BullsEye No.52 "Creative Economy"

BullsEye May’13 / 52nd year / No. 52 / ISSN 2033-7809

The newsmagazine of European Democrat Students

Youth entrepreneurship

Creative Economy

Innovation

editorial

Henry Hill, Editor-in-chief

Amélie Pommier, EDS Vice Chairman

Content

Hello readers, or should that be goodbye readers? For alas, this is my fourth and final issue as editor of BullsEye. It seems weird to think that it was almost a year ago that I was first asked to apply – with about six hours to go until the close of the deadline!

A lot has changed since then.

Nonetheless, it’s been a great opportunity to work with EDS to bring you this fine magazine. As someone who writes a lot, it has been an invaluable experience to step into an editor’s shoes: trust me, however frightening a deadline is for a writer, its ten times worse for an editor who needs all the articles in on time. Yet despite a few close calls and some long nights, we’ve always managed to put it together in time to reach you.

In a short space like this, it’s impossible to properly thank everyone who has contributed to making the last four issues of BullsEye such a successful run. Everyone whose writing has appeared in these pages deserves some of the credit, with extra points to those who got it in by the first deadline.

But I’d like to specifically thank a few people: Andrey Novakov, for always getting me an article and usually two; Dimitar Keranov, for last-minute article-writing heroics; Calum Crichton and Luke Springthorpe, whom allowed themselves to be bullied into writing when time was short; and Uroš Podgorelec, our designer, whose efforts make us all look that much more amazing on the page. I owe greatest thanks to Amélie, EDS’ Vice-Chair for Publications. There have been a few close scrapes getting these issues together, but she’s been there through all of it.

Finally, I’d like to thank Juraj and all the people at EDS who I’ve had the pleasure to work with during my year-odd at the helm of this magazine. I’ve sadly not been able to attend as many events as I’d like (yet…), but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my involvement in EDS and hope it can continue from here.

Please enjoy the issue.

I cannot realise that this is the end, or just an end. However it is for sure the end of a great experience for me as EDS Vice-chairman in charge of publications. I hope this will be shared by all our contributors which I thank for their great work.

They all showed good written skills, ability to analyse national situations as well as European and international issues. The contributions also showed me the diverse points of view we have in our European political family and I want to say that this is just great. It is a chance that we can discuss any topic between us and thus show our ability to compromise.

Furthermore I would like to thank our Editor-in-chief Henry Hill for his work and his cooperation. It was a pleasure for me to work with him. I also wish to thank someone we do not read in the issues but from who we see the great and crucial work, Uroš Podgorelec our designer. As this is not my speciality at all I am still wondering how someone can be able to enhance articles as he does with his work.

Thank you all a lot for your time and efforts. This will never be forgotten.

The main theme for this issue is about creative economy and youth entrepreneurship. This is for me and for us as young Europeans a crucial issue if we want Europe to stay competitive on an international level. Many policies and trainings are unfortunately missing in our states. Young people feel less and less considered by their politicians. At the same time we have the possibility to push for policy making and this is when EDS can be the political tool. That is also why I am very glad that we have thus year a project on youth entrepreneurship. We as a student organization can be policy makers and decide for our future. I will leave you with these positive thoughts and hope you will continue to read and contribute to BullsEye next year.

Obituary 04 Margaret Thatcher

Current Affairs 06 Habemus Papam 07 Solving North Korea 08 Student Elections in Greece 09 The Cypriot Crisis 10 The Next German Chancellor

Theme 11 Entrepreneurship in Africa 12 Europe - Come rain or shine?

14 Growing Young Businesses 15 Interview with Sara Naseri 16 Young Entrepreneurs in Europe

Reports 17 Britain should welcome EU free migration 18 Recognising Professional Qualifications 19 German-Lithuanian Relations 20 Interview with Andrius Kubilius 22 What Lost Generation?

21 Europe is a racist continent

Events: 23 EDS Winter University

Universities: 24 The University of Vienna

Council of Europe 36 Against Hate Speech

Bureau 27 EDS Bureau 2012-13

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ISSN: Print: 2033-7809, Online: 2033-7817 Editor-in-chief: Henry Hill, Editorial team: Aija Koniševska, Alexandra Gazashvili, Algirdas Kazlauskas, Amélie Pommier, Ana Janelidze, Anna Tamasi, Andrey Novakov, Emilis Kazlauskas, Henry Hill, Jakov Devčić, Luke Springthorpe, Matt Lewis, Miroslav Jurčišin, Petros Demetriou, Contributions: Guillaume Dos Santos, Elina Foinska, Dimitar Keranov, Eva Majewski, Anaïs Mattez, Vivika Melts, AnnSofie Pauwelyn, Vit Voseček, Photos: Balázs Szecsődi, European Commission archives, KAS archives, private archives, Shutterstock, Design: Creacion.si, Publisher: European Democrat Students, B-1000 Brussels, Rue du Commerce 10, Tel: +32 2 2854-150, Fax: +32 2 2854-141, Email: eds@epp.eu, Website: edsnet.eu

The newsmagazine of European Democrat Students

Articles and opinions published in this magazine are not nessessarily reflecting the position of EDS, EDS Bureau or the Editorial team.

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Publication supported by: European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe

Chairman’s letter

Dear readers and supporters of EDS! This is my last time I am addressing you on this page as the Chairman of EDS and the last issue of BullsEye, number 53, this term of the bureau. I would like to sincerely thank the Editor in Chief, Henry Hill, and Vice chairwoman responsible for publications, Amelie Pommier, who tirelessly and with many times narrow scenarios managed to deliver four BullsEyes this year. My gratitude goes to the team of writers and our designer as well. Without all of you this magazine, our flagship publication would not enjoy such a high level professionalism and well written articles as it does.

The topic of our last Seminar and Council Meeting of this academic year in Vilnius, Lithuania is Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation. My mother, when I went to my undergrad in Prague, used to argue and fuss about the great ideas that I always laid out to her. I told her, how my classmates worked at the big four, or other international advisory companies (I did work there as a student researcher myself), and I always portrayed our generation’s future to her as bright full of corporate life and team buildings… She refused to accept that and said that this system of higher education is only teaching us how to fall in line, how to obey a structure and kills our creativity.

With retrospect, it took me some years to understand, however now I feel my best boss is myself. Thus, why should I work for someone else and see them reap the benefits of my work, if I can do this or that perfectly by myself. This is the spirit and idea of entrepreneurship, a word so much used in Brussels and elsewhere. Youth needs to found businesses more, say some. Young people are the future engines of European economies, say the others. Some even start arguing for lower taxes and other incentives for young entrepreneurs. However, what is the main underlying reason why Europe is so much lagging behind the US in numbers of patents, inventions and startups?

The still slowly changing higher educational system is, in my view, the largest obstacle. Albert Einstein, who once moved to the US and started teaching at Princeton University, said that the US universities do not kill the creative potential of a young mind. Straightjacketing it to memorialized knowledge with no hands on approach will create, as my mother said, workers for the system who will do something from A to B, but they are not responsible for C or D. I will write about it more in my lead article in the inside theme.

Not to blame all European Universities, some might guess it right. The Anglo-Saxon system in the UK gives more freedom to critical thinking. The Aalto University is another example, where they mix the school of Economics, Technical University and the School of Design into a one creative “proto-soup”. Entrepreneurship arises as soon as the young mind is willing to break away from prospect of comfortable corporate life and is willing to endeavor on a more risky and unclear path. I hope sincerely that EDS will not only help make entrepreneurship clearer to us, but will also help free young minds to be willing to take that leap into the unexplored.

As a vanguard of ideas, I hope EDS will herald in this upcoming decade also ideas how to take that step to the unknown in our societies so that radicalization of youth will disappear and 21st century style politics will be introduced.

Through the four years of my active EDS membership in the bureau, I wrote, edited, corrected and read many articles. This is one of the last ones and I would like to thank the kind readership of this magazine for their continued interest in the BullsEye, its content and some of my thoughts.

Sincerely,

Juraj Antal, Chairman

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Obituary Ingrid Hopp

The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) On the 8th of April, Margaret Thatcher, one of the World´s leading female politicians and one of the most prominent conservative politicians of all time, passed away. Stubbornness and persistence made her the first female Leader of the Opposition, and later the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

She was a defender of democracy and human rights, and she will be remembered as one of the toughest politicians, male or female, the world has ever seen.

She was an active soul in the formation of the European Democratic Union and the later formation of the International Youth Democrat Union, which EDS was also a part of. Margaret Thatcher was elected Honorary President of EDS from 1982-1985 and later became Honorary Member for Life. Thatcher was the long-time Patron of EDS Full Member organisation YCEG – the Young Conservative Europe Group - and had long supported its activities.

Thatcher’s political influences Margaret Thatcher was born in Lincolnshire on the 13 October 1925. Her father, Alfred Roberts, was a member of the Town Council and introduced Thatcher to local politics.

Thatcher attended the University of Oxford from 1943 to 1947, where she studied Chemistry and gained a Bachelor of Science degree, with a specialisation in X-ray crystallography.

In 1946, she became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association, and was through her years in University highly influenced by Freidrich von Hayek´s The Road to Serfdom, which condemned economic intervention by government as a precursor to an authoritarian state. After her studies, Thatcher moved to Colchester in Essex, where she started her first job as a research chemist, and joined the local Conservative association.

Thatcher then moved to Dartford, where she continued her work as research chemist. Dartford was where Thatcher made her first bid for public office, when she ran as the Conservative and Unionist Party´s candidate for Dartford in the 1950 and 1951 elections. In 1951, Thatcher married her husband Denis Thatcher, and in 1953 she gave birth to twins, as well as reading a degree in Law and qualifying as a barrister.

Becoming the Iron Lady

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Margaret Thatcher was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1959 for the constituency of Finchley in London, at only 34 years of age. In the 1959 elections only 25 women were elected MPs, and Thatcher became one of the twelve Tory women in Parliament. After only two years in Parliament, Thatcher was promoted to Parliamentary Undersecretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. After the 1964 elections, which the Conservatives lost, Thatcher served as Spokesman on Housing and Land, and later in the Shadow Treasury committee as Treasury Spokesman.

At the 1966 Conservative Party Conference Thatcher criticised the Labour Government´s taxation policies, calling it “not only a step towards Socialism, but towards Communism”, and she made the argument that lower taxes serve as an incentive to hard work. In those early years Thatcher also supported a bill to decriminalise homosexuality, a bill to legalise abortion, and she voted against the relaxation of divorce laws.

When the Tories returned to office in 1970, Thatcher was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science. She managed to attract public attention after a few months in office when she abolished free milk for primary school children, which gave her the nickname Thatcher Milk-Snatcher.

In the two 1974 general elections the Labour Party defeated the Conservatives. Thatcher challenged for the party leadership, and on the 11th of February 1975 she was elected the official Leader

of the Conservative and Unionist Party. She became the first woman to serve as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons.

As Party leader and Leader of the Opposition she gave many speeches, and on the 19th of January 1976 Thatcher made one of her first bold attacks on the Soviet Union: “The Russians are bent on world dominance,

In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.

Pennies don´t fall from heaven, they have to be earned here on earth.

You turn if you want to. The lady´s not for turning.

Defeat – I do not recognise the meaning of the word.

“There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayer´s money Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other peoples’ money.

Some socialists seem to believe that people should be numbers in a State computer. We believe they should be individuals. We are all unequal. No one, thank heaven, is like anyone else, however much the Socialists may pretend otherwise. We believe that everyone has the right to be unequal, but to us every human being is equally important.

Obituary

and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo do not have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about everything before guns.”

As a response to this attack, the Soviet Defence Ministry called her the “Iron Lady”, a name she gladly adopted, and is known for the world over.

Prime Minister Thatcher Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister in the UK´s history, with a Conservative 43-seat majority in the House of Commons on the 4th of May 1979.

The UK had a downward spiralling economy in the late 1970s, which gave Thatcher a cause to introduce a number of reforms. Thatcher must have seen the need for modernisation and economic growth in Britain, as she went thoroughly to work in reforming policy. The many strikes in the country, especially in northern England, at the time were met with reforms, for which she was strongly criticised by the trade unions.

Thatcher’s economic policy was of a monetarist thinking. She lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes. She also increased

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interest rates to drive down inflation, which hit the manufacturing sector and caused a rise in unemployment. Many Britons blamed her government´s economic policy, which led to her famous quote at the Conservative Party conference: “To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catch-phrase – U-turn – I have only one to say; you turn if you want to. The lady is not for turning”. The speech proved her ability to stand for her convictions – even under a lot of pressure.

As Thatcher took office during the Cold War, she was a close ally to the US President Ronald Reagan at the time, both condemning Communism and the Soviet Union. The US also proved to be an important ally for Thatcher during the Falklands war in 1982 during which Argentina invaded the British controlled Falkland Islands, which was the first invasion of sovereign British territory by a foreign government since the Second World War. Thatcher sent British troops to the territory and with help from other countries recaptured the island in June 1982. The Falkland victory, the economic recovery and a bitterly divided opposition were the main factors to Thatcher´s second election victory in 1983.

Every 10 January since 1992 has been marked

as Margaret Thatcher Day in the Falklands, commemorating her visit in 1983. She was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honour in the US. After the re-election in 1983, the rate of privatisation of state-owned assets accelerated.

The privatisations, especially of nationalised industries, were associated with improvements and performance of the market. Another central theme of Thatcher´s second term was reducing the power of the trade unions through incremental change. Unions launched strikes, which were aimed at damaging her politically, and the most significant one was the strike of the mineworkers, during 1984-85. Thatcher´s government was prepared for the Miner’s Strike, and had for a long period of time built up large coal reserves.

In the early morning of October 12th 1984, Thatcher narrowly escaped the Brighton Hotel bombing during the Conservative Party´s conference by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

Five people were killed (including two high-profile members of the Conservative Party), and a further 31 injured. Thatcher insisted the conference continue, and held her speech as scheduled.

A year after her second re-election Thatcher held a speech in Bruges, Belgium stating her opposing opinion from the European Community for a federal Europe and a more centralised decision-making. Thatcher was a supporter of a British EU membership, but she believed that the role of the EU should be limited to ensuring free trade and effective competition, and she was strictly against the EU monetary union, through which a single currency would eliminate national currencies. Her speech in Burges caused outcry from other European leaders, as well as exposing the deep split emerging within the Conservative Party.

Margaret Thatcher left office in 1990, after making history as the longest continuously serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Thatcherism Margaret Thatcher´s political legacy has been called Thatcherism. Thatcherism can be defined as the principles for economic and social policy, as well as the style of reforming policies that Thatcher had. She stood for free marketpolicies, low taxes, reduction of inflation, and in general: smaller government.

For conservatives, Margaret Thatcher is an inspiration, and especially because she entered a “man’s world” with will-power and strength.

She was not afraid of letting others know her opinions, or making unpopular choices, for the best for the nation. Margaret Thatcher will be remembered an impressive female politician – but should firstly be remembered for being an impressive politician, period.

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Current Affairs

Elisabeta Ungureanu

Habemus Papam

About a month ago, on 13 March, 115 cardinal electors chose the Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics as the new supreme spiritual leader of the Catholic Church. Born in Buenos Aires in 1936, Pope Francis is a member of Societas Jesu since 1958. In 1998, he became Archbishop of Buenos Aires and in 2002, cardinal. He also ran for the papal conclave in 2005.

A humble character, a fervent supporter of social equality, the 76-year-old new pope chose to adopt a name of particular resonance in the Catholic world: Francis. The name of the new pontiff is strongly linked to Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226), founder of the Ordo Fratrum Minorum (better known as the order of Franciscans). One of the most venerated saints in history, Francis is the patron saint of animals, of the environment, and one of the two patron saints of Italy (with Catherine of Siena), but he is mostly remembered at his consecration for his work on poverty and charity.

In a world facing a tide of fear, the election of a new pope from outside Europe is deeply rooted in the idea of a serious reform within the Catholic Church. The arguments in this regard are particularly strong as the new pontiff is the first pope in history to be a Jesuit, an order which is noted for its educational, missionary and charitable works, the main agent of the Counter-Reformation, and regarded as a leading force in modernizing the church. Pope Francis has become

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the 266th pontiff in the Church’s 2,000-year history, at a time of great crisis.

Vatican is still recovering from the shock suferred after the abdication of the former pope: it is the first time a pope has abdicated in nearly six hundred years. The last pope to abdicate was Pope Gregory XII in 1415. He stepped down to end the “Great Western Schism”, during which there were rival claims to the papal throne. The shock of that is further compounded by ’Vatileaks’, money-laundering allegations against the Institute for Religious Works (the Vatican Bank) and the endless scandals of priests accused of sexual abuse.

In a context where religion goes through a complex process of secularisation and individuals worldwide drop it in favor of the concept of “Demiurge-man”, such a renewal in the Christian collective imagination is welcome. The Vatican and the Catholic world need a reformation, a renewal of the position of moral arbiter and a careful management of the conservative vs. progressive issue. The Catholic Church was the basis on

which Europe was built. It has always been the core of European principles and a pillar to provide the right principles to believe in. I strongly believe in the social mission of the church and I am glad to find that some of the current issues are also matter of concern to the Holy See: European values and identity, dialogue between cultures and religions, poverty and development, environmental sustainability, conflict prevention and resolution on human rights.

Pope Benedict XVI’s withdrawal isn’t less problematic than that of Gregory XII in 1415.

The problem that the Vatican faces today is more complex than the schism in the fifteenth century, and the truth is that the resignation occurred due to management difficulties. The new pope will now have to carefully manage the issues that the Catholic Church is facing and the newly elected pontiff looks very promising in this respect. Not only a member of the Jesuit Order but a relentless driver of a humble lifestyle in accordance with the Jesuit doctrine Pope Francis presently symbolises a very long awaited renewal.

As a history student, after analysing Pope Francis’s public behaviour, the first events that came to my mind were the religious ones from the troubled XVIth century. Pope Francis’s conduct is exactly the opposite of the one condemned at that time. Known for his strong conservative views on moral issues, the new pope was able to win in the short run since many were sympathetic to his appointment thanks to his behaviour, which suggested an austere lifestyle.

Moreover, he seems to have great bonds with other religious communities and a very deep capacity for dialogue in this regard. In November 2012 he brought leaders of the Jewish, Muslim, evangelical and Orthodox Christian faiths together in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires to pray for peace in the Middle East. Who knows, maybe someday the wish of Pope John Paul II to place his Church at the heart of “a new religious alliance that would bring together Jews, Muslims and Christians in a great religious armada” will become reality. Maybe for some individuals, religion is an intimate matter. But not when it comes to religiousbased conflicts. It’s childish and idealistic to believe in such a reunion now. But let’s try an exercise in imagination: picture a world of religious tolerance and you’ll see half of the world’s current conflicts solved.

We’ll see now if he can gather around him the progressive camp and solve the problems arising within the Church, issues which are, after all, the result of societal progress.

Current Affairs Emilis Kazlauskas

The North Korean problem needs unconventional solutions

There are several countries which free Western World sometimes name ‘rogue states’. The top rogue state is, no doubt, North Korea. This country is not just testing its nuclear weaponry despite strong objections from the international community, but also threatens surrounding states, and especially South Korea, with nuclear and every other type of “devastating” military strike. But the most staggering fact is that this cruel totalitarian entity, where a personality cult, hectic militarism and dreadful poverty mixes into one bizarre and gruesome piece of land, has existed for almost 70 years.

How can it be that every attempt to discourage North Korea from testing nukes or declaring war for South Korea or the USA, many of which are backed even by China and Russia (which enjoy better bilateral relations with North Korea) has failed? During the recent nuclear bomb tests, accompanied by insistent threats of war, the media of the free world has raised questions such as “Why?”, “What did we do wrong?”, “What haven’t we done yet?” and finally “What should we do about it?”.

These questions are very complicated; bearing in mind that North Korea is controlled by several possessed madmen whom almost every member of North Korean society an absurd spectacle worships as an earthly deity. Despite widespread famine, this country manages to assign 25% of GDP for military spending and has the biggest flotilla of submarines in the world. Paradoxically, such a situation is maintained by humanitarian help from South Korea, Western countries and China, which saves North Korean people from complete starvation. One must admit – that is really bizarre country to study.

So why does North Korea, with such hypertrophied military forces, need nuclear weapons and bombastic tests thereof? Some might say that it is for strengthening the grotesque personality cult of Kim Jong-un and intimidating the numerous “enemies” of

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the regime. Foreign Affairs thinks that continuous tests, despite condemnations from the international community, are being taken for the simple reason of improving it as an effective deterrent. The US also did that – 1054 nuclear weapon tests from 1945 to 1992 – so there is no mystery here.

