The Gherkins

2nd Issue of the X Czech Forum

Personally dedicated to:

Dear all,

You probably noticed that the 2nd issue you are now holding in your hands is way heavier than the 1st issue. And you are right, actually, this issue is a special edi-tion of double issue. Inside you can find many interest-ing articles regarding your committee topics, describing how does the EYP works, both in the Czech Republic, within the Member States and also in many non-EU countries.

You all were present at the Mock Resolution on Satur-day. This means, that you all are now familiar with the whole Gherkin issue and you understand how important topic it is. The resolution has fortunately passed, thanks to you. Still, you can support your opinion by creating your own home-made gherkins.

Enjoy the second double issue full of serious, hilarious, emotional, fancy and interesting words.

Yours

Kristýna

The Gherkins - 2nd Issue

Created by the Media Team of the X Czech Forum

Kristýna Stejskalová (CZ) (Editress)

Michal Novotný (CZ) (Video Journalist)

Anna Hagarová (CZ) (Journalist)

Anna Nichols (IE) (Journalist)

David Soler Crespo (ES) (Journalist)

Maciej Kuczynski (PL) (Journalist)

Marek Haisl (CZ) (Journalist)

Nikola Uzelac (RS) (Journalist)

Veronika Wilhelmová (CZ) (Journalist)

Editorial

Make the Gherkins...Znojmo is known not only for its wine but also for its gherkins. Have you ever wondered how this delicious meal is made?

Making a gherkin is quite a long process. It usually takes around four days, but the result is definitely worth it. If you want to prove you were in Znojmo, you should know how gherkins are made.

You need:

7 cucumbers

½ cup of salt

5 cups of sugar

5 cups of vinegar

¾ teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons whole mixed pickling spice

2 cinnamon sticks

Firstly, I would recommend you to wash the cucumbers. After that, cut them into small pieces and place them in a large container filled with boiling water. On the second day, drain the container and replace it with fresh water with a little salt. Drain it again on the third day and prick the cucumbers with a fork, then combine and bring to the boil 3 cups of vinegar, 3 cups of sugar and the turmeric and spices. When it is boiled, pour it over the cucumbers. After 6 to 8 hours, drain the mixture from the container into the saucepan. Add 2 cups of vinegar and sugar and boil it again. Prepare sterile jars and filled them with the cucumbers and cover them with the boiled mixture but leave a few centimetres’ space. Place the jars in the canner filled with warm water-the temperature shouldn´t get over 85°C- and make sure that the water is above the level of the jars. After 30 minutes take them out, leave them alone for a while and in a few hours you can start eating.

Marek Haisl (CZ)

(Dis)unity over the rainbow?

Anti-gay rights laws being intro-duced in Russia, same-sex marriage becoming legal in Britain, remaining a complete taboo in the Arab world and many other countries all signal a wor-rying lack of worldwide unity on the gay rights issue.Since the year 1924, with the emer-gence of the earliest known gay rights organisation, The Society for Human Rights in Chicago, individuals, social groups and eventually, the world’s so-ciety has started to become more and more involved in the dissenting dis-cussions concerning homosexual mi-norities. Questions regarding rights, attitudes, beliefs, prejudice, and social status have kept arising since then, heating up the already boiling pot of views and dividing society into two dif-ferently minded camps.In the heat of Teambuilding it has

proven self-evident that, although the LIBE II unicorns share similar views and approaches in handling certain problem-solving games, major differ-ences appear at other times. There-upon, is it Abigail’s mother to blame or was it all the sailor’s fault as she “just wanted to be with her love”? And how can we decide irrefutably?

Human rights are generally linked with our ability to think, discuss, have, pursue our own will, make decisions, self-reflections and be self-aware.

That is what differentiates us humans from animals and their inanimate na-ture and grants human rights to all of us.But why is the right to marry anyone without exception still pending to be-come absolutely natural among every-one? Why do we lack enough respect and understanding in the year 2013? Await more news from the unicorns of LIBE II, especially their final outcome in the form of a resolution to discover various innovative solutions and ex-planations. Moreover, they might even tell you, what is actually hiding at the end of the rainbow…

Veronika Wilhelmová (CZ)

What happens over the rainbow, stays over the rainbow. Is it impossible to break the taboo?

