AEGEE Newsletter – 19th December

Dec 18, 2012

News from AEGEE

Dear AEGEEans,

we would like to welcome you to the last newsletter for this year and invite you to have a look at the latest happenings inside our Network and in the youth world in Europe and to present you events and new initiatives in which you can still take part.

Have a good reading!

Happy Holidays and a good start into 2013!

Yours,

Comité Directeur

Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year 2013!

Christmas Card

The Europe on Track project is ending on the 19th-20th December

It has been a challenging and intense experience for Reka and the two Europe on Track teams, but Europe on Track is slowly coming to an end. After meeting the Spanish Youth Council in Madrid and the evaluation of the current situation in Spain, Team Red will spend the last days in Barcelona before leaving home. As for Team Blue, the final stop will be in Istanbul with discussions on visa regulations and EU-Turkish relations with external speakers.

Stay tuned for the results of the project!

Promote sustainable traveling: win € 1250 for your local!

We would like to invite you to take part in a competition promoting sustainability and environmental awareness in which two lucky locals will win an award of 1250€, offered by our partner – InterRail!

The money is free for your use!

The topic of the competition is: “Promoting Green Travelling – Sustainable Europe by 2020”.

Think about it:

Do you care about a sustainable future – and do you want others to get involved?
How would YOU promote sustainable travelling?

Submit your video, poster or picture!

All ideas will be published on the Europe on Track page.

Deadline: 27th December 2012
Read More: /promote-sustainable-travelling-win-e1250-for-your-local/

Open Call for IT Assistant of Comité Directeur

The Comité Directeur is
issuing an Open Call for IT Assistant who will deal with the development of the Online Membership System (OMS). The period of
time that the Assistant will work depends on the availability of the Assistant. Ideally, the assistant will come to live in Brussels for
three months.

The selected IT Assistant will be working on developing the Online Membership System (OMS) of AEGEE. The OMS uses a custom PHP framework developed by AEGEE, and for the the data storage, it uses LDAP & MySQL. The aim is to launch the OMS during the mandate of the assistant. More information about the system can
be found here: http://oms.aegee.org/wiki/index.php/OMS

Deadline: 10th January 2013

EBM Valletta

The EBM application phase has been closed, and now the selection phase is ongoing. Soon the participants’
list will be announced. In the meanwhile do not forget to check regularly the EBM website (www.ebmvalletta.eu) where more and more updates will be coming soon. And get ready for this conference about “the future of Europe” and the activities of AEGEE in 2013-14!

The participation of AEGEE in the meeting of the European Year of Citizens Alliance

On 17th of December, AEGEE-Europe was represented during the European Years of Citizens Alliance, which gathers for now 51 European networks which will be working together in the framework of the European Year of Citizens 2013, proposed by the European Commission.

AEGEE-Europe is board member of the European Civic Forum, which is the network leading the European Alliance. Members discussed the implementation of the thematic working groups, the National Alliance and the adoptionof the Manifesto of the Alliance.

Beyond AEGEE

Vote16 TOOL BOX – getting active is so easy!

It is official! The Written Declaration 0027/2012 on ‘Lowering the Voting Age to 16′ has been launched at the European Parliament.

Please visit the official campaign website and look trough the TOOL BOX.

http://www.voteat16.eu/

Good news for the Erasmus programme!

The European Council representing Member States and the European Parliament have made an agreement on the budget saving the Erasmus programme for 2013!
Thanks to the agreement, the Commission will be able to provide around 280 000 Erasmus student grants in the 2013-2014 academic year.

Youth Guarantee

One week ago, on Wednesday Dec 5th, the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Mr László Andor, presented a new package of measures against unemployment. The job market is severely affected by the crisis, and the situation gets worse every month.

What Does the Future Hold for the EU Education and Youth Programmes?

Watch this video interview with Doris Pack, Member of the European Parliamant and Chair of the EU Committee on Culture and Education about the
future of the Euroepan Union (EU) education and youth programmes.

European Youth Forum’s Youth Policy Watch

In this issue of Youth Policy Watch of 2012, read about the European Commission’s communication on the youth employment package and the Culture and Education (CULT) Committee vote on the next generation of European Union exchange programmes.

External Opportunities

Cash Prizes for Short Films on European Citizenship

The European Economic and Social Committee invites creative young people from 18 to 30 years old to join this video competition and show what means to be European and how it feels about being a citizen of the European Union. This annual challenge encourages video creativity and the use of social networking, within youth across the 28 member states in Europe (including Croatia who will be joining the EU in 2013). Participants have to create a short video clip, between 30 seconds to 1 minute, on the theme “”European citizens”.” The video can use any EU language but should have English subtitles.

Deadline: 20th January 2013

European Charlemagne Youth Prize

Charlemagne Youth Prize The European Parliament and the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen invite young people from all the EU Member States to participate in a competition on EU development, integration and European identity issues.

The ‘European Charlemagne Youth Prize’ is awarded to projects, which:

promote the European and international understanding,

foster the development of a shared sense of European identity and integration,

serve as a role model for young people living in Europe and offer practical examples of Europeans living together as one community.

Applicants should be 16-30 years old.

The prize for the best project is €5000, the second, €3000 and the third, €2000.

Deadline: 28 January 2013

Traineeship European Railway Agency

The traineeship aims to give an understanding of the Agency and its role within the activities of the European Union, enables them to acquire practical knowledge in one of the ERA s fields of activity and to obtain professional experience in the course of their work.

The programme is mainly addressed to young university graduates, without excluding those who in the framework of lifelong learning have recently obtained a university diploma and are at the beginning of a new professional career.

Deadline: 31 December 2012

The Entrepreneurship Winter School

The Entrepreneurship Winter School (EWS) is being launched to provide young Europeans the opportunity to learn about core business values. It moved away from the traditional classroom style of learning to a more practical hands on approach aimed at providing an intense course.

The Entrepreneurship Winter School provides participants’ with valuable business knowledge passed by experts from the field. High profiled speakers are interviewed by participants’ which is then put together for a final presentation.

We provide participants’ with the opportunity to visit the European Parliament and engage in debates with MEP’s.

25% discount available for AEGEE members!

More information: http://www.entrepreneurshipwinterschool.com/

Generation Europe Foundation
(GEF) is looking for young volunteers

GEF is a Brussels-based NGO aiming to educate and empower young people to be better informed of their rights and responsibilities as
European citizens in a fast-changing world. In return for their involvement, the Ambassadors have the opportunity to participate in GEF events(in
Brussels or elsewhere) and meet with policy-makers and stakeholders, network with other Ambassadors and enjoy better visibility through our website.

If you have a strong interest in youth-related issues, are a good communicator and come from/live in the following countries, please send your application (CV and a short introductory letter explaining your motivation) to info@generation-europe.eu.