And of course, one cannot deter North Korea from testing its nukes by having the international community condemn tests or threaten increasing isolation, as this totalitarian regime never showed interest in becoming normal member of international community.

Every successful attempt reinforces the regime in the eyes of its subject society and provides a real deterrent to enemies abroad.

It is obvious that traditional means, such as economic, political or even military pressure (like the deployment of B-2s in Korean peninsula), will not help to cope with this problem. One of the most interesting formulas to solve the problem came from paleo-conservative Pat Buchanan, who said that the US strategic partnerships with South Korea and Japan are not just instigating unnecessary tensions, but also creates unnatural security environment which impedes the amelioration of this unpleasant security situation.

Firstly, the US military presence in the region makes it simple for North Korean regime to shout about threat from hostile foreign agents inside and outside the country or preach about inevitable war against Western imperialism. Secondly, South Korea has a population twice that, and GDP per capita 20 times that, of their neighbours in the North, so its reliance on the US military looks quite strange. Maybe American foreign policy in the region messes up the balance of power so that South Korea never thinks about North Korean threat seriously enough, whilst on the other hand boosting the aggressive foreign policy of North Korea?

Of course, disengagement, or to be more precise the reduction of hypertrophied engagement in the region, needs to be pursued very gradually, because sudden changes of the status quo can raise unnecessary tensions and competition. Every sensible country agrees that the current status quo is not changing and is not desirable, so why not try looking at the problem from such completely different perspective?

During these financially uncertain times the determination to fight in every front possible (even in those that emerged during Cold War) for the US means the only thing – overstretch. And that is neither good for America, nor Europe and the remaining Free World.

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Current affairs Konstantinos Digalakis

Student elections in Greece

On Wednesday the 17th of April, all the student unions of all the Greek universities and technological educational institutions will hold their annual student elections. Student elections have been a very important factor in the student’s movement in Greece since the fall of the junta back in 1974, and have been conducted annually for the last 39 years.

As far as the electoral system is concerned, every university or faculty has created a student’s union. Every student that attends a university course, by joining the university, automatically acquires full membership rights to the union. The union itself consists of two means of taking action and making decisions: the students’ general assembly and the students’ board. Every student reserves the right to vote in order to elect their representatives to the students’ board or get elected themselves.

The elections are held in the same way that national elections are held. There are ballots that represent student’s organizations, in which only members of the union participate, with every ballot being characterized by a certain set of political and ideological principles.

Those organizations are national, and technically, they are the student’s branches of all the main political parties of the Greek political system.

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ONNED participates in these elections through its students branch, DAP-NDFK. DAPNDFK was founded in 1975, after the coalition of the two major centre-right student’s organizations: DAP which originated from Athens, and NDFK which originated in Thessalonica, thus creating a major national student’s network. DAP-NDFK participated in the first elections with only a small membership and for ten years struggled to create a strong organization. Then, in 1986, DAP-NDFK achieved first place in the student elections for the first time. This year, DAP-NDFK aims to achieve its 27th victory in a row in the student elections, an inconceivable record that many feel jealous of, but no one will be able to surpass.

To achieve those victories, DAP-NDFK has had to break many stereotypes in the way that it defines its own political views, in order to gather the majority of the students. Students in Greece have always been dealing with problems in their everyday lives, problems that have gotten worse since the economic crisis affected the Greek economy and the austerity measures that were implemented to deal with it. For the past three years, DAPNDFK has brought forward three major proposal umbrellas to give its perspectives in what we believe are the best solutions to such problems. Lately, many of those proposals have been adopted as governmental policies and

brought many changes in the everyday lives of the students throughout the country.

This year, the bar was set very high, not only to meet the needs of the current situation of Greek society but to provide instant solutions to problems that aroused along the academic year. Two were the main issues that DAPNDFK managed to solve. The first was the addition of an extra exam period for those who have a small number of courses to take in order to get their degree. This was a proposal that we have been insisting on for several years, and was successfully implemented this year, allowing older students to graduate more easily. The second issue was the Cypriot crisis. Due to the situation in Cyprus and the fact that there are many Cypriot students currently studying at Greek universities, DAP-NDFK proposed that all Cypriot students should have the ability to eat at the university restaurants for free, a proposal that has also been accepted.

Despite all this, we do not rest. We support the reforms that are being promoted and we agree with, while we recommend new ones to replace the reforms disagree on. We strongly believe that Greek universities have achieved a high level of academic education, providing very good quality of degrees for their graduate students. We understand that Greek universities suffer deficiencies in terms of fulfilling their material needs and this is what we will focus on for the coming years. Students have acknowledged our continuous commitment in improving their everyday environment, which is the main reason to support us, so that we can pursue our causes.

Against all other student political organizations (socialists, communists and radical leftists), we are the only ones that can effectively promote the student’s rights and this is the main reason why DAP-NDFK comes first in students elections 26 years in a row. We declare ourselves ready to visualise, demand and create the educational institution that Greek society is in need of, institutions that respond to and support the engineers, academics and scientists of the next generation who will lead our country out of today’s crisis. On 17 April, DAPNDFK is ready to win again.

Current Affairs

Alexandra Gazashvili

The Cypriot Crisis Today, the Cypriot crisis is one of the biggest problems facing the EU. Being one of the 17 Eurozone members, Cyprus’ crisis threatens each and every country of not only the Eurozone, but of the EU itself. It has already caused a chain reaction, leaving the question: how many crises can the Euro survive?

Before the crisis, Cyprus was known as a country with a steady economy. In 2001 the International Monetary Fund included it in its list of advanced economies. Businesses from outside the EU used Cyprus as an entry point for investment into Europe. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russians started depositing their money into Cypriot banks. The business services sector in Cyprus was growing so fast that it had overtaken all other sectors in importance.

So when did the crisis start? In 2009, after a fall in its tourism and shipping sectors, the Cypriot economy contracted by 1.67 per cent.

Afterwards, Cyprus experienced increasing unemployment and entered into recession.

Cypriot economic growth was weak in the following years. Increasing unemployment played big part in an increasing state debt.

But probably the most important factor was a decision of the European Union for a haircut of 50 per cent on Greek bonds in 2011. This was a fatal decision for the Republic of Cyprus as it effectfively meant that its banks would lose at least half the money they had. Losses came close to 75 per cent of the bonds’ face value.

The Cypriot economy wasn’t able to absorb the shock, and so the Cypriot state requested a bailout form the EU. On 11 July 2011 98 containers of explosives stored in the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base

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self-detonated, causing downgrade of the credit rating of Cyprus by all major credit rating agencies. With a €22 billion of Greek private sector debt and a total nominal GDP of €19.5 billion, the country wasn’t able to stabilise its banks.

In January 2012, Russia gave Cyprus an emergency loan of €2.5 billion, which was supposed to help Cyprus to cover its budget deficit and re-finance maturing debt. On the 13 March Moody’s, one of the famous Big Three credit rating agencies, slashed Cyprus’s credit rating to junk status. It warned that the Cyprus government had to inject more fresh capital into its banks to cover losses, which continued through Greece’s debt swap. On 25 June Fitch, another representative of the Big Three credit rating agencies, downgraded bonds issued by Cyprus to BB+, which meant that they were no longer accepted as collateral by the European Central Bank.

On the same day, the Cypriot government requested a bailout from the European Stability Mechanism (international organization, which provides financial assistance to members of the Eurozone in financial difficulty). On 30 November Troika (the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Central Bank (ECB)) and the government agreed on the bailout terms. The austerity measures (policies by the government to

reduce its budget deficit) included cuts in civil service salaries, social benefits, allowances and pensions and increases in VAT, tobacco, alcohol and fuel taxes, taxes on lottery winnings, property, and higher public health care charges. Cyprus now has 22 years to pay off the €10 billion bailout loan at an interest rate of 2.5-2.7 per cent.

But another big problem is that the IMF cannot lend money that has no chance of being repaid, so Cypriots had to find €6 billion on their own, which they tried to do by taxing bank reports. Bank depositors with more than €100,000 will take a 9.9 per cent taken away. Those with less savings will suffer 6.75 per cent instead. It means that anyone with money in a Cypriot bank will have significantly less money in their account. In order to prevent account holders from withdrawing all their savings at once, a cash withdrawal limit was imposed. Anyone leaving the country can take only €1,000 with them in cash. The Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Ioannis Kasoulides reported that this “regime” would last for about a month.

Another part of the bailout deal was that Laiki, the second largest bank of Cyprus, was to be split up, with underperforming loans going into a “bad bank” and the other parts of the bank merging into Bank of Cyprus. This will cost customers of Bank of Cyprus at least 37.5 per cent of their savings, and the remaining 40 per cent of deposits will be temporarily frozen for liquidity reasons.

The Cypriot crisis has already caused trouble for other countries. There is a strong possibility that it will have a big impact on the Greek economy. “Greece is directly affected by the Cypriot crisis, and based on some estimates this may jump to one percentage point off GDP (gross domestic product)“, Dimitris Daskalopoulos, head of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEB), told reporters. However, Russia is suffering the most, as its citizens are believed to have billions of euros in Cypriot bank accounts and deposits above €100,000.

However, “The Russian government won’t take any action”. The German lobby group Tax Madness reported that “Russian oligarchs and mafiosi” could be the ones who benefit most from an EU bailout. “They’ve parked their laundered money in Cypriot banks… can it be the case that our tax money is used to save their billions?” it asked.

But, even if that’s the case, Cyprus must be helped. Soon enough we may be facing its results and not only in the Eurozone and EU. Being part of the EU-Japan-USA triad, the crisis in EU is effectively means crisis in the global economy.

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Current affairs

It takes only a couple of minutes to draw a simple cross on the bulletin. But this simple cross will be shaping the German and European politics for the upcoming years. Angela Merkel’s government - a coalition between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) - has moved Germany significantly forward during the last mandate.

Political matters at the EU level were widely influenced by the German government. It managed to prevent the crisis from hitting the internal German economy and has also successfully implemented joint European austerity measures and a financial plan in order to save the Greek state from total collapse, thereby insuring a stable recovery for the European Union.

The pre-election battles have already started and no resources are being spared. The CDU’s biggest and most serious opponent, the So-

cial Democrats, are challenging Chancellor Merkel’s team and are throwing everything they have against the CDU. However, up to this point they have publicly embarrassed themselves on numerous occasions and have lost the trust of some of their voters.

Their biggest flop was the use of a stolen slogan for their campaign. The offending line was used before by a temporary employment agency: “Das WIR entscheidet” – “The WE decides.” Overall, metaphorically speaking, the SPD and the other left and social-democratic parties are preaching water whereas they themselves are drinking wine – according to their leading candidate Peer Steinbrück, no less than 5 Euro per glass.

The SPD has already failed many times against the CDU – Gabriel, Steinmeier and Steinbrück all have a bad electoral record as they have all led the SPD into painful defeats in state or general elections (Gabriel and Steinbrück lost their

Dietmar Schulmeister and Dimitar Keranov

The Next German Chancellor

This autumn, Germany elects the new Bundestag.

Who will be the next chancellor?

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inherited minister-president offices in 2003 and 2005, Steinmeier failed as a candidate for chancellor in 2009). On 28 September 2012, the party announced that Steinbrück would be the SPD’s candidate.

If we take a closer look at the recent statistical data we could easily come to the conclusion that the CDU has managed to not only hold on to their percentage rates from four years ago, but also gain a significant amount of new sympathizers.

What are the main goals of the CDU, though?

Certainly the most discussed topic in the last year has been the stability of the European currency. But the question of German needs and problems in society has also been raised. It has been brought up especially in connection with the Greek crisis: why should a German citizen pay for the Greek misuse of European trust and capital? In the name of European solidarity?

The EU is a big project of course, and so cannot be just allowed to perish, so Germany will help Greece, but surely only if certain conditions are fulfilled! Only if a strict financial plan is being followed. There is always a time when one must pay the cheque. It can be postponed, but never evaded altogether. European solidarity cannot be merely about financial gain, it must also be about giving something in return and respecting the rules of the game.

The election campaign is not set to stop at the fight against the euro crisis.

The government plans to postpone any threat to the German budget, such as direct ECB financing for banks or yet more debt relief for Greece. The CDU-led government will have to fight right-wing extremism and terrorism in the new term; as well as pull German armed forces out of Afghanistan completely, while also sending 400 extra troops to the TurkishSyrian border. Security issues, then, will be a large part of policy. The CDU also needs to continue its very successful energy reform – the abandoning of nuclear power. Germany is an absolute pioneer in this field.

The euro crisis, the crisis on the financial markets, the problems in the Arab world – these issues are bound to remain.

German society (or at least the larger part of it), believes in the success of Merkel and CDU’s policies in the long run. There is absolutely no doubt that the Christian Democratic Union is Germany’s strongest political party. Germany is on the right tracks, but the country could easily derail from them and head who knows where if the power goes to the ‘comrades’ and their ridiculous ‘reformist’ ideas. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen. On the 22 September the German citizens will have to decide which path their country will take.

theme Nkokole Malebye and Eva Majewski

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA Even though Africa has been described as the ‘lost continent’ during the last decades, the perspective has changed. And so it should have.

While the media tends to report failures such as piracy, starvation in the Horn of Africa, failing democracies and struggles on the road to democracy, some of the many ‘jewels’ that this continent has to offer remain undiscovered. One hardly ever finds stories in the mainstream media that report the successful developments in Botswana and growth in Mozambique.

Certainly, it has to be considered where these economies are coming from. Higher growth numbers can and will be realised in countries where markets are unsaturated, where people strive for improvement in their standard of living and yet where so many opportunities remain untapped.

And this is exactly why Africa has so much to offer for young entrepreneurs and creative innovations.

With a growing population and huge lack in infrastructure, new approaches are the key to unleashing potential. While in the last three centuries Europe and Northern America fuelled innovation, one has to bear in mind that these innovations weren’t successful straight away, and were only realized with a good amount of trial and error. Africa is lucky in a sense that it can skip certain steps in the advancement of technology and such like. It isn’t obliged to repeat the errors of others but can proceed straight into wireless technologies and renewable energy.

While South Africa, for example, is rich in resources, it is learning slowly to set incentives effectively and tries to make use of renewable energy. Its energy supplier Eskom is creating a new market with opportunities, through its rebate system that encourages energy efficiency from households and corporations where it previously subsidised those with high demand. This process not only raises en-

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ergy awareness, and is thus desirable for its own sake, but the growth opportunity left over leads to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) flourishing, providing especially skilled young people with new opportunities.

Once tapped into the business, successful startups even take the step into creating energy as independent power producers, provided that funding is available. This again helps the country as a whole since Eskom remains a monopoly with inefficiencies that are getting challenged through this process; this on the other hand results in cleaner, better energy and improvements in the labour market.

However, a big struggle to overcome is the bar-

rier related to education. Often, young people do not even receive basic education and are left out of the workforce as a result. Even in the most developed country in Africa, South Africa, which once again serves as our example, there are currently more than three million young people between the age of 15 and 35 who are not in education, work or training. This lack of education draws back to its deficits in unevenly spread infrastructure, a reminder of the apartheid regime.

In densely populated areas teachers are often not capable of fulfilling their responsibilities.

Infrastructure development remains therefore not just useful but a core necessity. Just as SMEs

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Bullseye on are capable of filling this gap, it is necessary to point out the opportunities that this continent is facing, with all its riches in resources. Europe should do proper business with partners in Africa, not try to play the ‘good guy’. Too many restraints from a European side result in a hindrance of overall value creation. Doing business will benefit all parties involved. By pursuing opportunities in business, people in Africa will benefit. With more and more people enjoying these benefits, the self-assurance of these individuals will grow, and the demand for a voice will increase. These countries need to take care of their own fate, so as to be proud and aware of their own achievements.

Technology, manufacturing opportunities and creative innovations are the key to have Africa have its proud voice.

The common struggle for equal opportunities amongst politicians, officials, diplomats, and other agricultural negotiators in many newer Member States, farmers and the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, as well as from the EDS resolution on agricultural subsidies from the Council Meeting in Trnava on the 8 December 2012, has paid off. EU leaders have reached an agreement on agricultural and rural support for the next budgetary period in which inequality resulting from direct payments is significantly reduced.

For example, if so far some Baltic states have got direct payments that are 33 per cent of the EU average then the European Parliament will confirm that these rates will rise to 75 per cent of the EU average by the year 2020. Although it is unable to definitely eliminate inequality in the new budgetary period, the problem has been identified and EU farmers have taken a major step closer to fair treatment. Until the CAP is based on subsidising, all Member States of the EU should have the right to expect and demand the application of the principles of solidarity to ensure all farmers equal opportunities in the common EU market.

In a rapidly urbanising world let us not lose sight of the countryside. Due to this alternative use of the land for cities, the use of agricultural land as a resource is reduced, and less farmland must maintain a growing number of people. The agricultural industry now faces many new global challenges.

The CAP is not just about food security and employment but also increasingly about consumer protection, high-quality products, securing biodiversity, animal welfare, environmental protection, climate change, research and development investment and cultural and regional policy.

These are inter-linked, a complex network that cannot be overlooked, and in which the decisions made must be careful to ensure we have competitive, efficient and sustainable rural development across Europe. In conclusion, I say that quite literally we should not bite the hand that feeds us.

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Juraj Antal

EUROPE – COME RAIN OR SHINE?

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Youth entrepreneurship and innovation are the main themes of this issue and of our seminar in Vilnius. However, entrepreneurship in one’s society, the will of the young people to act in their country, is also entrepreneurship. They too take on an enterprise – a journey, if you will, to do something in or for their neighbourhood or state. This article will be about the causes for a new generation of politicians and how they will come about.

Occupy Wall Street and its international spillover to Occupy Anything, the riots and burning cars in the suburbs of France, or the religious unease of the local population to the newcomer immigrants to mainly Western Europe, are just the tip of the iceberg.

Chancellor Merkel once announced that integration processes have failed in Germany.

The Swiss had a referendum about building minarets and populist right wing parties are on the rise almost everywhere.

In general it is my belief that people are losing faith in their political systems; the Europeans in the EU, and the Americans in their two parties. I hear more often, especially from young students, that politics is not going to change anything, and that it does not matter which party one represents.

Our steadfast movement away from tradition in society is another cause. Traditions serve as invisible links of each society to its past. When abused and used to fill in all the blanks of the nation’s history by politicians and historians, then nationalism, xenophobia, and chauvinism profit. The 2011 riots in London, and the following arson and looting of Tottenham Hale Retail Park after the death of a young man in Tottenham, was perhaps the first ever looting that was done to loot for better clothes and shoes. Historically, looting used to take place for food.

Now that our society has plenty of food it can loot for a better lifestyle.

This shows the society’s detachment from the everyday political life, and their disinterest in societal life in their community. That great son of France, Alexis de Tocqueville, stated in his “Democracy in America” that US society will endure due to townhouse meetings and the many social groups and gatherings they organise. This is related to kinship and a feeling of belonging somewhere. The growing dissatisfaction of the European population with their elites and leadership springs from the feeling of alienation, mechanisation of interpersonal relations and the increasing atomisation of the individual.

The rise of the ultra-left and ultra-right in every European country gives the alienated individual a sense of belonging. Following

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this, the machinery can start brainwashing this individual with generalized notions about their nation, where gaps are covered over by all-encompassing statements about the eternal suffering or the nations’ sad story. This will create a growing number of people moving away from the moderate centre, questioning the capacity of the EU’s elite to be able to deliver meaningful solutions and becoming Euro-sceptic and anti-NATO. The way out of this unpleasant state of affairs is, I am afraid, not as straightforward.

NATO could name a target, identify a threat and eliminate it. Taking out this danger is however much more sensitive than an air strike. We need to leave the politics of the 60s, 70s, and 80s behind us. Europe needs to educate and create the leaders of the 21st Century. However, they also need to use the tools of the 21st Century and not of the 20th. Otherwise we will end up seeing the same approaches to political discourse only 25 years younger.

Education is key to the formation of future elites. The young people need to be able to harness the possibilities of modern communication techniques, start discussions in societies, but use them in a way that will attract young people back to political life.

It is my firm belief that with a new style of political education of young people, who will one day take over the responsibility of running their countries, we will attain that change. Young people will lose the need to radicalise since they will have a feeling of belonging and will be more active in the affairs of the state. Politics will transform into the true meaning of “serving the people”, as Margaret Thatcher so brilliantly said.

If we want to avoid a bloody conflict in Europe again (yes, because Economic ties help to keep the peace) – only this time a moral, societal conflict – we need to educate our youth in new ways of understanding their society and its politics. I hope EDS will do its share as it was always ahead of the curve with ideas. In the next decade, hopefully the Chairmen and Bureaus will do something about it. As the former Chairman and Garrick Club member, I know I will.

