Jakub Oleksy has been in AEGEE for many years and, he started his AEGEE journey with Network Meeting Lublin and has recently organized EBM Lublin, and he still continues being motivated. This is why he wants to join Juridical Commission (JC). It is something he has wanted to do for years, so his candidature for JC, which he will present at Spring Agora Patra, can bring him one step closer to fulfilling his dream.
The AEGEEan: Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What do you do you for a living? How old are you? Where are you from?
Jakub: I am Kuba, I am 23 years old and I have been a member of AEGEE–Lublin since October 6th 2010. I am at my fourth year of Law, which is my passion. Since I was seven I knew what I wanted to become in the future. I study in Lublin and come from Silesia, the area close to Katowice. Law and motorization (mainly Formula One) are my two passions. I also love travelling and my greatest dream is to visit Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. While being there, I would love to watch the F1 race in Abu Dhabi.
The AEGEEan: How did you learn about AEGEE?
Jakub: Since 2010 I have had many occasions and possibilities to learn what AEGEE is. I could enumerate many of them but I mainly learned from other members of AEGEE who had belonged to the organization for a longer time. The first person I learned a lot from was the coordinator of the Network Meeting in Lublin – Olga Targońska. For three years I have participated in many projects and events and I met a lot of very positive people. Thank to them I am in AEGEE now and I applied for the Juridical Commission (JC) member.
One more opportunity for me to learn about AEGEE was the Key to Europe, Members Manual and of course Corpus Iuridicum Aegeeanse (CiA). I gained a lot of information about the organization while being an organizer of various projects and participating in different working groups. Here, I learned more about how the organization works, teambuilding, gaining funds and many other aspects.
The AEGEEan: You have organized many different events, recently the EBM in Lublin, and have been part of Agora Zaragoza. How does this prepare you for the Juridical Commission?
Jakub: Organizing various projects is very useful for a JC member. Maybe it is not very obvious at first sight, but the JC is a commission which members should be responsible, keep up with the deadlines, correctly analyze current and future situations, have well-developed skills of time and self-management and be stress-resistant. It is impossible to learn those skills while only being a student and not being an active member of any organization or any social life unit. Being part of several projects within the organization is very helpful for developing those abilities.
The AEGEEan: Usually many see it as an advantage to know French when being part of the JC. Do you consider it an obstacle that you do not have a high level of French yet?
Jakub: English and French are the official languages of the European Students’ Forum, however the English language is used during official meetings, for presentations and motions. Of course, a good knowledge of French would be a considerable advantage, however a basic knowledge and learning more seems to be a good choice as well. It proves your willingness to develop and gain new skills every day. The JC should cooperate with the Comité Directeur and other commissions, and also with the Language Working Group (LWG) who have many active members.
The AEGEEan: Will you ensure that you can go to the statutory events in case you are elected for the JC?
Jakub: If I become an official member of the JC, I can guarantee my participation in statutory events. For me it’s obvious that being a JC member requires responsibility, high motivation and confidence for one’s right decisions. The JC is one of the most responsible commissions, if not the most important (without diminishing the value of other commissions). I would like to emphasize the fact that its members are obliged to participate in the organization’s statutory events, as they supervise the running of the meetings and all the procedures, and they monitor if the provisions of the European and country’s laws are respected, together with the internal legal laws, such as Corpus Iuridicum Aegeeanse.
The AEGEEan: You have been in AEGEE for many years, what keeps you motivated?
Jakub: Since 2010, when I joined AEGEE, I have not had any decrease of my level of motivation. My first project was Network Meeting in Lublin and thanks to this event I applied for the position of JC member – the commission on the European level. Being a board member of AEGEE-Lublin, taking part in many projects, events such as Network Meetings and Agorae, and coordinating the EBM Lublin are the best examples of my high motivation for so many years. After the EBM Lublin I have even more motivation, especially for being active on the European level. Would I apply for the JC member if I was not motivated enough?
The AEGEEan: What difference do you believe it makes that you have not been a JC subcommissioner?
Jakub: In 2011 I applied for the position of JC subcommissioner. At that time, according to the JC, I was not an appropriate candidate. However, now, in 2014, after over three years of my active participation in the organization, it is the right time to go for a higher level and that is why I applied for the position of JC member. Not having been chosen for the JC subcommissioner does not seem to me as an obstacle to become a JC member. I talked to experienced members on the European level connected to the JC, I watched the work of the JC during the Agora, as well as my knowledge of CIA – that all made me decide to apply for the position of JC member.
The AEGEEan: You have many things that are part of your program for the JC and are very ambitious, how will you ensure that you can realize all of it?
Jakub: In my opinion, the points in my program are feasible and possible to be put in practice. I think they are ambitious. Also important are my good will, motivation and good argumentation, so that each point from my program can be realized. I do not want to cover every point here as the answer would take a long time – even the whole interview. But a short example: 1) proposals for amendments to CIA in different languages – a simple solution – a cooperation with LWG and the translation of the proposals – that would be an easy thing to do (the JC – legal knowledge, LWG – linguistic knowledge). Yet another example – the actualization of CIA in one month. In this case it is enough to take a look at the voting results, final decisions or particular proposals to be approved and then putting them into practice in CIA.
The AEGEEan: What do you find most important of your program?
Jakub: The crucial points of my program are to verify that antennae’s statutes are consistent and agree with the CIA (Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense), a diligent observation of the legal documents of generally and internally applicable provision, legal support of AEGEE in contact with other non-governmental organizations and institutions and creating a working format for the Juridical Commission.
The AEGEEan: How would you like to bring the JC closer to the Network?
Jakub: This is a very good question. I observed that the JC is a commission of a vital importance to AEGEE and, therefore, it should be more appreciated and make its works more visible to the organization members. That is why my program also covers points like a bigger activeness on Facebook, promoting the law and the commission, the Juridical Commission European School and a CIA for dummies (maybe some feel discouraged and do not understand everything, especially legal aspects). My other proposal is to organize online meetings with the purpose to explain different aspects of CIA, legal situations and different interesting legal aspects.
Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza