are different in many aspects –this is the main characteristic of the European Union. But to create unity, we should overcome some of the nega-tive differences: By establishing macro regions like the “Baltic Sea Strategy”, the European Union focuses on implementing a better and deeper cooperation within regions. So does the “European Union Strategy for Dan-ube Region“ (EUSDR), which was presented in Decem-ber 2010. The 14 countries concerned, in fact differ in many ways, but there is an important link between them: The Danube river. It embodies and respresents both common challenges and possibilities. To make the millions of citizens living there grow together, a policy that meets its ecological, transport and socio-economic needs is required. And this is what EUSDR aims at.

Cooperation in economy, infrastructure and environmen-tal issues is essential and should be the main topic in this region. But what about culture? Currently, strong na-tional identities reemerge in Europe, which basically isn’t a problem. But, regarding the history of Europe, extreme nationalist movements led into the traumatizing experi-ences of the two World Wars. And, in order to make a progress within European integration, there is a need for a common, collective identity. Where else could such identity come into practise if not among young enthusias-tic people? The students’ mobility programme ERASMUS has so far proven, that young Europeans are willing to put life into the European Union without losing the affilia-tion to their home countries. And that’s what Europe is all about: United in Diversity. Consequently, the Danube region needs cultural exchange and cooperation among young people. An intercultural dialogue among different people is essential in order to get to know each other, to break down stereotypes and finally to set free energy which is imperative for a future European integration.

This perception is also shared by European institutions: Due to the resolution of the European Parliament of the 17st of February, cultural cooperation must also be one of the strategy’s pillars: „(The European Parliament) high-lights the vital need for cooperation in cultural projects in order to support intercultural dialogue and understand-ing among the countries of the Danube Region; the active involvement of young people via cultural and educational facilities in order to create multinational networks must be emphasised (…).” Nevertheless, mobility doesn’t play yet a big role in the new member states. And this is the point where YCDN comes into play: it is the only project, which addresses the young citizens of the Danube Re-gion to foster cultural dialogue and student exchanges.

Therefore, it is the main aim of YCDN to contribute to an integrated Danube region which should be reached by personal and lively exchanges. among the young people living in this particular region. The network was found-ed in July 2010 in the course of the European Union Strategy for Danube Region (EUSDR). The seven found-ing members are from Germany, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia.

The next big step forward will be the conference that will take place in Budapest Hungary from June 17-19 2011 under the title “The Young Generation of the Dan-ube Area as a Key to the European Integration” at the Andrássy University Budapest. The conference aims to gather the participants of the “Danube Future Leaders‘ Conference”, held in July 2010 in Novi Sad, Serbia. This new meeting should be regarded as a starting point for further meetings of young people from the 14 EUSDR countries.

Johann Jakob WulfYCDN

1514

Theme Themeriches one’s national identity, compa-rable with the European Citizenship which amends the rights of the citi-zens of the European Union as an ex-tra to their rights as national citizens. Healthy patriotism and European spir-it and identity are not contradictory el-ements, but completing constituents of our common beliefs.

European Democrat Students will draw attention to this phenomenon and help to bring this flower called European Identity to flourish fully. Our idea is to develop and spread con-cepts of how identity can be formed and cultivated on a European level and which impacts it might have. There-fore, a European-wide campaign will be conducted in spring 2011 as a kick-off for the years to come.

For shaping the European Identity in a positive and constructive way EDS will also detect and present the various effects which a strengthening of a European Identity might have, including the key questions of political participation, representation of the people and the articulation of the European voter’s will. In this regard, European Identity can play a prevalent and unexpected role.

With the Lisbon Treaty the European Parliament has the undis-puted and exclusive right to vote the President of the European Commission with the majority of its members, but taking into consideration the vote of the European electorate at the elec-tions of European Parliament. The nomination of the President of the European Commission is effected by the European Politi-cal Parties. Effluent from this right, European voters’ impact on European decisions may rise increasingly. They for the first time might have a direct say in who should govern Europe. A political competition and a political choice on EU level will become possi-

ble – voters’ impact will evolve to a real and fundamental change of paradigms. Whilst having cosmetic competences in the very beginning, European voters will have an influential role in the European leadership.

More importantly, through choice and competition European Po-litical Parties will also stand in the middle of attraction, address-ing directly the voters and convincing them with European topics and European campaigns. In this respect, no European theme can be handled without a European Identity! Only European Iden-tity can enable a truly European approach to Europe and its citi-zens. European electorate and parties with a European Identity means in future also to conduct the important debates of our times with a European perspective and a European impact. It is certain that Europe as a whole can only profit from it.

This may be the sound of future but further integration of the European political system will certainly occur one day: At some point in future European Political Parties will compete with Euro-pean lists, addressing a single European demos. This would be the ultimate accomplishment of a truly European population, with implementation of the principle of general, direct, free, secret and – as a revolution – equal ballot. For this scenario young Europeans must be the pioneers.

European Democrat Students is ready to take these debates and to bring them to the people. We do not want a Europe far away and of non-interest, we want a Europe that is putting the people in the centre, of their beliefs, aspirations, motivations. A Europe where all Europeans can contribute to the success of our Common House Europe must be a Europe, which listens to its inhabitants, a Europe that is inclusive and open for change and finally a Europe, from which the citizens feel as if it was- theirs.

For us and today it remains a task and challenge to involve our political family with the peoples of our continent. The European People’s Party as the largest and most successful political move-ment will be the frontrunner of a new dialogue with the people. And European Democrat Students will be gladly contributing its impetus on this process.

Our campaign will highlight these connotations between the Eu-ropean Identity and its real importance on how politics in Europe will look like. We may be sure, much will change and EDS will be a constructive, dynamic and forward looking partner, as a real pioneer of Europe and European integration. Let us seize these chances, let us built this Europe, in which we so much believe.

Bence Bauer EDS

“It is time that we recognized our real identity which is European”(Ian Taylor, Chairman of ECCS 1970-1971)

Towards aEuRopEAn idEnTiTy

derive our common European history that indeed is given.

As for the language Europe is a multi-lingual place and this is a real asset. Lingual diversity is a treasure and reflects the cultural diversity of our continent. It is not ambivalent, yet a contradiction that regardless their various languages Europeans are able to communicate and interact in the new lingua franca, English. This may not yet be the case for all Europeans, but the younger generation smoothly sets the trend: They increasingly un-derstand English as Europe grows to-gether, with the people acting in the forefront.

Our European Union is based on values that are European and universal values like the respect of the human dignity, tolerance, freedom, and the fundamental human rights. They recur to our common European culture, the Christian-Judeo heritage that for so long has been guiding and leading the world. They also verify and underline the connective elements of our values and our culture. From this point of view a truly European cultural identity can be observed, this has been much inspired by the founding fathers of the Union whose constant commitment for European values brought its fruits.

However, a European Identity cannot replace nor dismantle the national identities all of us have. It rather complements and en-

Europeans today live mostly within the framework of the Euro-pean Union, enjoying uncounted personal liberties and possibili-ties that none of our ancestors would ever have dreamt of. This world is a free, democratic and prosperous one, where Euro-pean citizens rejoice the open borders and open minds, with numerous chances, especially for young people. In this strive for a Europe we need European Democrat Students playing an eminent role.

Although having these vast freedoms in most parts of Europe, there are even today some who are excluded. Still, the liberties of the West are the dreams of the East. European Democrat Students in its fight for the full integration of our continent will never give up to make the unification of all Europeans in peace, freedom and democracy possible.

However, on this path we must not forget about what really drives us: We as young Europeans are not advocating this grow-ing together solely because of our wish to travel freely or to easier access nice venues… No, we derive our compassion from our deep belief in the European unification, from our ideas of be-ing European, from our ideal of the European Identity. This ideal the distillate and the catalyst of our aspirations at the same time. It is our nutrition for our thought and for the future in our “Common House Europe” (Konrad Adenauer).

Where can this European Identity come from? Bound together by our painful history, teaching us many morals and many les-sons, Europeans of today have much more in common than one normally would believe. Young Europeans of today are perceiving domestic and international issues with a new awareness and enlightenment, they tackle the challenges of today with a very likewise approach, their aspirations and their dreams are inde-pendently from their origin the same: home, family, work, secu-rity and the pursuit of happiness – all those are also European idols and merits.

Which components of this European Identity can be tracked? The journey to the core of this question is firstly how history is viewed and how a common European history can be retrieved. Many of us learned from different history books telling the same story from different angles. But the story stays the same. Being still far away from teaching our children with European-wide his-tory books, this matter of fact is not the decisive one. Tracing history from different angles at different nations is legitimate and sound if the observer knows and understands the others. By this open-minded and inclusive perception we Europeans can

17

Theme

Shape Your EDS!

The first half of the working year is over and EDS contributed to European politics with intensive and successful policy work. Four

resolutions have been unanimously adopted in the Political Assembly of the European People’s Party and our Council passed numerous mo-

tions, touching a huge variety of important issues. In the sec-ond half, European Democrat Students is planning a European wide campaign. To fulfil the current bureaus theme “involve-ment” and to assure a proper grass-root campaigning, an on-line voting took place, letting the member organisations decide on a variety of distinguished proposals. “Young academic entre-preneurs” focused on business environment for young Europe-ans as legal framework, taxations, green economy or initiatives like young entrepreneurs ERASMUS. “Regaining the excellence” was meant to deal with global higher education competition and aiming to develop ideas, how to push European universities again to the top in global rankings. “Fundamental hypocrisy?” touched the polarising issue of legal human rights protection and political reality. Additionally the member organisations had the chance to submit their own campaigning idea. Narrow but clear without ambiguity, the voting has been won by “Creating a European identity”. Representatives decided to tackle questions about what defines our continent and makes the Europeans what they are. Despite obvious differences from Portugal to Ukraine, isn’t there a lot in common from a historical, cultural and value based approach? The aim of this campaign will be to define, what EDS’ considers as our identity and what measures can be taken to spread it to the people. The European Union is now anchored in the well sounding spirit of “unity in diversity”. Our goal is to dig deeper and develop concepts for a new iden-tity-policy, spreading a “we”-feeling and touching social-mobility, educational or labour market accessibility as well as European citizenship, without leaving the path of different national back-ground. A new identity-policy should focus on the people and build up on a regional approach of our continent. Nevertheless, the political level has to be a frontrunner to guarantee success-ful implementation. A good start would be for example Europe-an wide campaign in between party families, harmonization and Europeanization of electoral processes or a common political

programme. The question of how we identify us as a community is not just challenging so called Eurosceptics or Pro-Europeans. It is a necessary fundament for a sustainable and positive devel-

opment of the unification process, as a precon-dition for keeping economic competitively

and having our voices heard in a globalised world. In the upcom-

ing weeks the bureau’s policy input and output team

will develop together with volunteers from

member organisa-tions a detailed

cam paign con-cept, which will then be presented to the mem-ber organi-s a t i o n s . We wel-come your ideas and count on your sup-port for this

challenging task. Togeth-

er, European Democrat Stu-

dents can give its contribution in

closing the gap in be-tween European politics

and the sovereign - our people.

Andreas PerottiEDS

16

Theme

It is Monday. I am sitting in a cafe with an amazing Italian cap-puccino. If I added one French

croissant… (freshly baked and crispy) and some Belgian pralines, it would be perfect. In this moment I am sitting almost exactly in the cen-

tre of Europe and that feels great and weird. It is a good feeling because we are all united in the EU, but a chilling feeling that not so long ago there was a barbed wire fence not far from where I sit. So what makes me feel European? Is it the French croissant, the two hundred kilometre per hour train from Stock-holm Airport to Stockholm city centre, or the look at the Leaning Tower of Pisa? After all, US and Asian tourists can also eat, ride and see the same things as I. What makes me different than them, not just a tourist in Paris, Stockholm or Pisa?

1 May 2004 was not only a special moment and a great day for Europe, as many politicians and EU officials would say. It was a life changing moment for me. The divide and post-socialist re-form times, all that what they use in commemorative speeches was bridged over, yes, however, this changed my life complete-ly. I could start forgetting about my passport, I was looking for-ward to the Slovak Euro coins, started guessing what national symbols will they have and my background in English was giving me a comparative advantage over my fellows.

One strong indicator of my ‘Europeanism’ is my Visa free - pass-port free - travelling. Now to cross the borders it feels nice to “forget” the passport at home. When I visited Sopron, Hun-gary in March of this year and finally made it to the place of the Paneuropean picknick, I saw the historical sight of cutting the wire. It left a deep emotional impression, the atmosphere of the times was still around. It is only commendable, the EU decided to cancel visa regimes with almost all of the Balkan countries; however, we still have EDS member organisations from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Belarus that need a visa invitation to enter our countries.

The fact that I can move to Valetta, Copenhagen or Prague and find a job there, is another great achievement. Creating a single market was a well thought out plan. With the historical and cultural heritage (some would use diversity) we enrich our-selves from one another. The Erasmus programme is a unique idea to bring young people together, to get to know each other and make friends in different countries. It is the young genera-tion that will take over the reins of EU one day and it will help tremendously if future colleagues and diplomats knew each other from Erasmus, or just university times. The current generation at the helm of the EU did not have this privilege (luxury, even?). I am of the opinion that World War I would not have happened should the nations had been more open and should the mainly young people fighting in Remarque’s and other novels had known their counterparts from the frontlines. Most likely, I have more friends abroad ranging from Romania to Finland and from Georgia to Portugal, than I have in my hometown. Email, Facebook and Twitter help me keep my ‘European cosmopolitanism’ alive and every once in a while follow up with an old friend from a summer programme from Estonia or a conservative institute from Lithuania.

In the dark times of Meciarism Huntington culturally put Slova-kia half way between West and East, Madeleine Albright called Slovakia a ‘black hole in the heart of Europe’, I would have never imagined, that I would be able to study an American University in Prague and do my Masters in the UK. I would have never hoped I could go to the US and stay there for extended periods of time to learn how the system functions; how liberty, freedom, prop-erty rights and the judicial system, that enforces it all, work.

English is used by youth and anywhere one goes someone will understand English. Aside that fact, we have a common cur-rency and one can pay in most of the EU countries with this single currency (and get by in English) is a tremendous boost. For businesses it has a mixed effect based on whether they are exporters or importers from the EU area, however, for us citi-zens, who now go to a city of Europe with a low-cost flight for a weekend and pay there with the same money we use home, it is great! Euro helped withstand the storms of the world economic meltdown since 2008, no matter how battered it is today.

I drank my cappuccino, ate my croissant, the Belgian pralines, maybe some other time, my reflections on what makes me feel European also come to an end. As you could see it is not only to tell the Americans when I am there, to make it easier for them (eventually they still ask, which country) but to express what I gained from the EU experience personally and how it makes me a more tolerant and understanding citizen with clear conserva-tive values and liberal economic ideas. I hope we can share our stories soon in person, I will look forward to them.

Juraj AntalEDS

If we consider economics, voluntary activities are not enough to finance an association. Sport, welfare, or education require equipment and infrastructure. All over Europe, the main sources of funding are common to all associations, depending of the country: membership fees, fundraising and donations, spon-sorship, public funding (State, regional and local authorities) or other income.

Some studies evaluate the economic impact of volunteering as being a few points of GDP. How-ever, an economic measurement is difficult. Volunteering covers so many activities that there is no com-plete survey we can rely on. Indeed, statistical offices are not paying so much attention to this process. Be-yond the evaluation of the activity, we still need to translate time and action into money, but we cannot deny a certain economic impact due to a positive externality.

Volunteering is really usual in cer-tain societies where it is essential to accomplish specific activities. Con-sidering football for example, volun-teering lowers the funds needed to organise training and tournaments. More people can join the team and play football. We can consider each

field of volunteering and see the positive effect given to the com-munity. In addition, the volunteer benefits from a concrete expe-rience and gains skills. It is often a way to give and to live.

This undeniable added value given by volunteers was not stressed until quite recently. However, qualification and remuneration are strong components of life. Voluntary activities are more and more connected with exigent criteria and we may ask if they should remain voluntary or become professional activities. Rec-ognition is necessary but monetary remuneration could affect the sense of volunteering. Professionalism is not exactly the goal of voluntary activities even if these activities are serious.

During the European year 2011, all the citizens are invited to “work towards an enabling environment for volunteering”, “em-power organisers of voluntary activities to improve the quality” in order to facilitate such activities, “recognise voluntary activities” at every level and “raise aware-ness of the value and importance of volunteering”. It is time to con-sider the place of free involve-ment in our societies. We can promote activities that are not a job and often represent only 5 or 6 hours a week - it can make a difference.

Jean-Baptiste DabeziesEDS

2011 is the year of volunteering in the European Union. This gives us an opportunity to think about the notion of volunteering today. In 2002, the Council of the European Union defined “Vol-untary activities as all kinds of voluntary engagement. They are open to all, unpaid, undertaken by the individual’s own free will, educational (non-formal learning aspect) and offer added social value”. In this framework, we deal with our personal freedom and choice. We take responsibility in one field in order to help the community.

Today, voluntary activities are some-times fixed in concrete terms. Ac-cording to the Council of the Euro-pean Union, “Voluntary service is part of voluntary activities and is characterised by the following addi-tional aspects: fixed period; clear ob-jectives, contents, tasks, structure and framework; appropriate support and legal and social protection.” This meaning gives specific support to the participants.

Volunteering appears to be natural if we consider the human being as good per se or if we consider that a lot of social activities do not all re-quire the market features. The first field where European citizens are volunteering is sport. Indeed, all the youth playing football benefit from volunteering by parents and often also by part of the staff: training, transport, games... there is a lot to be done.

Beyond sport, a lot of fields rely on volunteering: social, welfare and health activities; religious organisations; culture; recreation and leisure; education, training and research. Of course, cultural aspects have an impact on volunteering. Within the European Union, there are huge differences in adult involvement in volun-teering. Whilst the numbers are not that clear in this respect, there is generally more volunteering in the North than in the South, with respectively over 40% and less than 10% of adults engaged in voluntary activities.

The frequency of volunteering is not directly linked to the exist-ence of a legal framework. Even if voluntary activities are well known by politicians (at least during political campaigns), it ap-pears it is not always relevant to have specific legislation. Some Member States set up a legal framework specifically relating to volunteering (Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, It-aly, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain). Some other Member States do not have a legal frame-work but volunteering is regulated by or implicit within other ex-isting general laws (Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands,

Slovakia, Sweden and the UK). Two Member States are in the process of developing a legal framework for volunteering (Bul-garia and Slovenia).

European Year of Volunteering - Promoting Active Citizenship

18 19

Events

The second EDS Coun-cil Meeting-Seminar of the Working Year 2010/2011 under the title “Higher Educa-tion in times of crisis – European answers to current challenges” took place in Berlin, Germany, from 16-19 December 2010. This event, organised by RCDS (Ring Christlich-

Demokratischer Studenten) Germany in coop-eration with EDS, gathered more than 50 young politicians and student leaders from 29 countries all over Europe in-cluding its neighbours. The representatives from 30 different political youth organisations and the EDS Bureau as-sisted to several lectures, workshops, informal dis-cussions and working groups, focussed on the topic of higher education in the time of financial crisis. The official part of the event started with a work-ing session at the German Parliament (Bundestag). The participants were addressed by Mr. Thomas Rachel, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Fed-eral Ministry of Education and Research, who gave a detailed analysis on the work of Parliament and Federal Government regarding higher education is-sues, the Bologna process and competitive research policy. Mr. Rachel informed about the most important programmes in higher education area and EU policy aspects in this field as well as about the work of the Parliament on controlling the implementation of sub-sidiarity principle after the Lisbon treaty.The programme continued with a workshop on politi-cal leadership, conducted by EDS Alumni Korbinian Erasin and Florian Hartleb, both responsible for the new EDS Leadership Academy. Participants could acquire a taste for this new pro-gramme proposed by EDS while discussing interactively in four groups, reflecting on characteristics, skills, tasks and respon-sibilities of a conservative political leader. The workshop was mainly based on the self-reflection of future leaders question-ing their strengths, weakne sses and obstacles on a future success.After a change of location, three simulta-neous workshops dealing with the every-day business of EDS member organisa-tions took place at the Berlin Academy of Konrad Adenauer Foundation: Event organising and fundraising (Bence Bauer, EDS Chairman); Bologna and EHEA (Jean-Baptiste Dabezies, EDS Vice-Chairman); Publications (David Božic, former EDS Vice-Chairman). In the workshops, participants gained new knowledge about the practical management of projects as well as focused and de-tailed information regarding theoretical aspects of EU and national legislation in HE field.In the afternoon, Dr. Gerhard Wahlers, Deputy Secre-tary General of Konrad Adenauer Foundation gave a lecture on the aims and missions of the Foundation, sharing his opinion about the challenges for centre-right and conservative policies and answering the

participants’ questions about EU Transatlantic rela-tions, EU enlargement and immigration policy.Before this first working day could come to an end, it was time for EDS policy work: Our three Perma-nent Working Groups on Higher Education and Re-search, Policies for Europe and Human Rights gath-ered to discuss draft resolutions on EU economical stability and the future of the Euro zone as well as proposals for the EU education policy in times of financial crisis.During the informal part, the first traditional, so called Rhenish evening made participants familiar with the German tradition of Christmas fairs as well as German conviviality at two core institutions of the political Berlin nightlife: “Berliner Republik” and

“Ständige Vertretung”.The second working day began with one of the high-lights of the seminar: the speech given by Peter Alt-maier, Parliamentary Secretary General of CDU group in Bundestag and former member of the Convention on the Future of Europe. As a core speaker, Mr. Alt-maier shared his views on EU economic and financial policy, the role of the national parliaments, EP and other institutions and gave his opinion on the impor-tance of the solidarity and cooperation of the national countries for fiscal discipline and sustainable eco-nomic growth.During two Council Meeting sessions, important statutory changes were discussed and three reso-lutions adopted, two of them focussing on Higher Education in times of crisis and its role as a main

factor for recovery, one on how to achieve economic stability in the European Un-ion. Moreover, all present organisations briefly reported about their activities and the political situation in their coun-tries. As the most important outcome, a con sensual propo-sition on the voting rights re-form could be initiated in order to prepare the discussions at

the up coming EDS Winter University. The event in Berlin was a good example of how EDS Bureau is trying to synchronize topic of the seminar, conference resolution and main theme of BullsEye in order to guarantee best possible outcomes and a good reach out. After the topic Human Rights in Moldova, the meeting in Berlin dealt with Higher Education in Times of Crises. The event was concluded with a guided tour in-

side the Reichstag building and a visit on its roof terrace. Afterwards, the partici-pants enjoyed a traditional Bavarian dinner. EDS Bureau would like to say thank you to the organisers, RCDS Bureau and the supporters like Kon-rad Adenauer Foundation.

Cathrin Gräber EDS

HIgHEREducationin times of crisis – EuROPEAna n s w e r sto current CHALLENGES

Theme

European Democrat Studentscelebrated its in Brussels50th Anniversary

European Democrat Students celebrated its 50th Anniversary in Brussels European Democrat Students celebrated its 50th Anniversary in Brussels20 21

Events Events

A unique historical event was celebrated at the begin-ning of February this year in Brussels: The 50th An-niversary Celebration and the XXI. Winter University of European Democrat Students with more than 260, respectively 100 participants, on February 1-4.

To reach out to a broader European public, EDS Bureau decided to integrate the Anniversary into its classical Winter University, placed in Brussels. The ultimate goal was to bring together as many activists, members, alumni, guests and partners of our or-ganisation. In many respects this event was a unique one. The An-niversary with more than 260 guests was the biggest EDS event in history, never before EDS assembled more people in one place.

Thematically, the XXI. Winter University was gathered around the main topic of “European and regional integration – the role of youth” which was intended to highlight the different roles young people can play in the diverse integration processes of our continent and their opportunities in politics, science and business.

The opening section in the morning of February 1 was a panel discussion about a topic most of us have already thought of, but did not dare to pronounce: “Belgium – One Country, but two Societies?”. Here, under the auspices of the moderator, Deputy Director and Head of Research of the Centre for European Stud-ies, Roland Freudenstein, representatives of the Flemish and the Walloon parts of Belgium discussed whether their country might have a future. In the panel discussion Senator Peter Van Rompuy from CD&V Parliamentary group, Prof. Pierre Vercau-

The moderator, Director of Centre for European Studies, former EDS Vice Chairman Tomi Huhtanen described the role of EDS as vital for the future of the EPP. In his concluding remarks, the Secretary General of the European People´s Party, Antonio Lopez-Isturiz, declared: “I am proud to have been member of this organisation, I am proud of the things you are doing today”

The official EPP video can be viewed on the website as well as the anniversary slide show with the dedicated EDS theme song that was composed for the Anniversary Celebration by HSF member Stephen Ørmen Johnsen and which will be used as EDS music for future events and occasions. Also, the Anniversary edition of the newsmagazine BullsEye, now with an ISSN number, was presented to the guests, featuring articles from former Chair-men and the history of EDS as well as a vision of the European Dream of EDS.

After the Celebration, alumni, members and partners of EDS continued their talks until midnight in the beautiful halls of the Palais des Académies where EDS Gold Alumni Jacob Lund Nielsen was awarded and several dinner speeches held by Carl Bildt, Tom Spencer, Bettina Machaczek, Tim Arnold, Günther Fehlinger, Ukko Metsola, Jacob Lund Nielsen, Thomas Uhlen, Bence Bauer, under the supervision of toast master Juraj An-tal, Vice Chairman of EDS.

The day after – February 2- EDS participants enjoyed a late breakfast and gathered at 14.00 h at European Parliament, on the day of the Mini Plenary, to attend a series of speeches by high standing speakers. The day focused specially on the Viseg-

teren from the Catholic University of Mons, and Senator Fran-cis Delpérée (Parliamentary group leader of CDH) shared their opinions on the language policies in the multi-linguistic country, the balanced social and economic policy for the different regions of Belgium, and the common history of the Kingdom.

The main event of this unique week was the 50th Anniversary Celebration in the evening of February 1 in the Palais des Acadé-mies in Brussels. For this occasion, EDS Bureau was getting prepared for the last semester, contacting our alumni, inviting them as well as our members and partners, finding new incen-tives and ideas.

The keynote speech was held by Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden, Carl Bildt, who ran EDS as Chairman from 1974-1976. In his praising speech, Carl Bildt explained the active times of EDS in the sev-enties: ideological struggles with the left, the strive for a united Europe and for a united European political party were the main issues in those times. Bildt encouraged current EDS members to stay committed and to build this organisation further. Wilfried Martens, President of the European People´s Party, underlined the importance of the objectives and goals EDS already set in the sixties. Othmar Karas, Vice Chairman of the EPP Group pronounced the important role young people and students play in the process of European integration and Hans-Gert Pötter-ing, President of the European Parliament ret. and Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, called EDS to remain commit-ted to the cause of Human Rights and intercultural dialogue.

rad countries and their effect and impact on the Western Bal-kans and Eastern Patnership countries. After a short welcome addresses by Bence Bauer, Chairman of European Democrat Students, where he introduced the panels and the Visegrad co-operation, its role and importance, the sessions started with introductory remarks on the conference topic „European and regional integration – the role of youth” by MEP József Szájer, Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group, coming from Hungary. He pro-nounced the role of young people in the integration processes of our continent and stressed the possibilities that young people have to shape Europe. He also referred to the invited high rank-ing speakers: All four EU Permanent Representatives of all four Visegrad countries were present in the first panel. Following Mr. Szájer’s speech, the moderator – Vít Novotny from Centre for European Studies - introduced the Visegrad Group, which is a regional organization comprised of neighbouring countries from Central Eastern Europe: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland. The Visegrad Group was founded in 1991 by the nations’ joint motivation to overcome the painful communist his-tories in order to achieve the social transformation necessary to achieve full European integration. Slovakia currently holds the presidency of the Visegrad Group and is the only country in the EURO group, while Hungary holds the EU presidency.

The first panel gave the opportunity to meet four Ambassadors to the EU, the Permanent Representatives of the Visegrad countries in Europe. The Ambassadors present at the panel dis-cussion included Milena Vicenová of the Czech Republic, Jan Tombinski of Poland, Ivan Korcok of Slovakia, as well as Péter

European Democrat Students celebrated its 50th Anniversary in Brussels European Democrat Students celebrated its 50th Anniversary in Brussels22 23

Events Events

Györkös of Hungary, later replaced by counselor to the Ambas-sador of Hungary, Botond Zákonyi. Each panelist spoke about the importance of the Visegrad Group for each member state because of the joint interest and common heritage and goals shared amongst these regionally connected nations. They em-phasized the twentieth anniversary of the Visegrad cooperation at a time where the Czech Republic has chaired the EU Council, Hungary and Poland currently chair the Council in 2011 and Slovakia is chairing the Visegrad Group. All together they are as strong as France and Germany.

Mrs. Milena Vicenová explained that the common history and experience shared by Visegrad nations often creates a common position within the European Union that is both important to geo-graphical balance and ensures proper representation for mem-ber states. Other topics discussed included the importance of engaging the societies of neighboring non-European Union coun-tries like Ukraine and Belarus and securing an energy future. In regards to industry, Ivan Hodac, Secretary General of the Eu-ropean Automobile Manufacturers Association, highlighted the importance of enlargement economically to the European Union and supported extending membership to Turkey and the Balkan states. The first panel ended with a brief question and answer session by the students to the panelists, which focused on rela-tions and influence of the Visegrad Group towards Ukraine and Belarus and the importance of cooperation amongst nations.

The second panel addressed the challenges of the Western Bal-kans. Günther Fehlinger, former EDS Chairman and internation-al development advisor in Albania, stressed the division between the somehow old Northern countries and the new small coun-tries in the South (Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo). Peter Jungen, SME Union President as well as Eduard Kukan MEP, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, underlined the interest in technologies and innovation giving these countries a chance to benefit from globalization. Jan Mühlfeit, Chairman of Microsoft Europe and Staffan Jerneck, CEPS director and the moderator of the second panel completed the scenery and con-firmed that the enlargement fatigue in Western societies was not shared by the young countries knocking on the door.

It was concluded by all panelists that the further integration of the Balkan countries is of utmost importance and Günther Fehlin-

6 or 7 students live together during one year with a common project for the environment, music or other interests, in ex-change for rent. Maxime Prevost, Chairman of the CDH group at the Wallonian Parliament, represented the challenges in the 21st century.The last day of the Winter University was those of the Council Meeting. This Council Meeting was a very special one, being hosted in Cabinet DN, the company of former EDS Chairman Jacob Lund Nielsen, who shortly addressed the delegates. The Bureau´s proposal to introduce a new voting right reform, was largely discussed and finally voted upon. The EDS Council de-cided with a 19:7 vote to reform the voting right system for the first time in EDS history, a separate article informs you about the changes. The farewell dinner was again a good opportunity to thank the hosts Artur Issaev (CDS Belgium) and Germaine Nsan-zinama (EDH Belgium) for their kindness and their uncounted efforts to help EDS Bureau to organise this excellent conference. After these thank you words EDS participants attended the Lib-erty Ball to celebrate the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan.For the first time, the International Visegrad Fund supported an event in Belgium for which we are very grateful. Also many thanks to European People´s Party, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Centre for European Studies, International Republican Institute, Robert Schuman Foundation, the EPP Group and CDS and EDH.

Bence Bauer

ger stressed out that the Visegrad cooperation can enhance an enlargement-friendly attitude, especially towards countries like Albania. He congratulated the Hungarian EU Presidency for its endeavor to proceed with the enlargement process of Croatia, a wonderful example how Visegrad policies can influence EU poli-cies, as the Visegrad countries being strongly committed in the European and Euroatlantic integration of Croatia.

The third panel was dedicated to the Eastern Partnership. Jana Kobzová, Analyst at the European Council on Foreign Rela-tions, stated that the relations with some governments of the region were difficult. Therefore the EU took advantage of rela-tions with the civil society and established later on the official EU policy Eastern Partnership within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy. The first summit was in Prague in May 2009, following by the second in Budapest in May 2011

Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, MEP, EPP Vice President, reminded that the Eastern partnership was possible because of the Union for the Mediterranean: the EU has to speak with one voice to its neighbours in the South and in the East. This is of utmost impor-tance and the Eastern Partnership, originally a (Swedish-) Polish idea gave the Central Eastern European countries, especially the Visegrad ones, excellent occasions to speak with one voice. He underlined that during the Czech Presidency, Eastern Partner-ship was officially created and the Hungarian and Polish Presi-dency (both in 2011) help to create awareness for common V4 ideas and purposes. Deutsche Bank representative in Brussels Ansgar Tietmeyer, confirmed the good path of some countries (Georgia or Moldova) but insisted on stable legal system, less corruption and good relations to the IMF. Eugeniusz Smolar, Visiting senior fellow at the Center for European studies, direct-ed the panel. The panels were organized in cooperation with the International Visegrad Fund, also to celebrate the 20th anniver-sary of the Visegrad Group and to make the Visegrad idea be present in Brussels.

During dinner (hosted by EPP Group) in the European Parliament, Paul Rübig, MEP, Chairman of SME Union, addressed the par-ticipants with some experiences about his parliamentary work. He emphasized the need for young people and the work for a knowledge based society. He congratulated EDS for its incentive to discuss the Visegrad cooperation and underlined the impor-tance of integration processes in Europe. He wished all Europe to derive more Europe from the Visegrad spirit of cooperation.

The third day, Thursday, February 3rd, was featuring a day-trip to the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve. In the morning, three workshops were held (Volunteering by Jean-Baptiste Da-bezies; Student elections by Bernhard Krall; Leadership by Kor-binian Heiko Erasin) which enabled EDS participants to deepen their knowledge and their skills. After these session, the uni-versity authorities opened this day in Louvain: Vincent Wertz, Pro-Rector of the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, and Evelyn Leonard, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Political and Social Sciences, described the foundation of the old Louvain in 1425 and the divide between Flemish and French speaking parts, leading to the creation of Louvain-la-Neuve forty years ago. The city counts today one half of its population as students. In Louvain, the Bologna process was an opportunity to deeply re-work, redesign, and refresh the curricula. Jerôme Nsanzimana and Thomas Moreau, members of Aglouvain (Student Council of Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve) talked about the student participation in the university’s councils and student life. If they achieve 20% participation in the student elections, they may nominate 20% of the members in all the councils.

The afternoon was spent with the three Permanent Working Groups of Higher Education and Research, Policies for Europe and Human Rights. In the evening, Didier Lambert, Vice-rector of the UCL, explained his function in charge of students’ affairs and detailed the “kots” (student dorm) à projets or KAP, where

Dear Minister Bildt,

Dear President Martens,

Dear President Pottering,

Dear Vice Chairman Karas,

Dear Secretary General Lopez-Isturiz,

Dear Director Huhtanen,

Dear Members of Parliament,

Dear alumni,

Dear members,

Dear guests!

I would like to welcome all of you at the 50th Anniversary of European Democrat Students. We are delighted to see so many of you, making this event a truly unforgettable one. It was 50 years ago that committed and courageous students gathered in Vienna to lay down the fundaments of this organisation. This was just 60 kilometres away from the Iron Curtain, just five years after the revolution in Hungary 1956 and exactly 3 months before the Berlin Wall was built. These youngsters from five countries were not simply driven by the idea of cross-border student cooperation, but they also urged for in-ternational exchange and the need for the creation of a united Europe. At those times, many of their fellow colleagues from the Eastern part of Europe were deprived from freedom, living under the constraints of communism, under persistent suppression and fear, divided from the rest of the world by a fence impossible to cross. The liberties of the West were the dreams of the East. It was immediately clear how the ultimate goal would be: A united Europe of all Europeans with democracy and the respect of the human dignity, of the human rights. Already in 1964 the ONE EUROPE programme shaped the ideals our ancestors on European and international issues. It was an illusionary dream, a vision about our continent united in freedom and democracy. Some might have said, this vision would remain only a vision, but Ro-nald Reagan pronounced 23 years later, what our students already in the sixties said: Tear down this Wall. And it really fell…. The visions of the young people today will be the reality of the Europe of tomorrow it is said. So we are on the good track. EDS had many visions, most of them became true… The integration of Central East-ern Europe, a European-wide centre-right party, student mobility and exchange…Over decades EDS has worked towards these goals through various means and incentives: Education and training, numerous of student conferences in each and any part of Europe, several ten thousands of students that felt the European dream, a unification of our Europe. In EDS, Europe is fully integrated and united, with students exchanging with no regard to country borders.They truly unite Europe. And they truly create the European identity many of Europeans are still dreaming of. Study in Malta, work in Esto-nia, vacation in Greece, retire in Hungary was our campaign in 2002; it became the reality of our Europe today.EDS will be prepared for further integration of Europe, for truly Euro-pean politics, for any of us socialised on the European stage. This will be our one Europe and we are happy to shape it.For today, I can just wish you a happy anniversary, a great event, friends to meet and to share memories, our guests to get in dialogue with. I thank you for being with us, for your compassion, for your dreams, for your strive on behalf of Europe.

Thank you very much.

AnnivErSAry CElEbrAtion SpEECh of EDS ChAirmAn bEnCE bAuEr

Events Events

We nearly had no time to gasp what is happening around us and then we were thrown directly to the cold deep water and were told to swim. How? Where

to? Why? It didn’t matter, just do it. And so, on the 25th of February, 2011 at 15:00 sharp, ten participants, from ten dif-ferent countries and three instructors, started to take the first steps in the road not taken of the first class of the EDS leader-ship Academy.

On the first day the ground rules were set and a pact was agreed upon to allow each and every one of the participants to

show their advantages and abilities but more importantly to al-low showing our disadvantages and our weaknesses. This was a beginning of a journey to self discovery and it was clear from the start, it is going to be a bumpy ride.

The first session was all about coping under pressure. The exercise itself was not a difficult one, however it was one of the first of the many valuable lessons we were about to learn on this weekend. Immediately thrown out of our comfort zone and then being forced to look at ourselves in the mirror, listening to a true feed-

back about what our co l leagues think of our p e r f o r m -ances, did not give us enough time to build up our defens-

es. This is you as others see it honest and some time brutal as can be. This could have not happened without creating a

pro-active and mistakes-prone environment. We were allowed and allowed ourselves to take off our masks and have a good look at ourselves and at our surroundings. And so we started the first day of once in a lifetime expe-rience.

After dinner we went straight to the second part: a hard core discus-sion about controversial

politics in Europe and about Euro-pean Leadership. The official pro-gramme ended at 00:30, and we all took the discussion to the hotel lobby. With eyes half shut we con-tinued arguing: the educational sys-tem, economy, security, technol-ogy, global climate, human nature, men, women, China, Libya, Egypt, USA, Europe… and everything in be-tween. At the end exhaustion took control and slowly, one by one, we retired.

On the second day we worked on our presentation skills, asked what is a leader? we discussed current controversial policies in Europe, worked on speech analyzing, some more leadership practice and how to organize an event. It was a very packed day, with only two essential food breaks. But once again it was the group building that had started the day before which made this otherwise, very informative and overwhelming day, another wonderful learning experience. Our tutors guided

us, each with their own lantern on this path of leadership train-ing. Each allowed us to look with different perspectives at him-self\herself, and opened up new possibilities for us. We were given the opportunities to open up to each other and talk about

our real selves. No. It was not easy to both sides, we had some struggles, some disagreements, but at the end we all had this bit-ter sweet feeling of anticipating for the last day of this weekend.

The last morning of the first training

AlinA SAnduleScu

First of all, I appreciated the trainers’ contagious energetic mood, the consist-ency of information and genuine involve-ment with each participant equally. For me it was a boosting experience, which made me fasten my rhythm and reflect about my values and my gaps. Elite participants, with solid knowledge in international politics, plenty to learn from them too!

cArl Grech

The Leadership Academy was a great opportunity and an important learning experience. Not only were the evalua-tions fruitful and productive, but they also allowed me to get a good insight into my leadership style whilst equipping me better with the tools needed for me to develop further in this art. Thumbs up to EDS for this initiative!

JAkov devcic

For me the EDS Academy is a great opportunity to reflect about my per-sonality and to improve my communi-cation and leadership skills.It is an interesting experience to get in touch with young European lead-ers and to exchange views about the future of conservatism.

SAndrA FAlkowSkA

Really nice time, I learned a great deal about myself and also about leadership skills.That was a great experience and I would like to say thank you to all the participants and trainers.

JonAS GrAFStröm

There were a lot of eye-opening moments and the Academy made me think a lot about leadership and the way I act. It is always interesting to be with EDS and see how different or alike the views we have on important issues are.

Stephen Ørmen JohnSen

During the Academy I learned a lot about myself that I can use to improve not only my leadership skills, but how to communicate in a more effective and inspiring way.

miroSlAv Jurcišin

This Academy was a great experience for me. I learned a lot of things, and I found out, that I have lot of gaps in my leadership skills. For me, it was a great event.

michAlle mAlev

The EDS Academy allowed us to tear down our walls and gave us the gift of knowing ourselves a lot better.

evA mAJewSki

What I learnt at the Academy?

To stay focussed, be open-

minded and to challenge my-

self. It’s the only way to reach

my core goals in the long run!

AnnA tAmáSi

For me this Academy gave me the chance to learn new things about myself and from the others as well. It helped to find my weak points and work on them. It gave me the opportunity to improve my skills. And last but not least it taught me that our mistakes are our best tutors. I am really looking forward to the next meeting.

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The EdS Academy - episode 1Th e EDS Academysession, was a difficult one. We continued working on our leader-ship skills and our text analyzing abilities, and were scrutinized by all of the instructors, the rest of the group and ourselves. We declared our ambitions, dreams and desires. We’ve learned

about our leadership skills and weaknesses. We were insulted at times, laughed at others, worked with constant time pressure… And all of a sudden, as quickly as it started the first weekend and first half of the two weekends the programme was not finished. We were send home with plenty of materials to think and to work on. This is not a “wham bam thank you mum” kind of program; for in order to build a leadership you need a team, and partners you can trust. By the end of weekend one, we were a team. And so in the next four weeks that separated us till the next meet-ing, we kept in touch and continue our personal developments, with the help of our instructors Dr. Florian Hartleb and Korbinian Heiko Erasin and with the help of group friends.

Michalle MalevYoung Likud, Israel

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In cooperation with

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universities

The University of Leoben is Austria’s only university for mining, metallurgy, and materials.It was founded in 1840, by the archduke Johann. Today its popu-larity is nationally as well as internationally established and the number of students has meanwhile increased to nearly 3000, enrolled in seven bachelor’s (applied geosciences, industrial en-vironmental protection, industrial logistics, metallurgy, mineral resources engineering, petroleum engineering and polymer en-gineering and science), ten master’s (applied geosciences, in-dustrial energy technology, industrial environmental protection, industrial logistics, international management and business, metallurgy, mining and tunnelling, international study program petroleum engineering, polymer engineering and science and raw materials engineering) - and two diploma programs (mate-rial science and mining and metallurgical machinery).The University of Leoben has developed an excellent reputation as one of the best universities in Europe.One major reason of the University of Leoben’s success is the fact that this university has close cooperations with companies. Due to this fact, students have direct access to scientific and technological knowledge. Universities are very important partners for companies in re-search and development whereas companies are very important partners to implement technical know how and gain financial benefits for universities. The University of Leoben highly values the synergies this collaborations offer.One of the biggest problems of these cooperations between uni-

versities and companies is that most of the companies aren’t interested in basic research. Bridging this gap between basic re-search and industrial application can work. One example for this is the Christian Doppler Research Association. The association promotes application-oriented basic research and has 55-labo-ratories in Austria and nine at the University of Leoben. The most recent cooperation that the university incurred was one with the oil and gas field service company Halliburton. In the course of the collaboration the company provided software ad valorem 5 million dollars for the bachelor program of petro-leum engineering. The dean of the University of Leoben stated in a press release that he was very proud, that the University of Leoben had been chosen as a partner. “It demonstrates the significance and the good reputation of our university in the in-ternational economy once again!” Moreover the vice chairman of Halliburton Europe and West Africa, Brad Murphy, empha-sized the importance of the cooperation between teaching and economy in the same press release. The University of Leoben is very closely linked to the national and international industry, since 2006 the earning of research projects has been steadily on the rise. Today the University of Leoben receives more than 20 million Euros from third par-ties. This sum is mostly made up of research projects from the European Union, an extremely wide variety of Austrian institu-tions and furthermore direct co-operations with the national and international industry.

Florian Wöhry, AG Austria

Montanuniversität LEObEn –

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Unsere Besonderheiten:

Interdisziplinarität

Internationale Atmosphäre

Exzellente Betreuungsrelation

Praxisorientierte Ausbildung

Europäischer Fokus

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