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theme Unleashing the creative potential and dynamism of young Europeans needs little explanation. We live in an area where tech companies can be hatched in a living room or University dormitory, only to become vast multinational enterprises in a couple of years. Yet it is worth considering why young people are likely to be concentrated within the creative and technology sectors, and why it is important to open up further avenues, as well as supporting these sectors.

When it comes to young entrepreneurs, we’ll often think of the likes of Mark Zuck-

erberg or Larry Page. Indeed, the tech sector is one of the few avenues for those seeking a “rags to riches” tale. It requires little start-up capital, and the success – provided the concept is a sound one – is dependant largely on word of mouth and the determination of the developer. This contrasts with “heavy industry”, which requires immense amounts of capital, large workforces and a large asset base in order to secure borrowing to fund expansion.

It’s also possible that the tech sector is one of the few areas where barriers to entry do not exist. Facebook and Luke Springthorpe Google did not have to fear being outmuscled by an existing competitor, and certainly not a competitor that benefited from any form of implicit state In previous articles for BullsEye, I have wrote about how Europe is in dire backing in the form need of serious structural, supply side reform if it is to recover from its of subsidies or regueconomic malaise. I believe there are few areas where such reform is more latory closed shop. needed that the case of young entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.

Yet this is to ignore the contribution of young people who aren’t tech wizards. Not all young entrepreneurs want to or are capable of wading through courses teaching coding, and many won’t become billionaires or millionaires. That doesn’t mean we should shy away from doing what we can to cultivate a European tech giant such as Google or Facebook. It just means that the vast majority of start-up activity will be small and medium sized enterprises that won’t grab headlines or end up being a Euro Stoxx 50 company.

Italy is a case in point of what happens when governments fail in supporting young people to start-up businesses on the small-medium scale. Whilst the

Growing Young Businesses

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country’s poor economic fortunes cannot be blamed solely on a stagnant start up sector, it is certainly striking that the number of first firms (those up to 2 years of age) as a portion of total firms is only 3.5 per cent, compared to 13.5 per cent for other G7 European states.

So, what can struggling European governments do to foster a start-up culture and help, rather than hinder young entrepreneurs?

Crucially, barriers to entry that can be troublesome for start-ups to bypass need to be removed. One of the most prohibitive barriers can come in the form of regulation and compliance costs for new entrants. Entry costs in Europe have been put has high as 20 per cent of GDP per capita in the past, compared to 0.5 per cent in the United States. These costs are, to a limited and reasonable extent, necessary, but the bureaucratic regime around starting a business should not be overly complex and up-front costs should be minimised so as to deter potential entrepreneurs.

Such barriers to entry can even have a negative impact on the eventual growth of firms. There is evidence to suggest that firms in Italy, whilst starting out larger, grow slower than their UK counterparts. The effect is so pronounced that firms in the UK are approximately twice as large by the age of ten.

Also of importance is ensuring equal access to finance. This may be in the form of bank finance, but it may also be about allowing young companies to benefit from the same funding streams that large companies do. This could mean access to equity funding, which allows the sale of a portion of the company without imposing immediate terms of repayment.

Such funding is likely to require a strong presence from venture capital, and incentives for private investors to take additional risk. Such incentives can take the form of tax break from capital gains or income tax for those investing in small firms, helping to unlock a new funding stream without having governments on the hook for bad debts.

Of course, economic growth is necessary for any business to thrive and do well. Ultimately, however, economic growth can only be helped by allowing competition to flourish, leading to productivity gains for firms that can ultimately be passed on as wage gains.

theme Juraj Antal

INTERvIEw

Sara Naseri SARA CAN YOU PLEASE PRESENT YOUR PROJECT. BUCKY’o’ZUN is a new platform technology, which as the first product in the world provides full protection against the causes of skin cancer and extends the lifespan of various materials at an expectedly low price.

I came up with an idea to BUCKY’o’ZUN when I was 16 years old still a high school student. In the meantime, I have turned 21 and gone from being a high school student to travelling around the world as the CEO of my own company.

HOW DID THIS IDEA COME TO YOU? I, like most people, enjoy spending time outside when it is sunny. However, the lack of sufficient protection against UV-radiation is causing severe damage to humans and materials all over the world. And this is what I wanted to change.

The inspiration behind our final idea came from the natural protection found in the stratosphere, the ozone layer. We take advantage of the ozone molecules ability to absorb the majority of the UV-radiation.

HOW HAVE YOU FOUND SUPPORT? The support I have met so far has come from different places. Mostly from fellow entrepreneurs but also people I have met along the way. If you are able to describe the value you see in your company and really get your message across it is not hard finding people to support you, however finding the right people is a challenge. I think focusing on finding people who believe in you is by far the most important and I have been very lucky to have some of those around to support me along the way.

When it comes to finding hard-core skills (which most young entrepreneurs don’t have either) I quickly realized the expert knowledge I needed was not in Denmark so I decided to look outside the borders of my own country, which I think is extremely important creating a global company.

You need the best no matter where they are.

Initially I contacted a Nobel prize winner in my area who put me in connection with leading experts around the world and from there it was just about convincing them that the project was interesting to work on.

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WHICH PROBLEMS HAVE YOU MET WHEN PLANNING YOUR PROJECT ?

There have been nothing but problems, this is one of the mayor skills you need to have as an entrepreneur - you need to be able to handle and solve problems on a daily basis. The biggest problem is to know which people to trust, you wouldn’t believe what people would do for money - this makes it a risky buisnees for young entrepreneurs.

DO YOU THINK THE DANISH SCHOOL SYSTEM OFFERS ENOUGH TO PUSH THEIR YOUTH TO REALIZE THAT THEY WANT TO DO BUSINESS? I think Denmark is becoming much more aware of the importance of motivating young people to be creative, think outside the box and do business, however we are still just in the early years of this “movement” and right now there not nearly enough being done.

When I started my project I had no idea of the concept behind innovation or entrepreneurship but I knew everything about what I needed to do to become a doctor or a lawyer or a schoolteacher. It seems like our educational system has completely neglected the fact that becoming an entrepreneur is also an opportunity and I think an increased focus on this area will bring lots of interesting ideas to the table especially from youth as they if any have the open mindset to really innovate and rethink products.

Teaching entrepreneurship is just like teaching art or music. You cant teach in how to become the next Picasso or how one does break-through innovation, but you can teach the basic techniques that lays a solid foundation giving them the possibility to do and this is what our eductional system should be doing.

DO YOU THINK THE EUROPEAN UNION SHOULD WORK ON YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP ?

Yes! We live in a global world where we need global companies. We should urge young entrepreneurs to work across borders and find the support they need where it is the best. The European Union should work on supporting this.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MISSING NOW IN OUR SYSTEM? I don’t think changing our system initially is what will make the difference. In most of Europe we have great education and well-functioning ecosystems where it is possible for entrepreneurs to grow their ideas and create companies.

I think the first thing that really needs to change is our mindset. We need to change our mindset towards the concept of failure and taking risks.

It is a risky business, which is why failure needs to be accepted. A failed entrepreneur is an experienced entrepreneur and that is important to accept.

What we as a global community should create and improve is also a stronger “Give it back” – culture. It is absolutely crucial that those who have already experienced success or defeat are willing to give back, share their experiences and help those still striving for it.

Luckily there are many people ready to help and willing to make a difference and these are the ones we should shed light upon and praise.

WHAT SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED IN OUR VIEWS? More focus on teaching and teaching methods that make students innovative and action-oriented and of course training of teachers so that they can actually teach and guide the students will be crucial as well. Having entrepreneurs who have done it teach and share their experiences would also be very motivating.

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theme Avram Crisan and Ivan Burazin

Young Entrepreneurs in Europe

As the European economy faces the global economic crisis youth unemployment is drastically and worryingly growing. EDS as a student organization must encourage entrepreneurship among young people and the student population. The goal of this project is research, analysis and finding the measures that will encourage entrepreneurship.

The project is divided into several stages which in the end will produce the package of measures that EDS will propose to the governments and the institutions of the EU. The areas that we will include in our research are not only measures by which governments or local authorities are encouraging entrepreneurship in various ways, but the level of involvement of universities in creating a framework and basis for students with entrepreneurial aspirations.

Erasmus For Entrepreneurs is a pure example of the kind of program that supports the development of entrepreneurship in a “single market economy” with different national level legislative environments and economic policies. Entrepreneurs with experience in their work and the NGO’s that work in this domain are the best source of information for this area of research, so it is crucial to create a forum for discussions with them in the future.

The first step of this project is cataloguing measures that governments and local authorities are taking in each country to

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encourage entrepreneurship. Eligible measures, of course, are only those which have positive output. Naturally good measures don’t necessarily need to be proposed by governments or local authorities, and can be proposed by member organizations as well.

For example, SO HSS as an organization has a clear stance on the wrong way to spend any public money and funds reserved for the potential entrepreneurial projects of young people and students.

This doesn’t mean, however, that some other member organization will agree with it and find it useful, so after cataloguing all proposed measures there will follow a discussion about which measures we will include in this package for publication. The legislation of each country is different and the EU has its own rules and regulations, but the EU isn’t perfect, and if we carry out high quality analysis and research as described above we will have a clear position to take to the public, towards governments, and mostly important towards the EPP for changing it.

The next steps will include further research and analysis in the areas that we have already mentioned in the text. The success of this project mostly depends on the feedback from the member organizations, which is where the biggest strength of EDS actually lies. The time needed to make and present this project will likely be the whole working year since this is the type of topic that we as a centre-right student organization need to stand for.

Right now we are at the first stage of the project, which is crucial for the next steps and on which the success of the whole project depends, and we are hoping for good feedback from member organizations.

The campaign will be carried out in a very similar way to the Knowledge Is Power campaign, but with very useful collected information and clear statements about the existing problems and, more importantly, their solutions.

With work like this and shrewd knowledge of public relations the EDS has the opportunity once again to prove why it is the best and the biggest student organization in Europe, and why centre-right policy is the best for the student population that has energy, a strong will, and the knowledge needed to change things and create jobs in the current climate. The governments and EU institutions must encourage entrepreneurship, especially among its youth and its student population, and we as a student organisation are obliged to ask them for the changes that will eventually prove to be good for their society and for themselves.

reports Lucius Winslow

Britain should welcome EU free migration

I am a Eurosceptic. Indeed I am a hard, better-off-outer Eurosceptic who would not only like to see my country leave the European Union. But unlike many, if not most, British Eurosceptics, I have no time for the anti-immigration argument of my compatriots. Notwithstanding the scope for welfare tourism and the potential for the swamping of traditional communities, it is hard to see immigration as anything other than a net benefit to the United Kingdom.

In the previous ten years millions of people have moved to Britain and the loudest response (and probably also the opinion of the silent majority) has been one of negativity, of fear, of the “I’m not a racist, but…” variety. It is all very depressing, particularly as both main political parties have now taken up the call.

Of course to a large extent this is just nativist posturing by a political class which should, and probably does, know better – at least in the most part. How else to explain the divergence between British government policy on immigration? The government has sought to reduce entry restrictions on Chinese and Indian immigrants, but has fulminated against the pending migrations of Romanians and Bulgarians. If this policy took place without the European Union Schengen framework, it would be hard to see this as anything other than naked prejudice.

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In fact it is a rather nasty little political game.

Asian immigrants are welcome because the government (correctly) recognises that the benefits of the arrival of those immigrations exceed the costs of political popularity.

However under the EU framework the British Government doesn’t have the power to actually reduce East European immigration, and so is happy to fulminate against it for the purposes of cheap populism.

I digress on this point purely to show that even the immigrant bashing is just a game, and one that does have a European dynamic.

But it seems time to enumerate the benefits of European immigration, because those millions of people who came to Great Britain from across the European Union have dramatically expanded the labour force, including its skills base, and helped the economy compete. Now it’s true, a good deal of it is

unskilled employment. But the fact that they filled those jobs suggests that they were the best persons for the job. After all, that’s how a market economy works.

This push for new jobs, and the influx of new persons, boosted construction, food demand, demand for rent, and a myriad of other sectors that all added vibrancy and dynamism to our economy, and enhanced the GNP. European immigration has also frequently been purely business driven, as the exodus from France has shown. At this point I could quote a report from the former Bank of England economist David Blanchflower about the quantitative effects and benefits of immigration. But as he’s a fool I am not sure that’s all that helpful. So you’ll just have to take my word for it.

The arrival of such large numbers of immigrants from Europe is also propping up the Ponzi-scheme of a social security system Britain has. Immigrants tend to be young, and thus help sustain the pensions that have been promised to an increasingly ageing population. Even more than that, the higher fertility rates associated with assimilated immigrants further helps the fiscal health of the nation. The transfer of people also helps the base countries, and the European Union as a whole. By transferring labour in this way, unemployment is kept at a lower rate than might otherwise be the case, giving Eastern Europe a more comfortable environment in which to grow their economies.

Given the journal that this piece is in, a final specific point should be made about students. The Erasmus programme has enriched the lives of millions of students, granting an insight and an adventure into a different culture. Of course, it doesn’t take the European Union to implement a relatively open borders policy, and even the Erasmus scheme could exist without it. But hey-ho, I probably shouldn’t mention that.

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reports olivier Pataille

Towards the recognition of professional qualifications On March 7, 2013, the European Commission published the results of a survey called the “Top 10 most burdensome EU laws for small and medium-sized enterprises: How the Commission is helping SMEs”.

Recognition of professional qualifications is fourth, and before the REACH regulations (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals), VAT (Value Added Tax legislation) and general product safety and market surveillance package.

This fourth position is very interesting and surprising, especially for EDS. Indeed EDS has passed several motions on the subject in order to find a good balance between the right for professionals to access the member states job market, and their right as consumers to get good quality services.

However this balance is evolving at the moment in regard to several things.

Firstly, the national diplomas delivered by all European universities integrate a large basis of common knowledge. Moreover, more and more students get international academic and professional experience during their studies. Therefore young graduates of universities are more and more able to produce the same work and in the same quality in many other countries. The fact that they studied in one or two states does not restrict them to work in these countries and does not imply that they intend to study in the country they want to work in.

These possibilities raise the opportunity for mobility for a larger and larger number of European workers. According to a Eurobarometer survey from 2010 28 per cent of European professionals think about working abroad. This could, together with the com-

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mon job market, serve to ameliorate the labour shortages many highly qualified areas as healthcare, education, the construction industry and services.

For all these reasons small and medium enterprises have legitimately brought up the obsolescence of legislation which is mainly founded on treaties as well as two directives.

The need to revise these regulatory texts has been noticed by the European Commission in its growth strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy (Europe 2020). Since 2011 the European Parliament has called for urgent action towards professional qualifications after the invitation of the Council of Europe to act on this matter.

In the same year a new directive was consequently proposed by the Commission. Currently examined in the Parliament and in the Council of Europe, one wonders if the content of the directive will answer the economical operators’ expectations. Several are behind going for a reinforcement of the free movement of workers. The main improvement would be the creation of a European professional card. The card would make it easier and quicker for the authorities of Member States which regulate those activities to complete

the formal processes for the recognition of the qualifications of professionals obtained in other Member States. The success and timing of individual recruitments can have a proportionately greater impact for smaller operators.

Furthermore in order to facilitate information gathering by job-seekers it is asked to create unique centres in each country. The idea is for a job-seeker to get all the information they need and all the documents to recognize their qualifications, and online access to fill out all of the documents for this process should also be available.

A uniform minimum standard of knowledge and training expected for some qualified professions such as doctors, dentists, nurses, vets or architects should be also made. For example, the expected level to integrate nurses’ training should move from 10 to 12 school years.

These innovations are necessary to guarantee the effectiveness of the internal market’s construction in order it to be favourable to professionals and consumers. Without any doubt Members of Parliament and of the Council of Europe can count on EDS to reinforce a good balanced approach towards the recognition of professional qualifications.

reports And again, to continue the old tradition, Germany was the first country to de jure recognize the independent Republic of Lithuania in 1918. and Germany led the way in recognising the restored Lithuanian Republic after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Since then Germany has become Lithuania’s second largest trade partner (after Russia), and a major investor in the country. Relations between Germany and Lithuania are good and continue to progress on a sound footing. They are based on a sense of solidarity and partnership in the EU and NATO as Dimitar Keranov well as on a close-knit network of contacts in the economic, scientific, cultural and social sectors.

On the Lithuanian market, major and world-famous German companies such as Eternit AG, Schindler Lift AG, Düssman AG, Berlin Chemie AG and Siemens AG operate AccordRelations between Ger- successfully. ing to the statistics, many and Lithuania are there are some two largely unknown to most thousand companies people, yet no nation with German capital in Lithuania. can claim to have known registered And these numbers Lithuania longer than Ger- are increasing every many – which has known day. relations beLithuania for more than Cultural tween Germany and one thousand years. In a Lithuania are based on way, Germany presented the cultural agreement Lithuania to the world for signed in Bonn on 21 1993. There is the first time, thanks to July a Goethe Institute in the German Quedlinburg Vilnius and there are chronicler who presented numerous artistic and the first written evidence civil ties and partnerbetween the of Lithuania. ships two countries. In addition to 49 town twinning arrangements and regional partnerships, there is a lively school, university and youth exchange programme. On the 1st of September 2010, a (single-stream) German section was established at the Jesuit Grammar School in Vilnius. A German-Lithuanian war graves agreement was signed on 4 July 1996. Since then, several German war cem-

GermanLithuanian Relations

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eteries have been inaugurated or restored.

Klaipėda County possesses a considerable German cultural heritage, since much of it used to be part of the Memelland area of East Prussia. The objects of this cultural heritage include authentic – in Lithuania referred to as “German” – architecture, memorable places related with famous classical writers, among them the Thomas Mann house-museum in Nida.

With the accession of Lithuania to the European Union and NATO began a new, even more intensified phase of the German-Lithuanian relations. Every year lots of meetings on different levels are organized, which confirm the positive progress of the bilateral cooperation.

Political cooperation with Germany is not limited only to interstate relations with the institutions of Federal authority. There is a well-developed relationship with the political authority of German lands, science, business and culture schemes, and various non-governmental organisations and foundations. By their mutual effort, the Lithuanian and German partners have implemented thousands of various programmes that enable entities of both countries to benefit from new experience and opportunities.

The German language is also highly spread in Lithuania, because Germany is the most important economic partner of Lithuania in Western Europe. Young people who are studying to acquire a profession with the intention to maintain contacts (business, cultural, and political) with partners in that country would, undoubtedly, get greater advantage and more real prospects for the development of a reliable and meaningful partnership if they had a good knowledge of the German language.

There are no particular hindrances to the political relations between the countries in any direct sense. With the countries having been so closely related and for so long, there emerge sometimes some rather more sensitive issues. The most salient of which now is the payment of compensations to the Lithuanian citizens who were deported to work for the Third Reich. Nevertheless, with both parties exhibiting good will, a solution can always be found.

Germany is seen as an important EU member country, as an economic powerhouse and a close partner of Lithuania. The country has historical ties with Germany and it is perfectly obvious that Germany is a country of extreme importance for Lithuania. It has been so during the last millennium, and there is nothing to suggest that anything might change within a foreseeable future.

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reports Gintarė Narkevičiūtė

Interview

Andrius Kubilius, former Prime Minister of Lithuania

When you became a Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania you were immediately confronted with economic crisis, which hit globally. Today Lithuania and other Baltic States are among those countries which currently have the fastest growth. What is the recipe, if there is such?

The main components in an overcoming economical crisis’ recipe of Baltic States and Lithuania among them had been an understanding that we must react quickly and decidedly and that we perceived it since the very beginning. We had to be strong throughout: in cutting spending, looking for additional incomes or in other words, in repressing suddenly raised deficit and we succeeded to do so. We had been successful, because of in parallel of huge fiscal deficit we didn’t have a deficit of political will.

Therefore, volition to act strongly and to make unpopular decisions on the instant is the basis of the the recipe of overcoming crisis.

You left a footprint in a history of European Union as a Prime Minister who has been often described as an exampleworthy leader in years of economic recession. What are the lessons learnt and what would you advice for the other member states?

In very truth, whereabouts as Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania twice: in 1999-2000 and in 2008-2012, both times is related to two large crises that arrived globally and hit Lithuania unexceptionally.

And so, lessons which I could describe are

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very well known world-widely. The ones as were already marked by many leaders as for instance, that we cannot lose those opportunities for changes and reforms, which every crisis brings to your country.