LIBE II

The horse-duck questionQuality versus quantity conflict

Among the problems tackled by AFCO committee, one particularly interesting issue arose. “Would you rather fight one hundred duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?” Members of the committee proved to have various approaches on that di-lemma, and we can learn much about their personalities from their answers. The most popular opinion was that fighting one horse-sized duck is an

easier challenge. Marek, Nikola and Petr believe that one hundred tiny horses can easily overwhelm you. “You can take down many of them, don’t stand the chance against the numbers”, Honza said. Anna, on the other hand, sees these opponents in categories of problems – she prefers to tackle one big issue rather than strug-gling with dozens of tiny ones. Jára seems to be unafraid of an army of little horses, he simply finds one giant

duck to be an easier enemy.Only three delegates in AFCO dared to take the c h a l l e n g e of the duck-sized horses’ army. Zuzka sees smaller

opponents as weaker opponents and does not care about the numbers. Ondra believes that it is easier to take down smaller enemies one by one than struggling with a big one. Zu-zana shares that view, appreciating the possibility of stepping on the tiny horses.Believe it or not, the duck-horse ques-tion gives us some clues about the people of AFCO. They are both fans of multitasking and focusing on one goal. Each approach has its pros and cons, as they both allow the committee to achieve different things efficiently. Time will show that these personality traits will be visible during committee work, as more important problems than fighting hypothetical animals are yet to be raised.

Maciej Kuczynski (PL)

AFCO

Educate yourself,educate the world

Many things have been happening over the world during history. Without knowing them we would not have any cultural background.

DROI

Maja loves monkeys. “I would definitely have a monkey as a pet before than a pig, they’re much funnier.”

Tomáš thinks that a person singing the bear hunt on the metro “must be totally crazy”.

Kryštof would “never” have a bright pink and orange car but he admits that “if my girlfriend had a pink car, I would not refuse to drive it”. Clever guy.

Jana would never like to see a girl with a moustache. “No way. If I try to use my hair as a moustache it just looks terrible, not natural”.

If Ruslan had to be an advisor of Hitler or Stalin at times of war he would choose Hitler because, “He’s cool and speaks German”, you know. No comments.

Although everyone now thinks that the fox can say many things, David affirms that “The fox says nothing”. He can prove that.

Karol would definitely not go on a date with Justin Bieber. “He looks like he is 13. I prefer older guys”. Good decision. I bet Justin Bieber does not feel 13.

Adam would help a good friend to bury someone he assassinated without a doubt. He argues that “if he is a really good friend, he would have a reason for doing so.”

Iva definitely thinks it is worse to mix beer with chocolate than wearing a pink and red outfit. “Mixing beer with chocolate, c’mon?”

David Soler Crespo (ES)

Ready to rollIt is 13.55 in the afternoon and the search for the Head Organisers has been launched. The interview with some of the busiest bees of the Ses-sion is scheduled for 2pm in the Orga room and they are nowhere to be found. However, everything is settled after a few minutes and the interview can start. Because there is always something going on in the Orga room, we sit on a corridor, around one of the tables. Marek and Václav seem calm and confident.

About them

After some thor-ough research, we have conclud-ed that our HOs have quite differ-ent personalities, like a cat and a dog. They think that this is what makes them such a good team. Vá-clav says: “If you choose a person who has a lot of similarities with you, it wouldn’t be much help-ful.” These guys have known each other for 9 years already. Their friendship just came naturally.

Marek studies Economics and Math, he wanted to do something that would put his creative mind to use and help him to solve situations using the meth-ods he learned. He is considered to be a fun-loving person, who approaches to problems more emotionally.

On the other side, we have Václav.

A student of financial matters who is also considering starting Law next year, because he thinks it is useful. Even though he doesn’t look like he is spending much time having fun, he actually is. His organisers consider him a nice person, but unlike

Marek, he is rather strict and pretty aware. He claims to be proud of his energy, sometimes he gets quite lazy, however, when he works, he can fully focus himself on the matter.

Why Znojmo?

The idea of organising the Czech fo-rum appeared a year ago, just after the end of the last forum. These two Moravians, together with the Board of EYP CZ, decided to bring the ses-sion to the region, where it hasn’t really been before. At that moment,

Znojmo seemed like an ideal place. A small city near borders with Austria would show the interest and care that a bigger city would not.

The organisers’ team

Every HO needs a tough and reliable crew to work with. According to their words, they have the best organiser team they could wish for, who spent a lot of their time and ef-fort to make this session possible. Marek and Vá-clav are quite relaxed, because they feel that they have a trustworthy and self-reliant team. Which dog?

We have asked them a question-if they had to be a dog, what species would it be? Václav didn’t really hesitate. He is sure that he doesn’t want to be a small dog, because they tend to be ugly. He would rather be bigger and definitely wild. Marek

said that he is more of a cat person, but if he had to choose, the answer would be as followed - “What I’d choose is to be a hot-dog, with a crispy surface which is hard to tell how is it gonna taste like, with warm centrepiece which shines with taste and fun and unicorns and stuff like that.”

They are behind everything. You will not really see them running around, but their fingerprints are almost everywhere. Meet the Head Organisers.

Moravia vs. Bohemia

As the Orga team mixes both Mora-vian and Bohemian influences, there have been some discussions concerning the forms of language. The HOs, already quite aware of the world, were more than happy to help the Moravian Orgas with understanding the Czech ones and vice versa. However, they are from Brno, after all, so some words that were annoying and incompre-hensible for them were forbidden. And despite the Czech Orgas still using them, they keep pretending that they don’t understand.

Anna Hagarová (CZ)Nikola Uzelac (RS)

X Czech Forum in numbers

Maciej Kuczynski (PL)

United in diversityBorders divide countries. In the EU we are fortunate to have the Schen-gen agreements that remove borders between countries and make it easy to cross from one country to anoth-er. You can even get from Vienna to Znojmo by car without any control or problem. Isn’t that great? As the session motto states, we have the possibility to “Let the Borders Fall” in Europe. EYP has a big role in that part. People from all around Europe unite to discuss matters that affect everyone. Unfortunately, EYP has not got the power to let all borders fall. Al-though there are other measures that can be taken, we must first ask ourselves a question. To what extent are do we want borders to fall? Would this help Euro-pean countries or could it be detrimental? Are we not united in diver-sity?

To analyse this situation we should first acknowledge the role that bor-ders have played in history. Europe has been divided for many years with changing borders playing a key role in dividing conflicting countries. In times of war those who wanted to travel from one country to another would ex-perience serious problems. After the disastrous world wars borders have still been important to reshape the map of Europe and divide countries, such as Germany, which was divided into four.

Fortunately, nowadays we do not have this problem, but there are many measures we can take to make the borders fall. What can these be? Well, I previously mentioned that nowadays

we can happily cross borders be-tween countries in the EU. However sometimes there are other problems. For example, crossing from Austria to the Czech Republic is very easy, but after that you will have to go to the ATM to change euros for Czech Crowns. That means getting used to another currency which you don’t

know and which can cause serious problems when paying. If all the EU countries adopted the Euro this prob-lem could be tackled and we would all use a single currency. However, is this beneficial? Would all countries benefit economically from this decision?

Furthermore, nowadays in Europe there has been an increase in Euro-scepticism. People are not believ-ing in the functioning of a European Union. Eurosceptics would focus on their countries’ problems instead. Moreover, borders are starting to be created between “Northern” and “Southern” Europe due to economic differences. How can this be tackled? We can talk about embracing a Euro-pean feeling between us. However, would reducing Euroscepticism be a

good measure for reducing borders? Would this have any effect? Should we have only one view and have all of us feel super European?

Another issue is the language barrier. When you travel to another country you either have to learn their language or expect to understand each other in

English or by mimics. A solution to the language problem can be the cre-ation of a European lan-guage. Everyone could then move over Europe speaking the same lan-guage and communicat-ing efficiently. Sounds good, but is this fea-sible? Should we really create a new language from scratch?

As we have acknowl-edged, the motto “Let the borders fall” can have many meanings. Many measures can be taken to eliminate exist-ing borders in the EU,

but do we want them to take place? The EU acknowledges the differences between Member States with its mot-to “united in diversity”. If we change language, currencies and reduce Eu-roscepticism, we can help to create a European community but we will be destroying the identity of each one of the 28 Member States in the EU. We would therefore eliminate the existing diversity in the EU. Do we really want to create only one type of European or should we let the borders fall by celebrating our differences between ourselves? You decide.

David Soler Crespo (ES)

Barriers such as language, culture or currency can create borders between countries. Should we let these borders fall?

