Many AEGEEans might already know Atanas Nachkov, member of AEGEE-Sofia, who has been active on the European level of AEGEE for years. During his work as the President of the Juridical Commission, he already spent a lot of time working with the Mediation Commission (MedCom) and now, he has decided to run for a position within the MedCom. The AEGEEan talked to Atanas about his candidature, his previous experiences and future plans.
The AEGEEan: Atanas, most AEGEEans might know you from your time in the Juridical Commission (JC). Nevertheless, please tell us a little bit about yourself and your experiences in AEGEE in genereal!
I am 25 years old. I have state exams left to take in order to graduate Masters of Law in Sofia University. The first time when I discovered AEGEE was a long time ago, but it took me some time to dive into this realm. I’ve been two years in the JC as an elected commissioner and two half years as a Subcommissioner – the first time as an assistant and the second time I was more like a mentor to my successors. I have also been in the local board of AEGEE-Sofia as IT Responsible, as well as involved into many local projects, e.g. Leadership Summer School 2013, Yvote 2014 Sofia, Summer Universities, etc.
What is your personal motivation to join the Mediation Commission ?
It is vital for such a huge student association to have a body, which deals with internal conflicts and issues. Most of the members, who have never been active on European level wouldn’t really understand the importance of the tasks of MedCom. Nevertheless, since its creation and especially since its extraction from the Comité Directeur many years ago, the impartial and reliable arbitration of cases has proven its role in the internal management of AEGEE-Europe. I believe I have the knowledge and the experience how to trial and solve disputes efficiently and within the legal frameworks. I want to continue having a steady organ, which secures the work of the organization.
You have been a member of the JC for two years. Do you think your previous experiences and the skills you acquired during that time have an advantage for you as a member of the MedCom? In what way?
First and foremost, being president of the JC makes you ex-officio member of the MedCom. I was such between Agora Budapest 2012 and Agora Rhein-Neckar 2013. I was able to be part of the whole problem-solving process, from the investigation phase until the final verdict moment. Secondly, in many ways the tasks of the Juridical Commission consist of providing consultations before eventual disputes or issues. It is very close to what the MedCom does, but most of the times it’s the other way round – the JC attempts to prevent problems, while the MedCom headily considers them. Thirdly, working so much time with different people all around the continent gave me an incredible amount of various approaches, ideas and sights towards dealing with cases.
Are there any other personal skills (hobbies, personality etc.) that will make you a suitable member for a commission that mainly deals with negotiating and solving conflicts?
My hobbies are designing print materials and financial markets studies, which don’t really fit with mediation. I consider myself reasonable, flexible, considerate, open-minded, very creative, hard-working and hard-partying. Usually, the hardest part of the negotiations is the language barrier and I believe I have the patience to listen until the very end and compare the arguments objectively. Solving conflicts is not easy when there are persons, who are unwilling to assist and/or behave unfriendly. Then it’s very crucial to be subtle and make the people comprehend the results of their actions. Being tough is an ability of mine as well, which I don’t like to express without a reason.
Until now, only Claudio and you run for positions in the MedCom. Why do you think that is the case?
First of all, it is great that a previous member has applied again. This ensures continuity and professionalism. There are ongoing projects inside the Commission and having a team of only newcomers will slow down the progress. Back to the question, being a member of MedCom has a lot of requirements, both written in the Statutes and expected by the delegates. If you don’t know why you’re applying and/or you’re not confident, you shouldn’t do it. I believe that’s the case with many potential candidates. On one side, if you become part of the MedCom, you’ll have to forget being in a Board of any other body, due to conflict of interests criterion. On the other hand, you need to know what exactly the MedCom does and how it works, so that you can fully contribute to its purpose. MedCom works with people and incompetence is not an option.
Have you tried to speak to others about running for a position in the MedCom and how would you encourage others to run?
I wouldn’t encourage publicly everyone to apply. As I clearly expressed, MedCom is not for everyone. There are just people, whose names I won’t tell, who are still considering their candidatures and it’s high time they did it!
What are your plans for your future AEGEE career?
I’ve been hanging around in the organizational part for too long, so it’s time to jump into the thematics. I have an idea for a project and I’ll try to make a local event soon. We’ll see what will come out of it.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Yes, I won’t be able to attend the Agora, but I’ll try to be on-line for the Q&A session.
Written by Katja Sontag, AEGEE-Aachen