In reality, especially in 2008-2012, we saw as a big task not only to manage financial crisis of the current moment, but moreover, initiate big reforms, which again required a focused political will. Thus much, structurally reforming the economy, promoting and developing innovative economic foundations, this much, to actually start working on strengthening energy independence. And all urged for political volition as naturally, had been concentrated and generated by crisis period itself.

Time and again discussions about the future of eurozone happen continuously. Recent crisis in Greece and other eurozone members, especially within Mediterranean countries, raised a lot of concerns on the future of it. Do you believe eurozone can still be a success story? And what does it mean for you, as seen from non-euro member state?

Despite all the negative tendencies and the continuous effects of crisis in Europe, I really believe in the future of the EU and euro.

Over its more than five decade history the EU had suffered quite a few crises, yet, after each such crisis had passed, Europe walked away more politically and economically consolidated. The past hardships showed that Europe has enough political will to effectively solve its problems. This being said,

I am quite confident this time the outcome of the crisis will be similarly positive.

Of course, I am not going to tell you that the countries of the European Union have any easy options to choose from. Unfortunately there is no special or magical recipe for solving the eurozone crisis. It takes time and patience to cope with it. However, I see financial discipline in all the EU countries as one of most efficient tools available to us for dealing with the present financial problems.

As a former prime minister of a country that suffered from unprecedented economic downslide and then quickly recovered to become one the fastest growing EU countries, I would like to emphasize that fiscal consolidation and economic growth do not contradict each other. On the contrary – healthy public finance sector and structural reforms are prerequisites to competitive and expanding economy.

However, the cases of failing European economies illustrate that, beyond sovereign debt and fiscal deficit issues, there is one bigger problem. It is what I call ‘a deficit of political will’. As Europeans we should understand a simple truth: without enough political will to continue with further political integration of the EU, Europe will find itself in permanent crisis.

Promotion of small and medium enterprises, youth entrepreneurship was one of the priorities on the way to build stable, growing and innovative Lithuanian economy. What is the role, importance of entrepreneurship in Europe? Is there a window for improvement?

Because of the economic hardship in Europe we can see that the labour market offers limited possibilities and this is especially true about youth employment. Implementing policies to boost entrepreneurship must be on top of priority list for every country of the EU. Basically, there are two key aspects to this: new business means new jobs and growing competitiveness.

Europeans and especially young Europeans need to create their own opportunities.

Therefore, entrepreneurship should be an attractive choice that is worth taking a risk. And this is where, I believe, the EU member states must put their efforts to.

For example, in order to promote entrepreneurial growth our government used a set of different policies and instruments like deregulating labor market, making venture and the EU funds more accessible, reducing regulations and bureaucratic burden, and such. Indeed a government has all the necessary tools to improve ease of doing

reports business and it should use as many as possible.

Leaving economy aside, today you are a shadow Prime Minister. This is one more example-worthy initiative also historic step in Lithuania’s Parliament. Politically, what does it mean for a country as Lithuania to have both: actual and shadow governments?

This is the first time when shadow government was formed in Lithuania. We have formed it using the very best Western examples and experience. I would like to emphasize that we have established something of historic importance, at least in terms of Lithuanian party system and parliamentary tradition. I believe that the very central part of the shadow government of Lithuania responsibilities is threefold: an effective parliamentary control of the current center-left government, implementation of alternative policies and preparation for the future responsibilities.

I am glad that we are successful in doing our job as shadow cabinet of ministers and that there are already quite a few positive examples of our oppositional oversight.

This experience not only enables us to get actively involved in the decision making process, but it is also healthy for the governing coalition itself. The center-left government in Lithuania feels it is being monitored in the closest possible manner and therefore has to think twice before making any irresponsible moves.

The shadow government is big news here.

Citizens and media have huge expectations in our work. I can see now that we have formed a very capable team of ministers and advisers, many of whom are young, full of good ideas, and willing to work hard in order to formulate effective alternative policies.

A thought that we need to get ready for the actual work in the government when the time comes was constantly on our minds when we were in the process of forming shadow government. Needless to say, we are preparing for the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2016 - this means we need to start doing our homework just now. The shadow government will help the leaders of the party and leaders in specific political areas to remain consistent with the executive government, and to prepare for those responsibilities every party faces after winning elections. And here lies the last goal – to bring in more young bright politicians who are willing to use all their energy and ideas to cope with these responsibilities.

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reports Andrey Novakov

What lost generation?

“There are underlying dynamics that are affecting young people everywhere – changes in demographics and technology, economics and politics that are bringing together this unique moment in history. Young people are at the heart of today’s great strategic opportunities and challenges, from rebuilding the global economy to combating violent extremism to building sustainable democracies.”

This is what the Secretary of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton, said last year in Tunisia. And I bet my head that many of you now, the readers of BullsEye, could recognize yourself in these words. And you have to, because many of us are no longer just students or youth political activists. Many of us are working in political organizations and actively contributing in the real political life at national and European levels.

You don’t believe me? Even young people, who aren’t interested in politics, are actually playing a major role in whole public processes and in political life. I can recommend one article that can tell you how, the article which in fact inspired me to write mine. It is a Deutsche Welle item with the title “Lost generation”. Read it. The analysis shows that the high price of the crisis is paid mostly by the younger generations. In Spain and Greece every second young person is unemployed. In Italy and Portugal it’s one in three.

Realize it or not, every one of us is part of political life. We can at least feel very keenly the results

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of political decisions. So as I’ve said many times before, the role of the youth in politics should be very different. It seems that political leaders were attracted to rescuing banks and subsidizing national budgets and forgot that they don’t inherit anything from their predecessors, but actually borrow it from us.

I disagree with Deutsche Welle. Our generation is not lost. We know what we want, and more importantly we know how to make it happen. Who are the biggest and most innovative companies in the world now and who are their owners? Just few examples: Facebook, Google, Terelik, Country Garden Holdings, Napster and many others.

These successes show that young people know very well how to manage companies and create jobs. I’m sure that very soon the first leaders from our generation will be in public life and will demonstrate an entirely new kind of politics.

What makes me so sure? It’s the fact that we don’t weigh the legacy of the past, as it weighs the current politicians. Although well acquainted

with history we do not pay the price. It was already paid. For us, communism, the Berlin Wall, and the wars in Europe are history, not memory.

All of this will be history, but not memory. That is the difference.

All of my examples were from the private sector, because there age is not a determining variable, but rather good, creative and innovative ideas. Politics is more complicated. Always has been and always will be. You can’t just become a young politician. Even the law says that presidents must be older than 45 and it’s an unwritten rule that the young cannot hold responsible positions.

There are exceptions, of course. There are a significant number of young people who are trustworthy. Even the European Parliament has many young members. This shows the change I’m talking about. Proven youth recognized as successful leaders are elected as mayors, MPs and ministers. I’m sure this trend will continue. That just is the zeitgeist. And that is the trend not only for younger politicians. All those young unemployed who are often called “idlers” will find their career and will give birth to new scientists, engineers, archaeologists, artists and innovators. This is the natural evolution of things.

I’m not talking about conflicts between generations. Disputes between young and old have always existed. I’m talking about the most radical social change in Europe in decades. The crisis demands. Countless failures of social systems, banks, bankruptcies and humanitarian crises indicate that something is wrong. It is not normal to spend more than you actually have. You cannot decrease taxes and raise pensions at the same time. You cannot give more freedom and get more security. Typical right-wing thinking says that you don’t have to depend only on the state. You should be active and creative. Yes of course a social system is needed, because not everyone is capable of running their own business, or creating a new machine or website. But many people are capable, but do not take efforts to improve their situation, precisely because they rely on that system.

So our generation is not lost. It is just finding itself.

eVents Between 5 and 10 March EDS gathered in Lviv, Ukraine, for its Winter University under the title “Transborder cooperation and youth opportunities”. The event, organized by EDS’ full member the Ukrainian Student’s Association, emphasized the importance of transborder cooperation in the knowledge exchange of EU member countries, and highlighted the EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative.

The event was officially opened by Mr Juraj Antal, chairman of EDS and Mr. Stanislav Kutsenko, chairman of the Ukrainian Student’s Association. After the official opening the programme started with the panel discussion on the Conference Resolution “Youth Involvement in Politics of the 21st Century”. The conference resolution named cooperation as a central principle to achieve development, progress and qualitative change in people’s lives. Today the example of that is the “Eastern partnership” between the European Union and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The conference resolution also highlighted the role of young people in transborder cooperation since the number of trans-border youth activities today are constantly increasing which makes Europe stronger and more competitive and that process should continue.

After discussing the conference resolution the participants went to Lviv City Hall, where they could participate in a panel discussion under the title “Transboarder cooperation and youth community”. The two speakers were Mr. Vasil Kosiv - Deputy Mayor of Lviv on humanitarian issues and Mr. Oleh Nimchynov, civil activist, founder of the Ukrainian Student’s Association, and former member of Lviv region council. At the panel the participants had the opportunity to learn

more about the city of Lviv and discussed such relevant questions as the EU-Ukraine relations, the democratization process in Ukraine, young people’s involvement in politics in Ukraine and the countries steps towards an EU membership.

The Permanent Working Groups during their two sessions dealt with such topics as the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, the need to include Hezbollah on the terrorist blacklist of all states, the problem of corruption, the issues of human trafficking, the right to education and academic freedom in Iran, and the question of freedom of speech on the Internet, and also highlighted the advantages of mobility of academics and its impact on

Anna Tamási

Lvov, Ukraine

EDS winter University Bullseye

universities, society, economy and of course the students.

During the Winter University the delegates also started to discuss the Higher Education and Research Programme. EDS is preparing the Higher Education Programme for the 2014 European elections. From the five chapters which form the Programme, three were discussed and amended by the participants – the one on higher education organization and those on student mobility, equality and welfare.

The programme team thanks the delegates for their active contribution and looking forward for the further discussion at the next EDS event in Vilnius, Lithuania.

On the last day of the Lviv event the participants gathered for the Council Meeting. During the day the Council discussed not only the motions that had been adopted in the permanent working groups but also adopted the Conference Resolution, and most importantly learned the auditor’s report which described last year’s budgetary situation. Moreover, the participants could also listen to the report of the chairman and the whole bureau on their recent activities according to their responsibility areas. Another highlight of the Council Meeting was the vote over StudiCentro Italy’s full membership, EDS hereby would like to congratulate and welcome its Italian member organization.

The event was closed by a farewell dinner where the participants could share their thoughts about the Congress and brainstorm about future activities and ideas in a friendly environment. EDS wants to express its sincere gratefulness towards the Ukrainian Student’s Association for hosting EDS’ Winter University.

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uniVersities

Adrian Korbiel and Michael Matzinger

University of vienna – new since 1365

This is the slogan used by the oldest university in the German speaking world, which was founded on the 12 March 1365 by Rudolph IV. “Alma Mater Rudolphina Vindobonensis” (to call it by its original name) is the biggest university in Austria and one of the biggest universities in Europe. The University of Vienna offers a wide range of different studies 24

uniVersities Students are able to choose from 188 study programmes, including 56 bachelor’s degree programmes, 117 master’s degree programmes, 4 diploma programmes and 11 doctorate degree programmes.

SPREAD oVER THE WHoLE CiTy The main building of the University of Vienna is located in the city centre on the beautiful Boulevard Ringstrasse. It houses the university management, its library, its administrative institutions, various university departments and some of the dean’s offices, as well as several lecture theatres including the Audimax, the largest lecture theatre in the entire university.

The academic institutions of the University of Vienna are spread over more than 60 locations. Another important centre is the university campus located in the buildings of the old main Hospital.

It is a place where students can enjoy their time in the breaks between lectures lying on the grass or so called “enzis”. In winter you can also find there the typically Austrian “Christkindlmarkt” and enjoy a fabulous “Punsch” or “Glühwein”.

STRoNG iN SCiENCE AND TEACHiNG About 6700 scientists and academics are employed by the University of Vienna to ensure outstanding performance in research and teaching at the fifteen faculties and four centres. They teach about 120,000 students.

Researching and teaching at the university includes about 1,000 projects financed with the aid of third-party funds. Scientists and academics are concerned both with knowledge-orientated basic research and problem-solving applied research.

The main goal of the university is to create and sustain top-quality research and teaching, which are regarded as one inseparable entity (“research-guided teaching”). A strong focus on research, combining fundamental with application-oriented research, renders this university highly attractive for the sharpest of minds.

Research and teaching at the University of Vienna comprise a wide range of faculties: from Catholic and Protestant Theology, Law, Business and Economics, Computer Science, Historical and Cultural Studies, Philological and Cultural Studies, Philosophy and Educational Sciences, Psychology, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, Geography, Astronomy, Life Sciences, Translation

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Studies, Sports Sciences, Molecular Biology and Teacher Training.

FREE ACCESS To KNoWLEDGE In Austria anyone who passes their final exams at high school is allowed to continue their education at a university or “Fachhochschule”, a kind of private university connected with practical training as part of its courses. Formerly this meant that some popular faculties like Medicine, Communication, Psychology and Philosophy burst at the seams. To protect the level of education in these cases some incorporation criteria were installed, such as acceptance tests, special acceptance proceedings and entering stages.

For the Faculty of Medicine there is also an exception rule installed. It says that 75 per cent of the places have to go to Austrian students, 20 per cent to EU citizens and only the last 5 per cent to people from outside the EU. This was implemented because of a continuing overflow of foreign students, especially from Germany, who finished in Austria and travelled back home for work, leaving a lack of human resources and skills behind. For the year 2013 there are 740 places at MedUni Vienna.

Currently the University of Vienna has 118,913 students, most of which study at the Faculty of Law, which handles about 11,000 students. iNTERNATioNAL PRoGRAMS The University of Vienna has always been strongly orientated towards international research and teaching and is therefore continuing its efforts to maintain its relationships with other countries. It is part of the ERASMUS/SOCRATES Programme and member of several international networks such as ASEA-UNINET, the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA), and the European University Association (EUA).

From 363 European partner universities, the University of Vienna has entered into ERASMUS partnerships with 350 universities. Students from approximately 130 countries attend more than 10,000 lectures at the University of Vienna every year.

Additionally, the University of Vienna leads several interesting programmes founded by the EU such as High Speed Proteomics Analysis (Prot-HiSPRA) lead by the Faculty of Medicine, Europeana Libraries and many more.

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Council of Europe people do to curb extremism?

Stelios Georgiou

The Council of Europe versus Hate Speech “…tolerance and respect for the equal dignity of all human beings constitute the foundations of a democratic, pluralistic society. That being said, as a matter of principle it may be considered necessary in certain democratic societies to sanction or even prevent all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based on intolerance…”

The above is a quote from the judgment issued by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Erbakan v. Turkey. Simply put, tolerance and respect are the foundations of democracy and when these values are not respected by individuals living in democratic societies, it is our duty to prevent them. By preventing these individuals from spreading hate, we are protecting democracy.

Although it is the duty of the legislative bodies of each member state of the Council of Europe to impose sanctions on intolerant individuals and groups disrespecting other human beings, it is our duty as young, educated Europeans to promote awareness against these intolerant individuals and groups who only respect the human rights of people sharing the same ideology, religion or skin colour.

Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, several extremist groups and parties have been actively spreading, inciting, promoting or justifying hatred based on intolerance, and have have managed to significantly increase their

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numbers. Extremists have managed to go from a marginalised minority of crazies into more mainstream protest groups.

The invasion of extremist groups into the mainstream has wider consequences than one might think. Extremist groups or parties with larger support bases have been successful in entering national parliaments and have also been successful in securing positions in the European Parliament. This is a dream come true for the leadership and members of extremist groups who now have the means to spread their poison at a national and/or European level.

An additional perk of being elected to these positions for the extremists is that they are slowly but steadily cultivating the perception that it is acceptable for other people to share the same twisted ideals that they have.

Taking all of this into account, it becomes clear to the reader that extremism is a weed which needs to be uprooted fast, before it grows into something larger and more dangerous for democracies around Europe. So, what can young

The No Hate Speech Movement On the 22nd March, following the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the No Hate Speech Movement campaign was launched by the Council of Europe at their main building by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland. The launch was attended by two members of the statutory committees of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, Aleksandra Mitrovic from the European Steering Committee for Youth and Peter Matjasic from the European Youth Forum.

The campaign has a website which is a platform for user generated content uploaded by young people about hate speech, identity and ideas.

Using the website, members of the general public can post testimonials such as self-made videos and photos.

According to the Council of Europe, the definition of Hate speech “...covers all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance, including: intolerance expressed by aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility against minorities, migrants and people of immigrant origin.”

The Campaign is part of the project “Young People Combating Hate Speech Online” which was initiated by the Council of Europe in 2012 and will be running all the way until 2014. The project is a promotion of equality, dignity, human rights and diversity directed against hate speech, racism and discrimination in the online expression of young people.

The working methods are awareness raising, advocacy, and the seeking of creative solutions.

It is a project for action and intervention. The purpose of the project is to provide young people and youth organisations with the competences necessary to recognize and act against the violation of human rights.

According to the description of the campaign which can be found on the website, the whole project is a tribute to youth participation and co-management. It was born from a proposal of the youth representatives of the Advisory Council on Youth and was endorsed by the Joint Council on Youth, which brings together the members of the Advisory Council on Youth and the governmental youth representatives of the European Steering Committee on Youth.

EDS will support the No Hate Speech Movement campaign initiated by the Council of Europe in any way it can and strongly urges all of its member organisations to do the same. It is initiatives like this campaign which will enable us to successfully stop hate speech in its tracks.

Bureau

Amélie Pommier

EDS Bureau 2012-2013

EDS has elected a new bureau for this year during the last Summer University held in Sopron, Hungary. Avram CRISAN has been elected during the first EDS Council Meeting of the year on the 19th of October in Bucharest, Romania.

Juraj ANTAL (ODM Slovakia) achieves a second mandate as EDS Chairman. He leads the whole team and represents EDS in most events EDS is invited. His activities are mainly to make EDS more known on the European level and to keep connections with organisations and decision makers. He also looks for more support to EDS in order to push forwards EDS adopted policies.

Ann-Sofie PAUWELYN (CDS Belgium) is EDS SecretaryGeneral. She assists the Chairman and the whole Bureau in the day-to-day work. She is the main contact to all EDS organisations and assure the good process of EDS activities. She also represents EDS in many meetings held in Brussels.

Stelios GEORGIOU (FPK Protoporia Cyprus) is in charge of statutory questions and fundraising. Besides he is responsible for helping the three different working groups in their activities, providing them with training and support when needed.

Ingrid HOPP (HSF Norway) was already Vice-chairman last year and is responsible for communications and external relations. She communicates daily on EDS actions and views, in particular through the social medias. She develops new ways to communicate EDS actions and policies.

Moreover she leads the Higher Education and Research year project for the 2014 European elections.

Eva MAJEWSKI (RCDS Germany) is responsible for membership questions and external representation. She has been represented EDS in many events.

Moreover she takes part of the EDS policy work together with Andrey NOVAKOV to write notes on higher education and research questions.

Amélie POMMIER (UNIMET France) works on the campaigns and promotion of EDS. Besides she is in charge of EDS publications, which comprise mostly of BullsEye magazine and EDS monthly newsletter.

She will also develop other sort of publication for EDS and participate to the elaboration of the 2014 Higher Education and Research programme together with Ingrid HOPP and Andrey NOVAKOV.

Gintarė NARKEVICIUTE (JKL Lithuania) is another experienced bureau member. This year she is building the programme of EDS work and is responsible to set down EDS long term strategies.

Andrey NOVAKOV (MGERB Bulgaria) is in charge of output and input strategies. He makes the policy work stronger through increased research activity.

For that matter he organises EDS research activity with EDS Research officer Balint BALOGH. He is also responsible for all EDS Conference resolutions and take part of the 2014 Higher Education and Research project.

Anna TAMASI (Fidesz Hungary) supervises all EDS events this year. She helps the local organisers and is responsible for raising the standards of events. She also has the responsibility for EDS alumni in order to maintain good links with part members who will always be our representatives.

Avram CRISAN (OTPD-L Romania) is in charge of editing and designing the newsletter together with Vice-chairman POMMIER. He is also leading the Youth Entrepreneurs Project with Ivan BURAZIN, EDS Co-chairman.

Furthermore he works on the long term strategy with Vice-chairman NARKEVICIUTE.

Anna MASNA (USA Ukraine) is EDS Director in charge of European integration and helps EDS to get in touch with other organisations.

Dace SPELMANE is Deputy Secretary General for her second year. She is EDS’ only employee, based in Brussels. She assists the Bureau in its day-to-day management.

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