Breaking walls but drawing lines

An examination of linguistic diversity’s potential to unify and divide

Why does a picture paint a thou-sand words? Even though the exact answer is impossible to define, the question encapsulates the difficulties we often experience when trying to express ourselves clearly. There is no better example of this problem than the concept of language. In its crudest terms, language should be the very thing that connects us as a shared means of communication, but at the same time, it can act as a barrier that hinders progress. This paradox epito-mises the current linguistic situation in Europe. The EU currently counts 24 of the languages spoken in Europe as working and official languages, while more than 20 other regional and mi-nority languages are promoted and enshrined within Article 22 of the European Charter of Fundamen-tal Rights, which states that “The Union respects cultural, religious and linguistic diversity.” Further research into Europe’s language statistics reveal that English is con-sidered to be the most useful lan-guage to have in the EU, followed by French, German and Spanish. A 2012 Eurobarometer survey con-firmed the importance we attach to multilingualism, with 98% of re-spondents stating that mastering foreign languages was important for their children’s future, and 88% agreeing this was also important in their own lives. In fact, multilingualism is now considered such a valuable skill that certain regions of Europe are considered to be experiencing a ‘linguistic crisis’, where the vast ma-jority of the population only speak or study one language. This is particular-ly pertinent to the UK, where doubts surrounding monolingualism’s feasi-bility are growing due to an increas-ingly competitive jobs market, a rising multilingual immigrant population, and the explosion of globalisation through-out the continent.

Furthermore, the significance of language to a nation’s culture has been entrenched in societal and in-dividual identities for centuries. ‘Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam’ is an old Irish saying that translates as ‘A na-tion without a language is a nation without a soul’. In certain contexts this certainly holds true. The link between language and culture has acted as a crucial symbol of solidarity for op-pressed minority groups throughout history. However, what does this mean for the future of linguistic diver-sity in Europe? Although our rich and varied heritage is frequently touted as a reason to celebrate the fact that our relations with one another are better than ever, there is a possibility that

such pro-diversification moves could have a negative effect on progress in Europe. Unsurprisingly, this is an area that has been rarely discussed, given the EU’s ‘United in Diversity’ motto. Linguistic variety creates as many barriers as it attempts to eradi-cate. A lack of proficiency or speak-ing experience is often mistaken for stupidity or incompetency, which impedes the successful integration of non-native speakers into groups

outside their own immediate culture. Similarly, monolinguists are often left feeling isolated in situations where their mother tongue is not spoken, as the other language implicitly denotes a shared experience in which they can-not share. Such exclusions indicate a more worrying trend in European so-ciety, where language barriers are be-ing employed to inhibit social mobility. How can a multiplicity of languages be celebrated when they are used to prevent what that they are intended to improve? The poet Adrienne Rich once said that when a man is in pain, ‘there are no words for this except himself’. We should not assume that we can describe another person’s experienc-es for them. If this is the case, then we

should not assume that the promotion of linguistic diversity is the only way to eliminate divides in Europe.

Anna Nichols (IE)

On the road to EuropeSerbia is in Europe, but somehow we are not ‘in Europe.’ How does EYP function in a non-EU coun-try such as Serbia?

You really need a lot of work and ef-fort to start something like EYP if your country is not in the EU. It is quite ob-vious that things such as the very idea of the existence of EYP has a differ-ent goal in different countries. EYP is present in Serbia for a couple of years and in that time quite a lot of progress has been seen. A lot of people are doubtful when they hear the compound ‘European Youth Parliament’. They feel the same whenever they hear the word Europe and usually wonder why they should be a part of something that is about the European Union if they do not live in a Member State. For this reason, the importance of EYP’s existence grows even bigger.Primarily, the point of existence of such an organisation is to spread the word, to present Europe as a really great thing and to make people believe in that institution. One day Serbia or some other country will come in time to decide about its future. Until then, we should have a transparent picture

of what are we heading towards.We are slowly making progress to-wards the EU; however the presence of some disagreement between Ser-bia and the EU is noticeable. As time goes by, some of the EU’s actions that an average Serbian would find repel-ling are more relevant to everyday life. On the other hand, we have a lot of events and organisations that are trying to crystallise the picture of the Union and make it desirable. There-fore conflicting interests surround the joining of the European Union.It is really hard to find new delegates, so every single person in the national EYP Serbian office is included in the process. Persistence is really impor-tant for our work. People usually come to sessions with some prejudices and are not quite sure what it is all about. At the end, they come out with a huge smile on their faces, desiring more EYP experiences and marking more sessions in their schedule. We made it!EYP Serbia was founded in 2006 with

a little help from EYP Croatia. Since then 6 National Conferences and 2 Forums have been organised. The Danube Youth Forum (DYF) was held for the second time this year, and it is one of many stops on the “EYP map”. This would not be possible if we didn’t have very responsible, decisive and tenacious people who were will-ing to take the risk, and set off to quite an unknown area back then.We are one big and fast growing fam-ily and we are also always craving for some new challenges. We also wouldn’t be where we are now if we didn’t have an amazing team of lead-ers. EYP Serbia truly has a support network, but compared to some oth-er national offices, it is a really small amount. We will continue our work, because we feel responsible for our future. One day we will surely join the EU and who knows, because every-thing is possible, maybe we will host an International Session.

