Anche il presidente del Nom (National organization member), Giovanni Balbi, ha partecipato all'Edc (European development council) a Strasburgo. Tre giorni tra incontri al Parlamento europeo, riunioni Jci e feste notturne...

The Council of Europe Welcomes JCI's Contribution

The European National President Summit and European Development Council (EDC) Meeting opened February 19, 2004, at the Sofitel Hotel in Strasbourg, France. Several JCI officers, EDC Board members, past JCI officers, national presidents (nella foto di gruppo, c'è anche il Presidente del Nom Italia Giovanni Balbi: il primo da sinistra nella penultima fila), past national presidents, and members in general gathered in Strasbourg for the event.

Among the JCI officers were JCI President Fernando Sanchez-Arias; JCI Executive Vice President assigned to Europe Henry Loo Chin Moy; and JCI Vice Presidents Petra Gregorits, Graham Hanlon, Michael Horn, Jefersom Machado, and Jokotade Odunuga. EDC Boards members, led by EDC Chairman Josep Montanes, were also present, and so was Interim Secretary General Edson Kodama and several JCI staff members.

In the afternoon of Thursday, Yannis Lagos from Greece, offered training for National Presidents, followed by a presentation by JCI President Sanchez-Arias and Area D (Europe) Director Zsolt Feher. They discussed the JCI IT systems, facts and figures about Area D, and the 2004 JCI Plan of Action. The day's activities ended with the presentation of Horea Crisan, External Relations Director of the European Students Forum (AEGEE), a potential future partner of JCI.

Meetings at the Palais de l’Europe

On Friday, several workshops were offered at the beautiful Palais de l’Europe, where most of the meetings of the Council of Europe take place.

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy General Secretary of the Council of Europe, welcomed Fernando Sanchez-Arias, 30 National Presidents and hundred of European delegates taking part in the European National Presidents Summit and European Development Council meeting. "The Council of Europe welcomes the contribution of JCI in the field of education and relations with the countries of Europe. We need the contribution of the civil society and count on your contribution," she said.

The Deputy General Secretary pointed out that, in 2005, the Council of Europe will organize, for the third time of its history, a Summit with all the Heads of State that constitute the Council of Europe. She added that the Council is considering conducting a Youth Summit to run concurrently with the meeting of the Heads of State.

"Whenever we say youth, we say force of proposition. Whenever we say force of proposition, we say Entrepreneurs in Action!," she said. "It is up to you, representatives of active youth, to express your point of view on the future of the Council of Europe."

We Choose to Act

"As always, we have several choices to make," said JCI President Sanchez-Arias. "We can allow ourselves to flow in the inertia while living as we usually live. We can wait until others around us make decisions on what we will achieve and how we will achieve it. We can consider that our challenges are impossible to overcome and take refuge in resignation... Or we can act. We choose to act and we act with passion!"

Work and Fun

Participants considered important topics during the workshops, among them cooperation projects with the Council of Europe and other European Union institutions, the European Year of Citizenship through Education, the Council of Europe training in democratic skills, best practices in growth projects, and the role of national Secretariats.

After the workshops, Friday's activities concluded with a festive gala evening at the Palais Rohan

Tratto da www.jci.cc