From April 30th until May 5th, AEGEE-Europe celebrated its General Assembly, Spring Agora Patra 2014, under the motto “It’s your place to choose!”. The main topic of the conference was Youth Participation, in order to highlight the important role that young Europeans play in the development of the European project. Additionally, the Agora is the place where the new leadership for the organization is elected.

The 600 participants in the Agora discussed the future of Europe and the role AEGEE-Europe can play, but also had several sessions dedicated to events that are currently on the spotlight in Europe, namely the recent developments in Ukraine and the European Parliament Elections that will take place in May 22nd-25th. The event paid special attention to the agenda of the Greek Presidency of the European Council in the first semester of 2014.

One of AEGEE-Europe’s biggest projects, Europe on Track (winner of the Charlemagne Youth Prize in 2013) is trying to discover what young Europeans thinks on different issues such as youth unemployment and nationalism. One of the project team’s ambassadors made a stop in Patras for our General Assembly, while the other one spent some days in Kyiv to meet young activists from the EuroMaidan movement. On Saturday afternoon, through a video connection, the team in Kyiv spoke to the plenary from EuroMaidan square before leaving for Lviv.

Besides, our current campaign “Y Vote 2014” has been actively encouraging our members to participate in the elections for the European Parliament, and throughout the conference they provided the 600 participants with the necessary information on how the EU works and the different options they have, so they can make an informed choice on the day of the elections.

Finally, AEGEE took the opportunity of this General Assembly to thank one of its founding members, Christophe Leclercq, and recognize his work in AEGEE and its continuous support to the organisation by awarding him with the Honorary Membership. He was part of the first group of AEGEEans who shaped this organization, and after his active time in AEGEE he founded Euractiv, one of the leading online media platforms for European issues. He has provided valuable support to our European Boards in Brussels year after year, with his personal advice and through a special partnership with Euractiv. Although he could not attend the Agora in Patras, he sent a video message thanking the Network for this recognition. 

About AEGEE-Europe: AEGEE was born 29 years ago with the vision of creating a unified Europe, based on democracy and respect for human rights, bringing together students with different cultural backgrounds. Today, AEGEE is Europe’s largest interdisciplinary youth organization: 40 countries, 200 cities, 13 000 friends. This network provides the ideal platform for young volunteers to work together on cross-border activities such as international conferences, seminars, exchanges, training courses and case study trips.

For more Information please contact: Miguel Gallardo miguel.gallardo@aegee.org  (+32 487 410 809)