Nikola Uzelac (RS)

PEDedWhat difficulties and promises lie behind these three innocent letters?

PED is an actual technical term, standing for amongst others Pressure Equipment Directive, Personal Emer-gency Device or Porcine epidemic di-arrhoea. And most importantly, Post-EYP Depression, a nightmare and a loyal fellow of every EYPer. It is the feeling you have in your stomach when you come home from a session and realize that you actually miss people you met for the first time four days ago. The feeling of both immense happiness and sad-ness blur when you go through all the session’s issues and the resolu-tion booklet to kind of sadistically re-call all the memories, dig in them all over again. The bitter-sweet taste of

passed time, time never coming back, is a tricky thing. And there is no united opinion on how to deal with it. But is there really anything to deal with? To miss people that shared the unique EYP spirit with you is com-pletely understandable. You have shared and exchanged opinions and ideas, and got to know some sides of each other really thoroughly. You have developed inside jokes. You were a part of something. For most of you, this was your first EYP experience. The first day must have felt weird. Then hopefully it got better. And better and better yet, hopefully again, never the best. Because ‘the best’ would mean that it could not get better any

more. Which would consequentially imply the end. But this is the start. We do not say ‘Good bye’ in EYP. It is such a sad phrase. We say ‘I’ll see you around’. And you shall, if you have the will. The world is not as big as they say. And to be perfectly honest, sometimes, things you go through are about you more than the others. Just let it keep getting better. Keep coming. Keep feeling sad at the end. But do not cry, because it is over. Be happy because it happened. And like The Gherkins’ Facebook page.

Anna Hagarová (CZ)

The uniqueness of EMPLWith seven committees at the session it might look to be difficult to discern individual committees. However, each committee is really unique – have a look at EMPL!

Marek Haisl (CZ)

It is my pleasure to introduce to you the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. In order to show off how unique the members of this committee are, here you can find the facts to prove it.

Chairpersons:

Dominic Degen (CH): “I know how to flush the speaking toilet.”Markéta Mlčúchová (CZ): “Thanks to Sammy, my new EYP nickname is Booobs.“

Delegates:

Martin Hrček (CZ): “I can hold my breath for three and half minutes.”

Tereza Voželníková (CZ): “When I was younger, my biggest idol was Slash from Guns&Roses.”

Kateřina Kynclová (CZ): “I used to have shiny orange hair.

Maxmilián Sup (CZ): “I have five (or six) siblings and I don´t have the same parents with any of them.”

Martina Havlenová (CZ): “I´ve met Voldemort in a restaurant during my visit in London.”

Adam Matoušek (CZ): “I know how to say ‘my hov-ercraft is full of eels’ in Chinese.”

Alžběta Poskočilová (CZ): “I usually fall from every stair I step on.”

Julie Hollmannová (CZ): “I´ve been doing scenic dance since I was 4.”

Matyáš Petrášek (CZ): “I was in Rowan Atkinson’s live show in London.”

Journalist: Marek Haisl (CZ): “I can spit fire. Watch out.”

Anna Nichols (IE)

Trick IMCO questionsNo hot dogs in McDonald’s, handcuffing a one-armed man, unstable ghosts and the eternal di-lemma of an arm rest in a cinema.

Any community is made of individu-als. An individual is shaped by its personality. The science studying per-sonalities and individuals’ inner self is called psychology, from the Greek ‘psyche’, a soul and ‘logos’, meaning science. Let’s have a little peek into what makes IMCO tick. Each of the eight delegates on the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection was asked to answer four basic, yet slightly tricky questions. These questions were meant to uncover some of their traits. The first of them went as fol-lowed: why don’t they sell hot dogs at McDonald’s? Two out of eight thought that it would be too disgusting, for the crossing of two not-that-appealing edibles could not turn out pleasantly. It implies that this pair like to think ahead and tend to be rather sceptical. Then there were two delegates who started at the same point – finances - but then went in different directions. One considered the fact that pork is too expensive in the US, linking us to the roots of the fast-food chain, while the other favoured a rather Czech point of view – it would be too cheap. A business-minded delegate argued that KFC has no hot dogs either. To complete the list, an advertisement-

directed brain pointed out the fact that McDog sounds too funny to be taken seriously. In a question of handcuffing a one armed man, the majority of the delegates chose the option to cuff his hand to one of his legs – an option quite uncomfortable for the man, yet practical. One of them, however, de-cided to handcuff the man to his belt and the last one chose not to treat him any differently from other people. Then there was the ghost problem. Have you ever wondered why ghosts, who can walk through walls and closed doors, don’t ever fall through the floor? Two IMCOlines decided to simply accept the fact that

ghosts are magical and therefore can do as they want. Three of them agreed on the point and added that as they are floating in the air, they do not actually touch the floor, and moreover, gravity doesn’t apply to them. It spiced the magic up on a scientific level. The last three delegates kept a cold-head-ed attitude – there is no such a thing as ghosts, it’s all fairy tales and we have to keep things real. A very well-balanced committee indeed. The last one was something almost everyone is unsure about from time to time. What arm rest in a cinema is yours and which one is your neigh-bour’s? Six delegates were absolutely sure about their rights – keeping both of the arm rests for themselves is the only acceptable option. However, the other two delegates would go for ei-ther the right one or let their neighbour choose. You can try to answer all the question for yourself and then think about what it says about you. IMCO is apparently fuelled by the diversity and balance in their team. May they use it in their favour.

Anna Hagarová (CZ)

Turkey’s tiresome roadto Europe

Ankara has been struggling to join the European Community for nearly a half-century, but is this relationship meant to be?

Entering the European Union is not an easy task for any country, but the history of Turkey’s path to join the EU is especially winding. It first as-sociated with European Communities back in 1964, and officially applied for membership in 1987. How is it pos-sible for the process to last that long, while some states that have been in the Union already for almost a decade were not even on the same side of the political fence back in the ‘87?First of all, in the opinion of many con-servative European politicians, Tur-key does not belong in Europe. The main reasons behind that stand, apart from actual geographic situation, is the fact that Turkey is a Muslim coun-try, and its culture does not have roots in Greek or Roman traditions, unlike the cultures of European countries. The truth is that while Turkey in fact is Muslim, the state has been fully secu-larized ever since the dissolution of Ottoman Empire. Still, its dissimilarity compared to EU Member States re-mains to be one of the main concerns of European politicians.

Secondly, the quality of civil rights and political regime in Turkey raises many questions. Turkish citizens are not granted with many rights that are seen in the EU as basic ones, and the importance of the army in governing remains to be below democratic stan-dards. If Turkey ever want to become a Member State, it has to conduct many significant changes in its law and politics.There is one more important obstacle on Turkey’s way to Brussels: even if all membership criteria were met and the accession process would be at its end, all Member States would still have to ratify the accession treaty. Consid-ering complicated relations between Ankara and its EU Member States neighbours, and the negative position of some other countries towards Tur-key’s membership, it may take a long time before all Member States will co-herently agree to welcome Turkey into the European Union. What is it that makes Turkey con-stantly willing to join the community that has been rejecting it for decades?

Firstly, the economical gains. Turkey is the world’s 15th largest economy, and adding it to the European colos-sus would greatly improve the global position of both sides.Additionally, Turkey is considered to be a major regional power in both the Balkans and Middle East. It is also 2nd largest military force in NATO, and plays a key role in maintaining security in the region. It is therefore an important ally to have, and Europe cannot afford losing it.Will Turkey finally reach the end of ac-cession labyrinth and on which side will be? The end after almost 50 years of debating and arguing, no one really knows, as plenty of other issues not mentioned above exist. Even predic-tions favourable towards Ankara as-sume that it is not going to become a Member State for at least another decade, so everything indicates that the show will go on.

Maciej Kuczynski (PL)

AFCO

EYP goes out of the boxLet the borders fall, as EYP does.

EYP is essentially a non-profit or-ganisation which works by imitating a session of the European Parliament. The European Union has 28 member states. This means that non-Member States, countries such as Switzer-land, Serbia or Norway do not take action in the European Union and in its policies.

However EYP works differently. Al-though EYP acts as a representa-tion of the European Union they do include other countries which are not effectively in the EU. This means that EYP includes 41 countries with total of 14 non-EU countries (Malta, an EU Member State, is not involved in EYP). These non-EU countries are: Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedo-nia, Moldova, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Turkey, Switzer-land and Ukraine. We also have the first African country in the process of joining, EYP Tunisia.

We should acknowledge the fact that the aforementioned non-Member State countries do not have less val-ue than the EU countries inside EYP or that they only attend EYP sessions as guests. These countries have an

active participation and send delega-tions to all the sessions that EYP or-ganises during the year. They do not only send delegations but also organ-ise sessions in their host country ev-ery year. For example Zurich hosted the 73rd International Session (IS) of EYP last summer and Tbilisi, Georgia, hosted the 74th IS of EYP a month ago. 300 people attended the 9 day session and debated about current af-fairs not only involving the EU, but the whole world. That is what makes EYP special and why it makes sense to in-corporate non-EU countries to EYP.It’s not just about discussing things happening inside the EU but all over the world such as the current Egyptian situation with the recent coup d’état or the issue of legalising homosexual marriage.

Furthermore recently, EYP has agreed to create the first Euro African Youth Parliament (EAYP) with the Youth Bridge Foundation (YBF) from Ghana. This first EAYP is going to take place in April 2014 in Berlin and it is only the first step towards expanding the EYP movement all over the world. The EU has a say in other situations occurring around the world and isn’t it great to

have these discussed with so many other young people?

EYP is not limited by EU borders and Member States. Why should we just discuss current affairs with only EU countries and citizens? Don’t other young generations have the right to discuss with the European youth prob-lems that can also involve their lives? Let the borders fall and unite other youngsters interested in discussing current affairs.

David Soler Crespo (ES)

Halfway thereAre we actually doing what is in our power? Are we deciding to whom we will give opportunity and who is going to be the one to whom we will lend our hand?

I would like to have peace in the world. We have all heard this sentence too many times on the Miss Universe competition. Should not it be used in higher purposes and be supported and realised? It definitely should. But how? It should not be achieved by pronouncing that sentence at every bigger event. We are way too much off our course and idea. What is my point? Don’t you think that combina-tion of words “peace” and “the world” have become a pointless matter in our lives?

Europe, USA, “Far East”, Australia… does that seem like a whole world to you? No one blames you. You can surely say that those are the places where civilisation is concentrated. Therefore we should all be happy to be born in this part of the world, even with all of our problems. We were just lucky. Look where are you now: Znoj-mo, Czech Republic, holding this is-sue in your hands and contributing to the European Union. But are you able to imagine the number of the people in this planet that did not have that luck? The people who were born to be afraid of their tomorrow, to live a day asking themselves if they will starve to

death until their next hero from some humanitarian organizations comes. It is a hard truth that hurts a lot, doesn`t it?Almost everyone has a will to help somehow. However, they are stuck in traffic, occupied with the low battery on the cell phone- this is what can quite ruin their day. It is proved that only a minority actually does some-thing to make this world a better place for the people who have much bigger problems than slow PCs, broken AC and a lost USB. Where did that abbre-

viation SOS go?! Acta, non verba.And who here is halfway there? We basically have two groups, one is easy to approach and if you want to come closer to the other one, you would face a story of Tantalus. It is sad that today it is easier to cut through the rainforests of tropical Africa than to ask for a help in busy street crowded with people doing their daily routine. You can guess which group mighty businessmen belong to. People are simply not facing the reality.Thank you, oh mighty celebrities, for your kind words! However, your com-position of letters is not going to save the life of a kid in Ethiopia. My dear

politicians, who are you to decide who is going to step on your land? People of civilized everyday, would you for-give me my “pointless” wasting of your time, please do not miss the next bus, it will surely arrive in 2 minutes maximum. We are the ones who have to change something! We are the ones holding that power in our hands! Imagine the size of the problem, and try to solve it in the best way you can. You should surely contribute, and should not ask much about who in your environment

has done the same thing. That is not what makes you worthy. Your own act makes you worthy.

Nikola Uzelac (RS)

AFET

Get involved!X Czech Forum Znojmo is slowly ending. However, if you have enjoyed the session then continue with EYP.

The next session you can attend is going to be the 16th National Selec-tion Conference (NSC) which is taking place in Strakonice and is organised by Kateřina Žejdlová and Lenka Vysoká.

