The “Where Does Europe End” – project (WDEE) has proved to be an AEGEE success story; there have been multiple events all over Europe throughout the last years. Participants have been exploring how the European youth perceive their continent; tried to find out into which direction Europe is heading (about enlargement for example); and also discussed the development of the European Union.
The final conference will be held in Utrecht from the 12th till the 18th of May 2012. The local organisers have been working hard for quite some time and their work is paying off – Youth in Action granted funding! 40 EU students will have the chance to stay in a nice hostel and take part in interesting workshops and listen to inspiring speakers. Documentaries will be shown, the living library will let you experience various topics, there will be debates challenging prejudices and stalemate opinions, an excursion to the Hague, a visit to the Dutch parliament, and -maybe the most important aspect- participants will have the chance to speak with policy makers from politics and influential NGO’s.
There are four topics that will be discussed: the enlargement of the
European Union, the economic crisis, nationalism, and European borders. There will be a group for each focus area and the participants will find out how European youth see this particular topic. The event offers you the chance to share your opinion with others, but also to see Europe through the eyes of someone else. How does someone from another country see the economic crisis and why is their view so different from yours? What would you really like to say to policy makers?
The main coordinator of the event, Casper Wolf, is an AEGEE veteran, and is happy to have the wonderful opportunity to finish his AEGEE career with an interesting conference. He already worked in the local board for one year (full-time) and had left the WDEE one year ago. Under the influence of a beer, and maybe another beer, he could not resist: He and the dedicated ladies in his team want to give it their all to make this conference a success for the network. Thanks to the active support and expertise of the WDEE Team, this conference promises to offer the very best for its participants. Applications will open in February, so keep a watchful eye on the events calendar, come to Utrecht and enjoy the beautiful canals (and some warm stroopwafels at the market).
Written by Yvonne Antonovic, AEGEE-Utrecht