ISSUE 3

2

3 editorial

4 European state of mind

5 to be or not to be

6 the next step

7 going beyond numbers

8 tackling Teresa

10 far from right

11 lifetime experiences

12 censorship?

13 E-government

14 Kevin the problem solver

CONTENT

3

FACEBOOK. CHECK IT.FOLLOW LJUBLJANA 2015 FACEBOOK PAGE TO BE UP TO DATE WITH PICTURES AND OTHER COOL STUFF BROUGH TO YOU BY BLAZE MEDIA TEAM

Dear ones

We would like to start this, or better end this by saying that

it has been a true honour for us to having attended the

First National Session of EYP Slovenia with all of you. It is

easy to forget just how exceptional each of us are, when

we are surrounded by equally exceptional individuals. It is

often not until we head our separate ways that we realise

in what extraordinary company we have been in just about

a week ago.

Before we came to this session, we wanted to make sure

each and every individual got at least something out of this

exceptional session. We as the Media Team wanted to

contribute to the academic dimension of the session; we

did not only want to be here to entertain, or play energizers

or make lots of banter (but I believe we did anyway).

Together with the young and bright minds of our lovely

bunch of journalists we tried to interact with you delegates

in the best way we possible could while in the same time

preparing you in full for the general assembly and the EYP

world beyond Ljubljana 2015.

We truly wish you enjoyed the topic videos, both of our is-

sues and you are all just as excited for the newspaper you

hold in your hands right now!

In order to fully close the session, we would like to con-

clude with one last life lesson: never forget how the end of

something can be the beginning of the biggest thing yet to

come. This might have been a truly memorable few days

but wherever your wings make take you after this, little

dragons, it will be even more spectacular!

Hvala ciao,

Ilir and Sophie

EDITORIALAnother story of us (it’s the last one, we promise)

4

EUROPEAN STATE OF MINDHow to embrace it without losing your nationality?

Europe is a 10 million square kilometres

chunk of land inhabited by approxi-

mately 726 million people, representing

46 countries and speaking in many dif-

ferent of languages – one could hard-

ly think of another diversified piece of

Earth like this.

But the funny thing is, more and more

often it happens that two contemporar-

ies from the opposite ends of Europe

have more in common with each-oth-

er, than with older generations living in

their motherlands.

Globalisation and the Internet make us

find common tongue in many matters.

In addition to that, more than 500 mil-

lion people in Europe are connected

even deeper thanks to European Union,

as not only do they share interests and

ideas, but they have a common political

agenda as well. What does this mean

in the continent full of strong, distinctive

and independent cultures?

Even though the idea of a united Eu-

rope is at hundreds of years old, it was

only few decades ago when it began

its transformation from artificial agree-

ments between leaders towards actual

solidarity amongst people.

The project that we nowadays call “Eu-

ropean Union” might have kicked out

as an economic agreement, but it had

a much wider scope than that. Today it

is an institution integrating the EU citi-

zens in many other ways – by allowing

them to travel, trade, work and pursue

happiness everywhere around the con-

tinent.

It takes much more than will of govern-

ments to create a pan-European iden-

tity. It must be a grassroots initiative,

manifested in our behaviour and ideals.

A perfect example of such an initiative

is EYP Slovenia and its first National

Session – although a Slovenian proj-

ect, it is supported by the international

community of EYP.

People who came to Ljubljana 2015

were indeed from every corner of Eu-

rope. They all brought their culture and

identity with them – we had a glance of

that at Euro Village.

This leads us to what we can call

“pan-European identity” – not the artifi-

cial European “nationality” requiring us

to submit and throw away our national

traditions, but a platform and state of

mind that allows us to mutually em-

brace the culture of other parts of the

continent willingly and with respect.

-By Maciej Kuczynski (PL)

5

TO BE OR NOT TO BEAbout Euro scepticism

First of all, let us start by defining euro

scepticism. It is a distrust of the idea of

the European Union and its ideals. In

simple words, a Euro sceptic is some-

one who criticises the EU and is against

the process of political European inte-

gration. They are of the belief that the

EU takes power away from national

governments and that it threatens their

national sovereignty.

Euro scepticism spreads like a virus;

it travels through word of mouth, as

well as through a lack of proper edu-

cation and understanding of the EU.

Mothers to daughters, fathers to sons,

from neighbour to neighbour, friend to

friend. The list is endless, and the casu-

alty rate is growing.

A country that is riddled with Euro

sceptics is the United Kingdom. They

have always been wary of the EU, but

it is much more prevalent now. This

can be seen with the rising popularity

of political parties such as the United

Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).