The session programme is going to follow the same structure as the Czech Forum – Teambuilding, Com-mittee Work and General Assembly. Nevertheless, there are a few differ-ences between these sessions. Firstly, for the NSC you have to create a school delegation – a team consisting of four people. The word “selection” in the name has a purpose. At every NSC, there is a jury which observes delegates and choos-es delegations to represent the Czech Republic at EYP sessions abroad. However, the session is not made as a competition but as a session where you can gain experiences and im-prove your skills even though if you are not selected, so do not hesitate to apply! The call for school delega-tions is going to be opened on 25th November. Every single high-school in the Czech Republic has the oppor-tunity to apply for the session. Due to the big number of applications, there are two things you have to do if you want to participate at this session. The first task is to write an essay on a requested topic. In the second, you, as attendees of the Czech Fo-rum, will have a big advantage.

The whole delegation has to go through the Preliminary Rounds. Basi-cally, it is a one-day-session contain-ing only GA. You will be assigned to a committee which you have to defend and a committee you have to attack.

You will receive the Resolution Book-let in advance so you can prepare for it. The resolutions cannot be changed even though you might disagree with the resolution of the committee you have to defend. After this, around fif-teen school delegations and a few in-dividuals are going to be selected to attend the session.

As it has been mentioned, the jury at the NSC will select a few delegations to represent the Czech Republic at various EYP sessions abroad. It can be smaller Regional Forums or big International Sessions. Bear in mind that not being selected does not mean the end of the world. By participating at the NSC you automatically become an Alumni of EYP Czech Republic. This gives you the opportunity to apply for various roles at sessions abroad and attend annual meetings such as the Christmas dinner or the Summer Reunion in the Czech Republic. It might sound a bit confus-ing to you now, so therefore it would be good to read this again a few days after the Forum. Then maybe look for some friends to form a delegation and try to make it to the NSC. Attending this Forum was a great step and hope-fully all of you have enjoyed the ses-sion. EYP has so much to offer and it can influence you a lot in a positive way. You surely have recognized that the Forum has taught you something new but you had fun at the same time, right? Why should you not continue, then?

Marek Haisl (CZ)

My dear diaryTuesday, November 19

One day to go. On my way to Prague, I checked out the video-editing pro-gram. It looked simple and nice. I might be able to create something with it.

Wednesday, November 20

I had a sandwich for breakfast. It was quite tasty. My bus left at 7:30. There were four more officials on the bus. Two of them were sleeping during the journey. I was thinking about the vid-eos and had plenty of ideas. I must compliment myself. Everything is all right. I started to film an introduction of all the officials.

Thursday, November 21

I took three shots of the delegates’ arrival. The first one is a disaster, but the other two look great. I started the editing at 5 pm and the video was fin-ished at 2 am. I found out that I don’t

know how to insert text into the shots, but I guess it is the program, which is guilty, not me.

Friday, November 22

I slept for less than three hours. I want to rest, but I have to film. It is mid-night and the second video is ready! Yaaaay, I can go to sleep. But sud-denly, I hear “Mike, I need you to write an article for the issue. The deadline is 8 am.’’ You can imagine what hap-pened next…

Saturday, November 23

I slept for less then two hours. I want to rest, but I have to film. I feel like I’m doing nothing but filming. I don’t know what to do. Help me!

Sunday, November 24

I slept for less then one hour. I want to rest, but I have to film. It is half past six and I fell asleep in the shower with my camera. It’s eight o’clock and I must

finish the last video. I’m exhausted.

I wonder why, but I’m going to miss making videos. I guess I’m just cra-zy…

Michal Novotný (CZ)

Time to say Thank YouDear all,

My excitement for the X Czech Forum started when I was selected for the position of Editor of the session. My mind was overwhelmed by ideas, plans and visions, my heart was beating quickly, powered by excitement. But still, I missed something really crucial and unnecessary – the team of creative journalists.

My excitement increased when I was reading their applications. Since that moment I knew that the Media Team is full of amazing people with various personalities, different interests and unique approaches to journalism.

When I met them personally and we started working together I was excited even more, because they were even more interesting, stunning and talented than I could have ever thought. Moreover, they were working with such a huge excitement that it made me being even more thrilled.

Dear Anna, Anna, David, Maciej, Marek, Michal, Nikola, and Veronika. It is the right time to thank you for everything you have done to make the issues and videos as amazing as they are. Thank you for being with me and sup-porting me, thank you for your jokes as well as for your incredibly creative approach to work. You are simply the best.

With Love

Kristýna

X Czech Forum Znojmo is organised under the auspices of JUDr. Michal Hašek, Chairman of the Association of Regions of the Czech Republic; Ing. Vlastimil Gabrhel, Mayor of Znojmo;

and Znojmo District Chamber of Commerce.

WITH SUPPORT OF: