DEMYC Interactive

Recession

2009-03-17T04:32:00.001-07:00

According to Eurostat figures published on 13th February in the fourthquarter of 2008 the GDP of the euro area and that of the EU declinedby 1.5% in comparison with the previous quarter. During the thirdquarter 2008 the growth rate lay at -0.2% in both areas. In comparisonwith the same quarter the previous year the euro area GDP recorded adecrease of 1.2% and that of the EU declined by 1.1% over the fourthquarter of 2008 against +0.6% and +0.8% in the previous quarter.

Winter school

2009-02-11T06:09:00.000-08:00

Heeey guys!
I've just red the outcome of the winter school which took place last week in Vilnius. I found it really interesting!( and it is not only because it has very nice graphics :P) It seems that the meeting was a friutfull one and we're extending our mass attack on Lukashenkas regime! :)
what to say......we need to keep on it:)
sending u all best wishes from snowy Pl,
Agata

Athens waiting for us!

2008-04-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

Hello to you all from a beautiful city of Athens, DEMYC crew and organizers already here waiting for you. See ya!

2008-01-24T01:34:00.000-08:00

Open Letter

To: Romanian Presidency
Romanian Government
Romanian Parliament
Romanian Mass-Media
Romanian NGO
European Institutions

The Christian Democratic Youth – NPCDP, from Romania is shocked by the events that followed the DEMYC (Democrat Youth Community of Europe – one of the youth organizations of the European People’s Party) study visit in Belarus. We declare that is unacceptable that young people get arrested by the authorities after using a basic human right: the freedom of speech.
Following a study visit to Belarus by DEMYC, ten Belarusian activists from The Belarusian Popular Front and the Young Front were arrested and imprisoned by the Belarusian regime because of their political beliefs. These young activists are: Franak Viachorka, Anton Kalinouski, Yuras Stankevich, Uladzimir Syarheew, Kasya Krasnova, Lyudmila Atakulava, Kasya Halitskaya, Maksim Vyarnyanski, Paval Kuryanovich and Volha Kulyakevich.

These ten young people were arrested and have been sentenced for up to 15 days in prison without any justified reason. They have been sentenced to prison for “using bad language”. Some of them were beaten by the police in order to confirm their participation in a peaceful demonstration of the opposition.

The actions of the Belarusian Government prove that these political forces are against democracy and against the natural process that every country from the former USSR must follow. Unfortunately, the political regime in Belarus seems that is related to tight to the deported Communist Party and to it’s universal capital: Kremlin.
We are worried for the people in Belarus, for they must stand against such regime, witch does nothing but a political inquisition.

In any normal country, it is impossible to band the freedom of speech and expression. Including the political belief. Such actions must not repeat, and we appeal the International institutions to do whatever it takes in preventing such barbarian events in the future.

The Youth Organization of The National Pesant Christian Democratic Party– himself a victim of the atrocities made by the communist regime from Romania in the 20th century - rallies to the DEMYC and IYDU’s (International Youth Democrat Unoin) appeal, and urges world governments to defend human rights and freedom of speech in Belarus and everywhere.

Victor Ionescu
CHAIRMAN- THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC YOUTH – NPCDP-ROMANIA

Aftermath of the Belarus study trip

2008-01-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

There were reports today that two persons whom we met in Minsk were "asked" to attend an interview in KGB.

More about it on my blog.

Also uploaded some pictures of the event.

non-formal alpen DEMYC

2007-12-17T01:45:00.000-08:00

hey everyone!
As we already established new DEMYC tradition of non-formal meetings, we want to invite you to participate in skiing demyc in austrian alps in the first week of March (from1st till 8th). Programme is simple- we are skiing (alternatively drinking Gluhwein and watching alpen views :P), chatting and having a lot of fun :D. We will live in a cabin (costs approx. 15euro/night/person) and we are planning to buy food before and then share spendings. for those who really want to ski (like me:D), we will have to buy skipasses, what's the most expensive (I think) thing during this event. how to get there: we will sleep in Schladming or Forstau and this places are close to Salzburg, where you can get by plane. The best would be to get there by car ( I know some people are taking cars, so probably we can arrange it somehow to pick you up from the airport, when we will know who exactly is coming).
NOW, PLEASE NOTE:
1)I have to know who is coming as soon as possible, to book a cabin, so please, let me know if you are going till the 3rd of January
2)For any further infos, contact me :)
see you all in Finland!

DEMYC tropical drops

2007-10-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

have a look at this ;)
http://www.naturalhealinghouse.com/pekana_demyc.html

Elections in Poland :)

2007-10-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

finally, after two years of neverending jokes about polish President, PM (yes, I am talking about two most famous ducks ;), polish foreign policy and tenses of very strange ideas created by our Ministers (like the one with gay-telletubbie, bcs. he's wearing a bag...), I can attend DEMYC event on which I will not have to explain why we're such a..... ducks :P
Great majority of Poles belive, that now we're on the right (nomen omen) route to become respected and developing european democracy.

and now, in a nut shell- facts:
turnout- 53,86% (polish new record!)
-41,51% of votes and 209 seats in Parliament for PO
-32,11% votes and 166 seats- PiS
-13,15% votes and 53 seats- LiD
-8,91% votes and 31 seats- PSL
-0,20% votes and 1 seat for German Minority
As you can see- PO with PSL is having majority and that's the most probable coalition for today.
(in the photo you can see election evening party we, Lower Silesia PO had on Sunday. We had a very good reason- PO got 53,20% of votes in a region and we are going to have 8 or 9 seats in Parliament).

At last, please note it's my personal opinion. MK was not supporting any political party during this elections.

Dark side of DEMYC Polish seminar :)

2007-07-30T06:54:00.001-07:00

I wanted to write many times about the mysterious event that took place late spring this year in the Polish Tatras. Well, a lot of things happened that can't be really described by words, but some others can: car theft, gun smuggling, alcohol (over)consumption... Let the evidence speak:

Some people came in with high expectation:

Some people socialized with wrong people:

Some people just flew around:

Some people thought practice makes perfection:

Can summer school beat this?

Mart Laar about future leadership

2007-07-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

When they tell you that you'll be the leader of the country one day, you might laugh. They used to tell me the same thing, and I laughed. It sounded ridiculous. But then it happened, and you have to be ready for that day.
I remember during the Milosevic era, I received a call from Maggie Thatcher. She asked me to go to Belgrade, saying, 'I have some friends in Serbia, and they could use some encouragement.' So I went and met a group of smart, young people. And when I told them that they too would be ministers one day, they laughed. The group was called G17 and, sure enough, some of them became ministers after the democratic changes.
You too will be the leaders one day. Both in old democracies and new ones. So you have to take advantage of time because you have to be ready for the future. Be brave and don't lose your ideals!

Mart Laar

(copy-paste by Veiko from Mr Mart Laar)

PPUY new web-page

2007-06-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

Amigos, PPUY has a new web-page www.noorisamaa.ee.
Which is mainly a posting for general secretary to change it on DEMYC page.:)
And sorry it is not yet on english.

Veiko

2007-06-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

Victor Ionescu book "Romanian Christian Democracy and European Christian Democracy" can be found in the editor's stand at this year's Bookfest, at ROMEXPO.

DEMYC Vice-Chairman suicidal :)

2007-06-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

My video about the things I do every day before breakfast. I hope to get this thing on the schedule of our next seminar since it KICKS ASS!

Religion, democracy and a trip to Brussels

2007-05-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday, I had the pleasure of representing DEMYC at a debate hosted by the European Youth Forum and the Network of European Foundations.

The debate was neatly entitled "Religion and Democracy" and addressed issues such as "Taking securalism seriously", "Incorporating Islam into European Societies" and "The role of media and education" - all interesting subjects, but rather difficult to address in depth between 10am and 4.30pm. All in all, we had a lot of different opinions - the classical liberal stance of tolerance, a socialist hard-line secular point of view, and my own hawkishly moderate stance :).

I can't see there being any clear-cut solutions to nearly anything regarding religion or democracy, and I'm rather skeptical of attempts at large scale, radical and idealistic reform projects... if not just plain cynical. This is always a problem when talking with people from NGOs - their idealism and my inherent cynicism just don't seem to click.

The ensuring debates are always fascinating, though. Perhaps the most interesting part of the debate was the one regarding the underlying cause of the problems with the (largely Muslim) immigrant communities in Europe. The debate was long and rather inconclusive (surprise :)), but one point I would like to share in a bit more detail: Class and immigration.

Class, Culture and Immigration
At least in the Danish immigrant-debate, as well as the British - I've been told so at least - has for the longest time revolved around 'culture' and 'values'. Being a student of anthropology, any mention of the "C-word" arouses half interest, half annoyance. Too often, culture is used as a vaguely defined catch-all that something clouds the picture more than it helps. The ongoing debate on immigration is a great example. In Europe, Muslim immigrants are often marginal groups of low socio-economic standing with all that that entails: crime, unemployment, high(-er) mortality rates... while in the US, Muslims and Arab Americans in particular, are rather model immigrants with above-average income. If the culture of the immigrants explains how they will adapt to the host society, and - the tacit assumption of the 'Muslim'-debate in this country - if Islam is the root of their culture - why then isn't the same thing happening in the States as in Europe? This Wednesday's debate would say class; bluntly put, the difference between coming to a country as a refugee on a bus or flying on business class. True or not, the notion was worth the debate.

Free Speech
Other topics we touched on: migration patterns, majority-minority relations... and also, stereotypes in the media. This item on the agenda bugged me, though. I am quite prejudiced against the debate: Frankly, it's interesting, but fruitless. Furthermore, it needs to be fruitless.

After discussing media stereotypes and distortions for some time, I asked the girls running that part of the show something in the order of "What do you propose?". The answer was awkward silence, so I elaborated on the question. I assumed - feared - they had some call for action. Obviously, they considered media distortions a problem; I asked them for proposals for a solution, which they were unwilling to give. Of course, I admit to being perhaps a tad bit overly rhetorical with them, but the question still lingers in the back of the mind. What do they have in mind? Or perhaps, what have they planned?

I've seen and heard it before. The tacit call for action against the media; most strikingly I heard it in Istanbul in a discussion with some not-so-democratically minded Middle-Easterners, and I've heard it between the lines from the Left. Very often there are good intentions underlying the harsh criticism of the media; tolerance, understanding, peaceful co-existence. Too often, however, it has the distinct tinge of censorship that taints political correctness.

All in all, the debate this Wednesday was thought provoking. I'll give further details when I receive the minutes, and I'll post a picture or two as well.

What does it take to become a future leader in Europe? ;)

2007-05-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I am putting here one multiple choice question. An answer is written in comments to this post. I relly can't figure out what kind of tip or advice it is for us, the future leaders ;)

task:
It is time to elect a new world leader, and your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates:
Candidate A: Associates with crooked politicians, Consults with astrologists, Has had two mistresses, Chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day
Candidate B: Was kicked out of office twice, Sleeps until noon, Used opium in college, Drinks a quart of whisky every evening
Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero, He's a vegetarian, Doesn't smoke, Drinks an occasional beer, Hasn't had any extramarital affairs
Which of these candidates would be your choice?

New blogger from Spain!

2007-05-08T04:46:00.000-07:00

DEMYC blog attracts attention world-wide (well, let's say Europe-wide). I just received a mail from Javier Hurtado, a Spaniard who is a member of Nuevas Generaciones of Partido Popular. He is willing to contribute to our blog, so I immediately granted him a permission to be a guest blogger on DEMYC Interactive.

Check his blog on hurtisliberal.blogspot.com. (It's en espanol, but maybe you will see it's worth it just from the pictures:)

Maybe we will have some guest posts on our blog soon.

Teenagers voting in Austria

2007-05-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

I just red an article about new regulations austrian government want to set up. Coalition want to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 in all states and at all levels. And I am wondering what's the purpose..... I mean the long distance purpose for right wing parities (in a short distance it seems austrian conservatives can gain a few teen votes). First of all, most of 16 years olds is completly not interested in politics(young people are joining youth political organisations being 18,19 ). Secondly, that's the age media and mass culture have huge influence on people, what can cause lot of demagogic campaign and simply accidental votes. Lastly, there is a tendency that young voters are more sympathisant with tha left side, because of their idealized view on states, individuals and possible systems (that's actually Miha's very accurate thought :)- so we're loosing!
waiting for your opinions, maybe some counterweight ;)

Nashist's

2007-05-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Quite similar, I would say.

2007-05-02T07:42:00.001-07:00

Hey all,
I am sending my hello from Munich. I have been in Germany for more than a week now and i try to get the updates from the DEMYC blog about EYF, French Elections, EDS, Bureau work, etc, etc... What i can say from my site is that HAMBURG ROCKS!!!!

1st of all Congratulations Ines!!!! It is very encouraging to see that DEMYC efforts in EYF are finally giving results. It seems that a new era is beginning in EYF.

2. It was Costas Birthday yesterday, 1st of May. HAPPY BDAY COSTAS...

If anybody is around Munich, please drop by and watch our theatre performance at the Gasteig Zentrum. At the weekend 11-13 May i will be in Brussels for the EYF working group. If there is a demyc friend around it will be nice to have a cup of coffee together.

Ines Prainsack elected for the BUREAU of the European Youth Forum

2007-04-30T02:47:00.000-07:00

The DEMYC Chairwoman Ines Elise Prainsack got elected for the bureau of the European Youth Forum on a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In this position she will deal with unemployment policy and related topics.

Congratulations Ines and congratulations DEMYC...

Riots in Tallinn

2007-04-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and also today we are seeing some riots in Tallinn due to government started works on "unknown soldier's" graves near the bronze soldier.

As these movements started riots then government decided to remove this grave memorial from it's current location.

During yesterday night approx 300 people were arrested, approx 60 injured and one dead civilian, 1 out of 13 injured policeman is in hospital.

Today tension is growing up again and approx 100 more people has been arrested.

Hope fully thing will be back to normal in few days.

As there is always good point about bad things then we could conclude:
We are now truly democratic European nation in this matter, as you look what has happened in France, Spain and other countries in EU.

You can read more from BBC.

Sakozy on the way...

2007-04-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

Result of the 1st round in the french presidential elections...

Sakozy 30 %
Royal 25 %
Bayrou 18 %
Le Pen 11 %

Election turnout: 84 %

Now we await the 2nd round on the 6th of May, but again everything can happen...

French election on Sunday...

2007-04-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

This sunday an exiting election will take place, namely the 1st round of the presidential elections in France. The 4 main candidates are the socialist Royal, centercandidate Bayrou and the conservative Sarkozy... And then there is offcourse the mad-man of french politics Jean-Marie Le Pen, from Front National.

It looks like its going to be a close race, with the last poll today saying: Sarkozy 27 % and Royal 26%. But everything is still totally open...

Sarkozy has been a much more conservative candidate, than we are used to in French politics - being pro-US, pro market economy and tough on crime. I personally welcome a much more pro-western French president. Royal is the usual socialist propaganda, we know so well - it didn´t work in the Eastern Europe and it wont work in France as well...

So thumbs up for Sarkozy... :-)

In this poll, you can see the developments over the last weeks

Whats going on in Ukraine?

2007-04-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

In the last week there has been alot of things on the new about Ukraine - today it was demonstrations of the supporters of the 2 leading policians: President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Yushchenko dissovled the parliament 2 weeks ago calling a new election in May - and this lead to a powerstruggle between the 2 main political figures of Ukraine...

But their struggle has ties back to the 2004 presidential elections where the Orange Revolution which swept Yushchenko to power, overturning a false Yanukovych election victory.

As far as I know - the whole core of their struggle is the foreign relations - Yuschenko believes in strong ties to the West - Yanukovych in very strong ties to Russia...

Poll results and new poll!

2007-04-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

Hey, I am enjoying some nice weather back in Prague, how are all of you?

I have some nice news, our poll just finished and you can see the results below. As it seems, this place is either "damn great!" or "great, damn!" (for those of you who didn't notice - it's the same thing:) There were some traitors to call us a "Chirac fanclub", which I consider being a curse...

DEMYC blog is:

There is a new poll coming on the right menu, we just have to explore how we all stand on Tony Blair, there were some misunderstandings about that:)

British soldiers are free - and not a minute too soon!

2007-04-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6525905.stm

If it was the resolution on the DEMYC blog the news doesn´t reveal... ;-)

Belarus needs our help!

2007-04-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

Dear DEMYC activists,

I have received this from our friends in Belarus, Andrey Dzenisevich was with us in Belgrade only a few days ago... if you have any ideas on how we can help him and all those in the same situation... please post it or mail it to me at krull@demyc.org

Lasse

Andrey Dzenisevich, the UCP member and YCSU “Young Democrats” leader was arrested and examined by the KGB on the 28th of March.
The captain of KGB Dmitry Svistun together with another officer in civil arrested Andrey Denisevich at his home and escorted him in handcuffs to the Minsk city office of KGB.
Andrey was examined there in the framework of the initiated criminal case against youth activists of the not registered organization “Young Front”.
Four young people are under the investigation according mentioned criminal case now – Borys Garecki, Aleg Korban, Anastasya Palejanka, Dmitry Fedoruk In the case of the trial all of them will receive the "standard" verdict – according the article 193 of the Criminal Code of Republic of Belarus "activity in name of not registered organization" – that means conviction on two years of deprivation of freedom. Andrey Dzenisevich was captured and examined as the witness yet. But he is sure that it is only the beginning – usually the "witness" is easely transformed to the "accused".
Andrey Dzenisevich thinks that his forced arrest is one of the step of the general strategy of the Belarussian authorities targeted against the most active and potentially dangerous members of the youth movement.
In his case he thinks that it is the response from the side of KGB for his not desire to collaborate with them.
Taking in attention all the mentioned
the Youth Christian-Social Union "Young Democrats" aks everybodyto :
• be not different to the destiny of Andrey Denisevich and other youth
leaders that are persecuted by the Belarusian authorities;
• put the question to stop repression against the Belarussian opposition
members before the Government of Belarus;
• strengthen the support of the political youth organizations of Belarus.

Resolution on Iran

2007-04-03T05:36:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody, I think we should do a very strong resolution on the case of 15 British soldiers captured. What do you think?

My proposal (awaiting comments):

"Democrat Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC) strongly condemns actions taken by the Iranian regime in order to capture and imprison 15 british soldiers. We urge Iranian officials to immediately release the above mentioned British troops and enable them to return back to their homeland safely. If this is not the case, we recognize the right of the United Kingdom and the international community to put Iran under diplomatic pressure with the aim of immediate release of British soldiers. We strongly encourage the European Union and the United Nations to take any necessary supportive measures to achieve this goal."

True love?

2007-04-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6yRqlF_uuY

Should Tony Blair stay or should he go?

2007-03-31T10:03:00.001-07:00

This is a video for Lasse who revealed his dark side in an article called "A true statesman!". I really hope that we all have an answer for the question: he should go, and ASAP!

THE ONLY THING more important than EU Constitution;)

2007-03-31T05:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
it's really fantastic we're having possibility to meet each other every year...... four times a year actually, on amazing events, but...... it seems to be somehow not enough and after every demyc meeting I feel a kind of insufficiency- I would really like to spend more time with you guys, sharing ideas and having fun:)
I'm sure I'm not the only one to feel that way. And here Palli and Tomas came with help, bringing the idea of organising non-formal demyc meeting.
Hereby, I have a pleasure to invite to such meeting in polish Tatras, in Zakopane. Our plan is to spend some time hiking, having parites and absolutely everything you will propose to do. According to details- it'll take place between 24 and 27 of May; dress code is definetly non-formal(even more-tracksuit is required!); there is no travel, accomodation, food reimbursement (but still spendings will be minimal). If you would like to come earlier or stay for longer, there will be no problems- I am here to take care of it.
If you are interested, want more details, have some creative ideas we can include in our meeting or just want to write me an e- mail, write it on: agata_granatowska@wp.pl / contact me on msn: agata.granatowska@hotmail.com / skype account: agata.granatowska
looking forward to hearing from you!!!
Agata

Beautiful Prague

2007-03-31T04:20:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this post from a very nice café in beautiful Prague.

I've met with Tomaš and we have had the opportunity to meet with some interesting people. Something that we will definitely blog about within short period of time, so stay tuned!

I also met with the Icelandic Minister of Culture and Education. She is also the deputy Prime Minister of Iceland and vice-chairman of the Independence party. Needless to say I used the opportunity to brief her about DEMYC and our work. We really have to be active in promoting our organization so everyone knows who we are and what we are doing!

I encourage you to use every occasion to promote DEMYC and talk about the DEMYC work. Only in that way are we able to have our voice heard and as young politicians, that is of course what we are striving for!

Also I urge you to blog about what kind of DEMYC you want and if you are pleased or not pleased with our work! Bearing in mind that DEMYC belongs to all of us and without the people coming to our seminars and our Member organizations there would be no DEMYC! In that light it is only natural that you should have something to say about what we do and how we do it!

A true statesman!

2007-03-30T03:37:00.000-07:00

Dear DEMYC-friends,

I have a confession to make :-)

Im a fan of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Eventhough he is from Labour, eventhough he is not Conservative, eventhough he overthrew the Conservative rule of the UK in 1997 at the landslide elections...

Let me tell you why:

- He is the only polician in Britain, who actually doesn´t hate Europe ;-) He has the courage not to be a populist and actually tells the truth: Britain needs Europe and Europe needs Britain. Old memories and wet dreams of the British empire, cannot and should not change that.

- After the war in Iraq, he acted like a true statesman. After they didn´t find the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he stated, that knowing what he knows now, he would still have done the same. No matter what the populists and the polls are saying. He stated; he still believes that he took the right decision and eventhough its not popular, he doesnt try to run away from his actions and his beliefs.

- He has the courage to stand up against the extremists of Iran in these last days, after they have prisoned british soldiers claiming some crazy conspiracy theory. The western and our way of life world should support him, in DEMANDING the soldiers to be set free.

When he steps down in the summer, there will one less true statesman in Europe. And his actions should put him up there with other British PMs, like Churchill and Thatcher...

And eventhough he might not be Conservative in his party-book - he is defending Conservative values in his beliefs and actions...

Kosov@

2007-03-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning, as most of U started your home trip, I, firstly, had a great nap till 12 o`clock and then set my foot to the bus station of Beograd. The bus trip was really ok, beside the fact that it lasted for 6,5 h and it was all shining outside. Though, the view was great, I actually went past the biggest mountain of Serbia (1,9 km height - maybe Mia can help me with the name). There weren`t no problems between the border of Kosovo and Serbia and I arrived to Mitrovica at half past 7.

I imagined that I`m entering a war zone, but it wasn`t that bad at all. People were all friendly and generous, mostly because Kosovo has unemployment rating at 70% and they just hope that you would donate or tip some money.

Most of my time I stayed in a city called Kosovsko Mitrovica, which is the biggest city in North-Kosovo and also the most problematic. As it is generally known, Mitrovica is divided into two part: Northern (Serbian part, pop. around 20K) and Southern (Albanian, pop. around 70K). There were quite a difference between those two parts of a town, but I`m not going to disclose which part I loved the most. I think it`s enough when I say that the serbian part was much cleaner. And I`m not saying this, because I know that Serbians are reading that blog, it`s just that the Albanians are throwing trash where ever they like.

The famous bridge that is dividing Kosovsko Mitrovica into two part. This bridge has been destroyed several times and the new bridge has been funded by EU. We see policemen guarding this bridge and it is guarded by army troops, too. For using the bridge you`ll have to show your ID-card. It`s guarded because it`s the most common place for agressive riots and fights between Albanians and Serbians. At the moment we have a view to an Albanian side of the city.

Serbian part of the city

...and the Albanian part of it

It`s a look to a Roman part of the city (Roman village) on the Albanian part of the town. Some years ago, Albanians burnt Roman village down. Now Norwegians have built them new appartment houses (on the left) that are much better than the cotes they were living before. All the Roman minority (200 people) can live like kings now. I think it`s the time when they can say to bullies:"Who`s the biatch now, huh?!" Funny solution though.

Kosovo has a very beautiful nature, only if the Kosovars would respect the landscape they have.

My escort, who were protecting me along my adventure. My brother on the left and another Estonian troop sitting in a car.

Question: How many women are on the picture?

Welcome to Priština - The City of Unemployment and Pirate Products

I really loved my trip and it was definately a great experience. Because I`m going to write a 10-page essay on this topic in english, I took a freedom not to blog about political situation in Kosovo. But, I really am prepared to discuss about it and answer any of your questions.

Maiko,

happily home in Tartu

An online DEMYC revolution maybe?

2007-03-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

I launched this web some time ago and now I just cannot believe. Every time I type demyc.blogspot.com into my browser, there is a new post by one of so many authors. That is truly awesome! Seems like we made it work together, didn't we?

Now some news:

1) I just added a poll that you can vote on (see the right column), we can change the question from time to time.

2) I added a code that allows us to measure visits on the blog, will keep you up to date with the number (like 25 different nations just today:)

3) Another widget is what they called Tag Clouds - they scan through the blog content for last seven days and generate words that we use the most. The biggest are the most frequent. Pretty interesting to see (above the poll).

And some recommendations:

1) Try to keep some formatting to your posts.

2) Try not to write three posts after each other, just make a bigger one, so people actually have some time to read them before they disappear in archive.

3) Comment - instead of posting on exactly same issue as some previous posts you may rather post a comment under the mentioned post. If its a bigger though, then it undoubtedly deserves an own post. But comments are making it much more interactive.

WELL DONE, all of us.

Treaty of Belgrade

2007-03-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Estonia. At last I`m home. Tough Kosovo trip has ended succesfully and in fact, I`m still alive. Well, as promised, I`m going to write a brief report about Kosovo, but that`s later.

I found something funny among my photoslides. The conclusive picture of the seminar in Belgrad. Sry, I mean the nightlife side of the seminar. Well, here it comes:
Who doesn`t get the joke, be free to ask some help.

It's a beautiful day!!!

2007-03-29T04:26:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

as I just checked weather around the europe, it seems we all have preety sun with only a few clouds on the sky and... SPRING:)

Using the occasion of such positive environmental condition, I wish you bright and cheerful days fulfilled with joy and getting new experiences.

We are here unquestionably to create the future and in respect of that we need to fight all fears that interrupt us in reaching our goals. As Albert Einstein said:

"Everybody knows that it's impossible to do so, and it is impossible to do so. And then comes the one who dosen't know it's impossible to do so, and he does so."

The Guy was quite smart, so maybe there is something in it :)

Still keeping in memory someone elses phrase, that if you want to change the world, start with changing yourself, I am going to hairdresser ;)

have a beautiful day!

The winning roll

2007-03-29T02:09:00.000-07:00

Another great seminar! Looks like DEMYC is on a winning roll.

The Slovenian delegation of NG SLS and SDM started long drive home on Sunday afternoon. As the city of Belgrade was disappearing in the distance, recollections of the past days were slowly starting to fill our thoughts and provoke our conversations. Everybody agreed it was one of the best events they ever attended. The Belgrade seminar had most interesting speakers, superb organization and famous Serbian hospitality.

But as I can observe from the last seminars, there is always something "in the air" witch makes the seminar special. This my friends, is a friendship witch we build between us. And its growing stronger with each seminar we do. Therefore, I'm sure that the winning roll will continue and that the future of DEMYC is bright.

Until we met again!

Power to the people?

2007-03-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

Palli has just written an interesting entry on the EU commission - everyone's favorite part of the EU to hate. While I do most definitely agree that the commissioners' mandate is comparable to that of an ambassador, the case is of course that they have been entrusted with great executive and administrative powers on the behalf of the Union per se. I may just be rambling, but perhaps the Commission is the most typically of all the EU-institutions? The commissioners certainly are strange political hybrids between ambassadors and independent powers. They are diplomats whose links home have been severed upon their appointment and subsequent approval by the EP.

On one side, they epitomize the oft-mentioned democratic deficit of the EU, on the other hand, not at all. Their mandate is no less democratic than that of any other political appointee - such as a cabinet member or as Palli mentions, an ambassador. Yet, they are not accountable to their respective heads of state, as they represent the Union and no single member state. As the Union still derives its authority from the sovereign constituent members, this is highly problematic. As far as I know, they are not allowed to take orders from their home governments, take their home nation's interests into consideration... or in any other behave as ambassador. And yet, they are each drawn from one country. I guess this is the new democracy; participation has replaced representation as a political ideal*. The EU member states aren't represented in the Commission, but they do participate.

* Note: "No taxation without representation" was a slogan in the 13 colonies, who were taxed without having seats in the British parliament. Nowadays, everyone is talking about involving, including and 'participating' people. Makes me wonder..

2007-03-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Picture from Ukraine: Treaty of collaboration between Youth UCD-Ukraine and Youth PNTCD - Romania

Coalition treaty agreed in Estonia

2007-03-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Just few hours ago in Estonia new coalition treaty has been signed between Reform party, Isamaa ja Res Publica Union and Social Democrats.

According to this treaty Reform party will get 7 places, IRL 6 and Social Democrats 3.

Reform party nominates following ministers:
* Prime
* Justice
* Foreign
* Social Affairs
* Environment
* deputy chairman of Parliament

IRL nominates ministers of:
* Chairman of Parliament
* Economic Affairs and Communications
* Regional Affairs
* Education
* Defence
* Agriculture

Social Democrates got next positions:
* Internal Affairs
* Finance
* Population Affairs

Hopefully we will have good government which can make a difference.

2007-03-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Romanian Christian Democratic Youth’s Road To The European Parliament

Since this year, Romania has joined the European Union. As a result, a series of persons who represent either political parties, non-profit organizations or the civil society will become members of the European structures.

After seventeen years of hard efforts and straight-up development, our European dream became true and so, Romanian citizens can travel free in the other countries members of the European Union.

One of the most important tests that Romania has to pass in her way to the European structures are the elections for the European Parliament. Sadly, we started this test on the wrong foot because of the conflict between President Traian Basescu and Prime-Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who, by an emergency decision delayed the elections for this year’s fall.

This decision has been well received by most political parties and especially the ones who represented the power because, in this way, they will have more time to prepare for the elections.

NPCDP was one of the political parties who wished that the elections take place in term, more precisely, on the 13th of May 2007.

Our party is prepared to stand in a political campaign and is represented by the best candidates. NPCDP has gathered 320.000 sustaining signatures to be able to enter the elections. The minimum limit was 200.000.
Our main candidates for the European Parliament are Alexandru Herlea, former Minister of European Integration, Radu Munteanu – Vice-Chairman of the NPCDP in charge with foreign contacts, Congressman Aurelian Pavelescu, Chairman, Marian Milut and the Chairman of the Youth Organization of the NPCDP, Victor Ionescu. He is also in a training session in the Council of Europe.
Victor Ionescu is the youngest candidate of all political parties in Romania. He is only 26 years old, but the political experience that he accomplished during the years is a strong warrant for his person and for the political career that opens up ahead of him.

The Christian Democratic Youth

PNTCD - Romania

from Belgrade to Cyprus

2007-03-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

Heyah all!!! Got back home last night. I am glad i had the chance to enjoy sunny Belgrade with Mia for one more day. Million thanx to ODSS for planning everything and for little additional things that made our stay in Serbia more special. I am now collecting the MSN and Skype contacts so keep them coming please. Until next time we meet... let the DEMYC blog rock!!!

What are we doing wrong?

2007-03-28T01:14:00.000-07:00

The European Union has acknowledged that trade has not increased with the introduction of the Eurozone!

"The introduction of the euro has so far failed to boost trade within the European Union, European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said. In a speech, the commissioner said the EU remains a "less integrated trade area than the U.S."" (Wall Street Journal)

But like everyone knows the introduction of the euro had the main purpose to improve trade within the EU.

Power to the People

2007-03-28T00:54:00.000-07:00

As I read the e-mail from Erik Paisley at work this morning about the Rome Summit of the European Youth Forum I started to ponder a little about the European Union. Suddently (which of course I knew before) it came to my mind that the most powerful organ of the EU, namely the Comission, has exactly the same mandate as my ambassador has from the people of Iceland! The only difference is of course that the Ambassador has no legal power to take any important decisions at all!

This is so unfair! Of course we, here at the embassy, should have the same authority and mandate as the Comission to take important decisions for the Icelandic people! I feel so left out:Þ

Home Sweet Home

2007-03-28T00:51:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

Thank you for a great DEMYC seminar in Belgrade, I had a very good time like usual and am already looking forward to seeing you again!

All the best from beautiful Vienna

Sad news from Lucine and Eric

2007-03-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

Lucine, our Armenian member, who took part in the Belgrade event, informed us about the sad fact that Mr. Andranik Margaryan passed away this Sunday, while some of us we still in Belgrade. Very sad to hear that and we send deep sympathy to Lucine and Armenia. To get to know more about Mr. Margaryan (pictured), please read Lucine's article here on the DEMYC web.

Another news came from a Dane Eric Paisley - he wrote an astonishing overview of events that took place during the Youth Summit in Rome. For you to get the feeling, just quoting from his paper: "Politically, the results of the summit were disastrous. A radical leftist agenda was pervasive and by sheer number, its proponents were able to (mis-)represent the youth of Europe. The organization of the event was a tad sloppy, but without major incidents." More on that next time.

Look-back at the seminar

2007-03-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

Its now two days from the end of the seminar in Belgrade, which I must say was very well organized and I’m please that I had opportunity to attend it. Hopefully next events will be at least as good as it was in Belgrade.

Seminar topic was well chosen and all performers knew their topic as the problems were one of their five fingers. As Lasse already said that he got home lot wiser, I just must admit the same.

City of Belgrade

It was just wonderful and I’m not going to event talk about those nights there more than we found out on the way home that we had in total about 10 hours of sleep time from Wednesday morning till Sunday evening arriving in Tallinn.

The way home

Half of the Estonian delegation, other half, including our well-protected Finnish minority, we managed to leave behind or lose on the way, which made home on Sunday had good travel experience.

Our trip started in early morning when Saturday evening hadn’t had a change to end yet and ended with astonishing sunset on the road from Riga to Tallinn.

During the way we needed to keep us going with some fun games, like “Who is the first one to fall a sleep in plane?” or “follow the Treaty of Belgrade”.

Something to see

We did some pictures during the event and for your pleasure I have uploaded them to internet. You can view them on address http://pildid.liive.net/index.php?cat=11.

In conclusion

… there is something to wait for and hopefully it will be as good as it was in Belgrade. Thank you for all the organizers.

Butcher in Belgrade?

2007-03-27T05:28:00.000-07:00

Rumors go that on Sunday a Chinese guy took a knife and attacked five people in Belgrade. Two of them got seriously injured. All of that happened on Knez Mihailov Square, just a couple of meters from our hotel. Anybody could confirm that? Mia?

I stayed until monday morning and there was really nothing that would actually seem like a crime scene. But nobody really knows:)

Home sweet home...

2007-03-26T08:21:00.001-07:00

Back i Denmark... Taking of as planned from Belgrade, but in Vienna the plane was delayed due too some connecting flight = plane delayed for 1 hour, causing me to be delayed and missing my train to Odense, so at 02.00 I was back in my flat, which by the way, need some serious tidying up... Better get started ;-)

Thanks to ODSS; Mia, Andreja, Dragan, Alexander, Danko and Borko for a great seminar in Belgrade. I got home alot viser, and I know that everybody really liked the city of Belgrade!

I will be back for sure!

Until next time DEMYC... See yaa!

Heading home...

2007-03-26T03:30:00.000-07:00

Great seminar, great people in a great country... Anything else to add? I am just sitting on the airport, waiting for my jet flight and I really hope to get some feedback on the blog from as many of you as possible. Take care and enjoy life as we did in Belgrade:)

If there in anything I could do for you regarding the blog or anything else, mail me or hunt me on Skype, MSN, ICQ or Yaoo messengers.

Blog for powerful DEMYC!

2007-03-24T03:33:00.000-07:00

Up and running after crazy party yesteray evening, we are ready to present the official DEMYC blog. Should get us even stronger than we already are (see the picture).

Debate and Exec. com. meeting...

2007-03-24T03:31:00.000-07:00

The debate has now ended - and Jani from Finland won as the best speaker, congratulations!

Right now, we are listening to the presentation from Estonia, concerning the recent elections and esspecially their e-voting...

Over and out, from the Executive Committee Meeting...

The parliamentary debate has started...

2007-03-24T03:30:00.000-07:00

Now the workshop - training session has begun... Danko has started his introduction, the topic of the debate is: "right for self-determination/state sovereignty"...

EXICITING STUFF ;-)

The Sec Gen live from Belgrade

2007-03-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

Im sitting here in Belgrade listening to Mr. Simic, who is an advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister and his lecture about "Notions of Identity in a Sovereign state".

All lectures have been interesting, and have given me a much more broad insight of the situation here in Serbia - our hosts have really done their best, and everything has been very professional.

After the coffee break we will have a work-shop, lead by Danko, and it will be in the form of a parliamentary debate... looking forward....

Thumbs up for Andreja, Mia and Dragan - and the rest of their team!

Paris - Prague - Belgrade

2007-03-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

What up?

Just sitting on Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, checking mails and checking the blog to see the new posts and comments. It's just a couple people knowing that it exists, because we plan the official launch for the Belgrade seminar, but already a bit alive here. Let's use it:) Looking forward to Prague and Belgrade soon!

A French thought: how come that such a strange nation has such a great capital? :) I was watching closely the presidential race and it seems so far that both candidates are equally crazy. This is not a battle between right and left, but between moderate left and radical left. Pitty for Europe.

The Secretary General is now a center right blogger...

2007-03-07T02:43:00.000-08:00

;-)

Cool blog...

Looking forward to present it in Belgrade...

Lasse Krull
Secretary General

Seminar in Belgrade CROWDED!!!

2007-03-06T00:18:00.000-08:00

Today we reached 40 participants registered, which is a long-time record. Seems like there is a lot of interest in DEMYC lately. Keep them coming :)

For more info on the seminar check out DEMYC's official seminar page.

Just a little statistics - so far 40 participants from 18 countries, 16 women, 24 men. So no bs about the gender issue:)

Greetings from DEMYC WS

2007-01-16T09:52:00.001-08:00

A pic to remember - in the middle of nowhere, just us and the extreme experience. Next events scheduled to the middle of March to Serbia (Belgrade).

DEMYC Interactive Launched

2007-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Mark this date as a new start of DEMYC communication - we have launched this blog to enhance our informal communication both inside and outside DEMYC. This page should not at all provide services already supplied by www.demyc.org, our official homepage. It should in much larger extent enhance communication between organisations and people in DEMYC, all those who visit DEMYC events or just want to keep touch with us.

Anybody can become a contributor - just send me an email to info@tomasjirsa.com and I will send you an invitation for you to become a DEMYC blogger. It's very easy and fun, so don't hesitate:)

And, of course, feel free to add comments anytime, that's how the page becomes a two-way communication:)