They are pushing for the UK to leave

the EU completely. This is not new, the

UK have never been fully accepting

of the EU, but now due to the finan-

cial crisis and other European issues

their distrust has deepened and is now

spreading.

At the same time, other Member States

such as France and Germany have in-

creased levels of Euro scepticism. The

recent bail outs of some of the other

Member States suffering from the cri-

sis, has given the Euro sceptics a larger

platform in which they can plant their

sceptic seed.

If the Euro sceptic plant continues to

grow I think we will be looking at a very

different Europe. One that may have

less Member States, and possibly a

more destructive attitude towards the

EU. We can combat this in different

ways. Engaging citizens and educating

them so that they have a more accu-

rate knowledge of the EU and its aims

should be a key priority. Therefore they

can formulate their own opinions and

not just the one they have been infect-

ed with.

-By Molly Mc Keagney (IE)

6

THE NEXT STEPWhat to do after your first session?

Congratulations, you have made a

good decision and started or contin-

ued your EYP path by attending the

1st National Session of EYP Slovenia!

Regardless of whether this was your

first EYP experience or you have at-

tended sessions before, I encourage

you to continue your journey. The EYP

is a wide, diverse organisation, in which

you have unlimited possibilities to try

different roles, meet new people, travel,

learn and do much more. Here you can

find some useful information on how to

continue your EYP career.

Some of the Slovene delegates are go-

ing to be slected to attend an Interna-

tional Session or Forum. If you get this

opportunity, use it! Unfortunately not

everyone can be chosen, but it does

not mean that you can not continue

EYP in other ways. You can take part

in different sessions abroad as a dele-

gate, as the international delegates are

now doing here in Slovenia. Another

option for you is to go ahead and ap-

ply as an official. If you think it is still

early for you to be chairpersons, you

can always try to be an organiser or a

journalist.

There are several ways to get infor-

mation about sessions throughout the

continent. First of all you can sign up

to the EYP alumni platform, where you

can find information about future ses-

sions as well as about the organisation

in general. Through the platform, you

can check the date and location of dif-

ferent sessions, as well as information

on how to apply to them. Another way

to get up-to-date information about

events is to go to Facebook and join

the EYP group called ‘Sessions!’.

Different sized events are organised

throughout the whole year all around

Europe. Regional sessions are usual-

ly a few days long and gather mostly

delegates from the country they are

arranged in. National Sessions and

Selection Conferences are longer and

more international events, whereas the

International Sessions and Forums are

10 days long and gather participants

from all over Europe.

In addition, you can also be active in

your National Committee. Most of the

National Committees arrange events

and activities for their members. For

example, EYP Slovenia will organise

EYP days during the year. Being an

active member of your National Com-

mittee is a great way to stay involved

in EYP, make friends and learn more

about our organisation!

-By Eveliina Hannikainen (FI)

7

GOING BEYOND NUMBERSAnalysing what makes an EYP session so special

The 1st National Session of EYP Slo-

venia started with an idea. Two Head

Organisers planed it all out. Three days

to make the EYP unforgettable to 66

delegates, some old, most new.

Ten Chairpersons, two Vice-Presidents

and Teresa are making sure that this

experience is for you as good as it can

get. Nine members of Blaze are docu-

menting your steps toward six resolu-

tions. 400 cups of coffee keeping you

awake throughout the day. Eleven or-

ganisers working tirelessly to fulfil your

wishes.

An EYP session can easily be divided

into bunch of numbers, statistics and

percentages. But that is not what EYP

is all about. The most important thing

is the atmosphere around you. There is

nothing like it in the world. Waking up

at seven in the morning even though

you went to bed at three for whatever

reason, only to realise that the organis-

er waking you up is even more tired but

still smiling and cheerful.

Meeting around fifty intelligent people

who were total strangers to you and in

just 3 days feeling like you have known

them forever. Dying out of laughter

in GA to some inside joke you made

up with your committee two days

ago during eambuilding. These are

the things that make an EYP session

unique.

During the session I met an organis-

er who was up all night picking peo-

ple up from the airport, and he did not

even mind it at all, he was happy to be

helpful. The next morning, when I saw

him in the lobby, he was looking like he

went to bed at ten.

It is a great example of how useful EYP

really is; you can function under any

condition. The feeling of satisfaction

you get from serves as a perfect fuel.

Then you go home, already looking for-

ward to the next session. There is a first

time for everything and believe it or not,

these sessions will get even better.

This is only the first national session of

EYP Slovenia, but surely not the last.

Big things start from a dream you just

have to hold on to them. Kevin, Oskar

and Ira can confirm.

-By Tvrtko Kenda (HR)

8

TACKLING TERESAThe woman with all the answers

9

1. How are you feeling about

presiding the 1st National Selection

Conference of EYP Slovenia? Do

you think you are setting standards

for the future?

Teresa: I heard about this project for a

while, it was gathering more and more

attention. The session had a snowball

effect. When I was asked to preside I

knew that I would be setting standards

for future EYP Slovenia events. So far

I have been very impressed by the

performance of the organising team, it

has been very smooth.

2. Generally people involved in the

EYP study very “EYP-ish” courses.

We know that you are also one of

these EYPers. How do you apply

your field of knowledge to EYP

sessions?

Teresa: Although I am not a typical law

student EYPer, I am closer to political

science – I study development, which

is applicable to EYP. My professional

life - as far as I have one - is centred

on the development studies. As part of

the role of president, I chose both the

session theme alongside the commit-

tee topics, so if you look at them, they

are all somehow connected to foreign

affairs or development.

3. You have been involved in EYP

for quite a while. What is your

standout memory?

Teresa: Back when I was a delegate at

the International Session in Frankfurt,

we had Euro Village held in the garden

at the back of the hostel. I was sur-

rounded by so many countries, smells,

tastes and cultures; it was so intense.

It was then when I realised what I have

just gotten myself into the EYP world.

From previous sessions I had a glimpse

of what EYP could be like, but it was in

Frankfurt when realised what EYP really

is.

4. Do you have any advice for

future Slovenian alumni?

Teresa: Yes - appreciate the experi-

ence. When I started doing EYP, it was

so much smaller than it is now. My first

session only had sixty people. It was far

more chaotic than this session has ever

been. You could say that EYP Slovenia

has started on a very solid foundation.

Delegates have a great opportunity

with the kick-off of EYP Slovenia, and

they should embrace it.

5. Last but not least: would you

rather fight one hundred duck-

sized horses or one horse-sized

duck?

Teresa: One horse-sized duck. I don’t

really like ducks, simple as that.

-By Molly McKeagney (IE) and

Maciej Kuczynski (PL)

10

10 years ago, Europe seemed to be rid

of far-right extremism, with radical par-

ties acting on the outskirts of serious

politics. But at some point, apparent-

ly someone has turned the table. The

most visible and dreadful manifestation

of such development are the elections

results throughout the European Union

– both to national parliaments and

Brussels.

United Kingdom Independence Par-

ty (UKIP) was a small fraction back in

2010, supported by roughly 1% of UK

population. However, the same poll

conducted in 2014 has shown that its

support rose to 14%. UKIP’s leader,

Nigel Farage, is well-known for his an-

ti-immigrant ideas and fiery speeches.

Just a few months ago at a session of

the European Parliament, he used the

words “the newest Polish emigree” to

describe Donald Tusk, the new Presi-

dent of the European Council.

Although the UK has always had a re-

cord of euro-scepticism, its citizens

How are far-right parties in Europe gaining support and why should we be concerned about it?

were satisfied with the moderate ap-

proach of the Conservative Party, and

such popularity of radicals marks a

dangerous precedence.

On the other side of the La Manche

strait, the situation looks even direr. The

National Front, a main French national-

ist party, has actually become a leading

political power in the country. It proved

to be the most popular option in the

2014 European Parliament elections,

taking 23 out of the 74 French spots in

the Parliament.

Polls show that its leader, Marine Le

Pen, is the most popular candidate to

take the seat of the President of France

after Francois Hollande, with one

Frenchman in three supporting her. In

2010, she compared Muslim presence

in France to German occupation during

the World War II.

Unfortunately, these two “bright” exam-

ples are not the only ones. People in

each part of Europe easily find reasons

to turn to extremism, should it be the

recession, rising religion-related ten-

sions or external security. Most of the

far-right parties are still in the one-digit

support zone, but the case of France

and UK shows that they are not to be

underestimated.

Enthusiasm and massive support is

a regular first impression on radical

populism, usually followed by massive

tragedies. Having both economic iso-

lation and hostility towards minorities

in right-wingers’ menu, we can surely

account them among radical populists.

We had a massive lesson on that in Eu-

rope 70 years ago – the question is, do

we remember it?

-By Maciej Kuczynskii (PL)

FAR FROM RIGHT

11

LIFETIME EXPERIENCESWhy studying abroad?

We all like to leave behind our rou-

tines and encounter opportunities that

are waiting for us outside our comfort

zone. Studying abroad is that opportu-

nity to fly away and start over, to fill your

head with memories, take responsibility

and meet amazing new people. Being

able to leave your home and experi-

ence what other countries have to offer

is a chance you should not let escape.

The possibilities are numerous but

whether you make the most of it or not

depends only on yourself. As a person-

al experience, studying abroad opens

your mind and broadens your horizon. I

spent a year in England, four months in

the USA and a few summers in Germa-

ny. What did I learn? Apart from the im-

provement of language skills, I learned

to take care of myself, to be indepen-

dent and to learn to make decisions.

For me it was the opportunity to leave

my fears at home and start from

scratch. In a new country no one knows

you, and you can show what you have

to offer to the world.

Moreover, some countries offer you

possibilities you would not have at

home. Whether it is for a better edu-

cation, a different studying system or

to learn a new language. The reasons

are infinite but you have to feel encour-

aged to find your own one. We live in

a globalised society where most of

the things you do in a different country

could be done in your own.

However it is only about not what you

do, but also how. There are still a lot

of differences between countries and

cultures. Hence, even if you can study

at home, why not do it in a different

way? Some people think that being

rich means having a lot of money, but

being rich means having had as many

experiences as you can.

Will you miss your family? Will you miss

your language? Your mother’s cook-

ing? Your friends? Probably, but after

the first days in a new country you will

start getting used to the culture, the

people and even the food. At first you

will think it is impossible, that you will

never get used to it and you will want

to go home.

However, give it a chance. Forget your

fears and give yourself the opportunity

of experiencing life to its fullest.

-By Carlota Cumella (ES)

12

CENSORSHIP?Or how 2+2=5

Generally censorship is understood as

a control of media and public speech-

es by government. However, it also has

a wider concept. The imposing of an

ideology and even self-controlling are

forms of censorship.

In the dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-

Four”, George Orwell described a cold

war between three imaginary shut-in

countries. Nevertheless, he used some

real facts. Even though the telescreens

and the concept of the Big Brother

were fiction elements, the brutal cen-

sorship actually took place in all the

totalitarian regimes in place throughout

the continent.

In society

In the second part of 20th century,

Spain suffered from the dictatorship of

Francisco Franco, who had become

the country’s leader before World War

II. His censorship was mostly referred

to cultural diversity and languages. Be-

One of the most outstanding features of independent and prosperous societies is the freedom of speech and thoughts. While the European Union supports its democratic values, other countries suf-fer from a lack of these liberties. You might not face censorship personally, but it is still useful to know

some facts about it.ing a nationalist, he believed that only

one language, religion and common

traditions must be obligatory for every-

one. It is difficult to believe that a de-

veloped European country managed

to escape from this censorship only in

1978.

Self-censoring

The interesting fact is that people tend

to limit themselves voluntarily following

some taboos. There are different exam-

ples to show this. Citizens of countries

which lost a war are not eager to speak

about it, since they still have a feeling of

guilt and responsibility. A lot of people

with conservative beliefs prefer avoid-

ing topics related to the LGBT commu-

nity or to pre-marital sexual relations.

Censorship in the “modern days”

Europeans have the impression that

only the so-called Third World Coun-

tries are suffering from the suppression

of speech. However, while China, North

Korea and Belarus are well-known for

their limited Internet access, it might be

hard to believe that there is censorship

even within the EU Member States.

For instance, the government of the

UK monitors websites for security

purposes, sacrificing people’s privacy.

Furthermore, a lot of Member States

block web pages with content which

they regard to be inappropriate. This

can be considered as understandable

and positive, but still remains a form of

censorship.

-By Yulia Nagirnyak (UA)

13

E-GOVERNMENTA bureaucracy-free state?

Ideally, e-government can be divid-

ed into two basic aspects: electronic

government itself and electronic gover-

nance. E-governance mostly refers to

citizen’s impact on the officials. People

do not simply observe, they participate.

Using information and communication

technologies (ICTs) as a tool, they as-

sist in achieving better governance.

E-government is considered to be a

form of communication proposed by

officials to citizens. There are 4 types

of engagement: government-to-citizen

(G2C), government-to-business (G2B),

government-to-government (G2G) and

government-to-employees (G2E). Each

type of interaction includes pushing in-

formation over the Internet, engaging

users into dialogue, conducting online

transactions and encouraging the citi-

zens to be active.

The idea is not only to achieve easier

organization of paper routine or con-

nection to officials everywhere and at

any time, but also make people more

involved, information more transparent,

and the whole community more sus-

tainable in its development.

The circulation of a single document within different departments instead of spending time in queues is not a utopia anymore. By having internet access you can register marriage, control government outgoing documents and so on, just by sitting in front of your computer. It is a universal system of

interaction between public authorities and citizens, allowing supervising the work of officials and sim-plifying documentation process.

tainable in its development.

Taking into consideration the advan-

tages of all these types of engagement,

it is important to notice two other out-

standing features.

The first one is e-democratization. It

means direct connection to officials

by social networks or chats in order to

change any injustice in the society – in

other words, every voice is heard. The

second one is e-voting, which allows

people to make their choice on pres-

idential or parliament elections while

sitting in front of their computers, even

if they are in another country.

The most experienced e-Member Sate

within the EU is Estonia. Since 2005

people can vote by using special elec-

tronic ID-cards, which can be accessed

via a card reader even by a laptop. In-

stead of wasting time in queues, citi-

zens only have to verify their account

together and then vote. The last e-vot-

ing elections were held in Estonia in the

beginning of this month.

Different members of EYP Estonia con-

firm thathe ordinary parliamentary elec-

tions theld on March 1st were attended

mostly by older people, while young-

sters voted from the 19th to the 26th

of February using online technologies.

Even if there is a possibility for electron-

ic elections to be hacked and altered,

Estonians believe that ordinary elec-

tions can face the same threat.

The implementation of e-government

has very high costs, and furthermore it

is also considered to be unfair. The old-

er generation, visually disabled people,

as well as people with limited econom-

ic resources cannot use the internet for

voting. In addition, there is no system

making authorities post everything on-

line, which results in a false sense of

transparency among citizens. Last but

not least, when a government pro-

vides the information about itself, citi-

zens can access it by using biometric

ID-cards, thus losing their privacy. In a

worst case scenario, this could lead to

totalitarian-like internet system.

When asked about e-government,

most of the EYPers say that its biggest

flaw is the fact that it is not in place in

their countries. Unfortunately, neither

remote voting, not electronic papers

are available in most of the EU Member

States.

-By Yulia Nagirnyak (UA)

14

KEVIN THE PROBLEM SOLVEROr is he?

15

It is 2 a.m., the end of the second day

of the 1st National Session of EYP

Slovenia. All the organisers are still

working. We met the tired, but still

cheerful, President of EYP Slovenia.

Only 19 years old high school senior

Kevin Komočar has done an enor-

mous job in creating EYP Slovenia

from scratch. He shared his experi-

ence about establishing the National

Committee, starting just by having a

vision of it.

An interesting fact is that Kevin found

out about the EYP through Google. He

was surprised by the fact EYP does

not exist in Slovenia. For this reason,

he contacted his friends, gathered the

very first board and established EYP

Slovenia with help from the Internation-

al Office of the EYP. Kevin has been the

President of EYP Slovenia for 3 years.

The Slovenian EYP team has been pre-

paring for the 1st National Session for

over a year. It was not easy for Kevin to

find passionate people who could con-

tribute so much time to the success of

the session. The Slovenian board even

had to manage a short introductory

session to find interested participants.

Overall, as the participants in the ses-

sion have noticed, everything turned

out well.

Kevin admits he is satisfied with the

session. “Reality is above my expec-

tation” – he adds. Organising a ses-

sion takes a lot of time, but the result

overbids spent energy. Moreover, Kev-

in’s school supports extra-curricular

activities, so missing lessons is not a

problem for him. “When Slovenian del-

egates come and thank you, it worth

much. I like seeing how people have

fun”, – says Kevin.

Regarding the future of EYP Slovenia

Kevin has ambitious goals; he wants to

expand the activity to other parts of the

country, build up a good board and find

an office space for the National Com-

mittee. The most important aim for

Kevin is to get more active Slovenian

EYPers. EYP Slovenia is going to ar-

range EYP days for the new members

this year.

Although Kevin can be described as an

experienced EYPer, he has attended

only one session as a delegate. Kevin’s

favourite EYP memory is from his first

session, the 19th NSC of Belgium in

Brussels: for a first timer it was strange

to sit on the pavement and play “blip-

blop”, a game which consists of having

to speak with your mouth full of water,

in front of everybody.

Kevin is certain that in the future he will

participate in more sessions and gain

more experience as a delegate.

In his own words, Kevin is a prob-

lem-solver, hard-worker and a bit hum-

ble. The message he wants to send to

the delegates, especially the Slovenian

ones, is that you should always take

chances and be yourself. Kevin finds it

important to be brave and not to take

anything for granted.

-By Yulia Nagirnyak (UA)

and Eveliina Hannikainen (FI)

PARTNERS