A time for challenges for him, and a time of change for AEGEE. Dávid Székely, secretary of AEGEE-Budapest, has decided to take the step and go for the position of a member of the Comité Directeur in the upcoming Spring Agora Rhein-Neckar.
Dávid is 24 years old with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering. He has been Subcommie and member of AEGEE-Budapest’s International Politics Working Group and the ActiVote project, and this one is his second term as a board member of the second biggest antenna in AEGEE.
Now, Dávid is submitting his candidacy to take a new step and to cooperate with other six workaholic AEGEEans in Brussels. He is waiting for the presentations in the Agora to present his specific program, but The AEGEEan got to know better his vision of AEGEE, his goals and strongest points.
The AEGEEan: First of all, Dávid, congratulations for your candidacy! After being an active member at AEGEE-Budapest and being elected secretary, you have decided to go higher. How did this idea come up?
Dávid: I am an active member since autumn 2011. I explored AEGEE step by step but at the same time I took responsible roles. Maybe sometimes too much without really enjoying the wide range of possibilities that AEGEE can provide. I took part in the job of our local WGs and then, in 2012, I became the financial main organizer of our Summer University, in co-operation with Prague. Some moths later I was elected as the Project Manager of AEGEE-Budapest board, right now I am in my second term as the Secretary. I was traveling around the network, seeing how it is… It was really instructive. I am a member of other two NGOs, I was a candidate for local governmental elections. So, long story short, I want to try new kinds of challenges and I have a strong opinion about how the network should develop, but of course I am willing to listen to other opinions!
The deadline for candidatures was approaching and all of a sudden we knew that all the members of the current CD are going to re-candidate for a second mandate. What were your feelings when you found out?
About the Comité Directeur re-candidating, not so special ones. I just heard gossips about the CD wanting to be re-elected as one team again. This is what I don’t really like. If you run for such a position, friendship should not matter as much as competence. They have to form a good team that is sure, but if there are new, fresh-minded and cooperative people as candidates. I just don’t see the real reason behind it. I have a feeling they try to conserve the situation by putting themselves clearly like “we are a team = we are a package that comes together”.
However, this didn’t make you step back from sending your candidature. Do you feel that you have chances of being elected, regardless of the other CD candidates?
First of all we have to see clearly that it is not a race. I am not running against the others anyways but I am running for the trust of the delegates. However, you cannot see this election “regardless of the other candidates”. There are lobbies, friendships, love-hate and gossips. So my chances depend very much on my presentation and what are the priorities of the delegates.
I always thought that you must be deeply in love with AEGEE if you decide to take this step, spend a year at the CD house and get 100% committed to the association. What does AEGEE mean to you?
Well, almost all kind of clichés that we use to say: international friends, meet interesting people, parties… but for me: AEGEE is a huge sandbox. We can try ourselves out, develop skills and have a good time while we take it as much serious as we wish. It is the greatest thing; I have never met such a nice idea in other organisations.
What about our Network’s strengths and weaknesses?
Our strength is the huge amount of AEGEE crazy people we have = the sandbox. However, the Network is getting smaller and smaller year by year. I think the reasons are pretty obvious: the European level is getting empty (lack of human resources but also lack of widely supported ideas). For decades we couldn’t decide if it was a party organisation with great opportunities for cheap sex tourism or an AIESEC 2. If you read the AEGEE history it is clear: AEGEEans always got great talent for inventing but most of the times the organization itself was not able to use these great minds. So they had to move out and establish new organisations. Other problem that I met is the lack of any cooperation within locals: whoever has tried to contact and tried to do something with other locals knows what I am speaking about.
And what do you think that must be done to improve them?
It is a very hard question that involves what strategy AEGEE has to follow. I consider myself as a member of that wing of AEGEEans who say we have to make clearer expectations towards our members but at the same time we have to be open as it is one of the main parts of the AEGEE spirit.
Less is sometimes more. We have to concentrate on our talented people to achieve more serious goals that have a real impact on the European society. I see possibilities in this by a reform on the European Level. For example, to set new guidelines for WGs and committees, delete some of them… But first of all, total reform of the Network Commission! It is an old and not effective group what also has problems with getting enough members (lack of interest towards them) and almost without any kind of impact on the Network.
Which ones would be the CD tasks you feel more into?
Well, I would take a part in these but I am more into the cooperation with our international political partners, especially EU and UN. I am very interested and it would be a really new challenge for me.
What about your strongest points? You are a board member of one of the biggest antennae in AEGEE, I am sure that must be an asset for you.
I learnt what I am really good at and what are the things that do not fit me so much. I am accurate, have lots of experience in how things work. I managed projects; I can do boring office work, I can do financial plans, see things in structure, etc. I don’t like to polish myself.
I am sure one of the main points against me will be that I was not CD yet. European Level has almost the same number of people that AEGEE-Budapest has. Let’s say it is a good try-out to be a board member in Budapest if you want to run for CD.
How are you preparing yourself for defending your candidature in front of 800 people? Feeling nervous?
Well, I could lie I am not. But the more and more I think about it… I feel more and more terrified! I will try to be as clear as I can and not to get lost in details of what I am used to do. Definitely I will ask people who experienced this in the past Agorae.
Now you have some lines to convince us: why vote for Dávid?
Why not? I will present myself in the same length as the current CD could back then. So if you are a delegate just try to remember what they said and what they accomplished… and if you think my presentation is worth an X next to my name just put it there, the world will not stop turning. I myself always pick the new candidate unless I am really-really satisfied with the old one.
One thing that I didn’t mention yet: when I read the article about only the current CD running for position “as a team” one day before the deadline, I just felt it is not ok. We will never know how many people withdrew in the last minute… Do the ones in power want to stick to their chairs this much? Maybe I am just too sarcastic. You could say I am just bitter because I do not have great chances to be elected. But hereby I confirm I will withdraw if I don’t consider the elections worth legitimating it and I have to run in an already set-up way. Take it as a protest.
Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona