(read about AEGEE-Europe)
AEGEE-Athina is an interdisciplinary, non-governmental, politically independent and non-profit student and youth organisation located in Athens, Greece. It is one of the first antennae (local branches) of AEGEE and was founded in 1986, only a year after the foundation of AEGEE. It stands for the same values as AEGEE, striving for a democratic, diverse and borderless Europe. It empowers students and young people to take an active role in society. It creates a space for dialogue and learning opportunities and aims to strengthen mutual understanding and bring Europe closer to young people. Today it is working closely with several universities, colleges and other youth NGOs in the capital and acts as a liaison for its members with the rest of Europe!
Of major importance in the annual program of AEGEE-Athina, are the various cultural exchanges with other antennae in the AEGEE network and the Summer University, a project which gives the opportunity to young people from all over Europe to get to know each other’s culture, living and learning together during a period of two weeks.
Every week, AEGEE-Athina organizes local meetings and other events for its members and informs them about events and learning opportunities in Athens and within the network of AEGEE.
From the history of AEGEE-Athina some things that stand out:
- AEGEE-Athina organized three Agorae (General Assemblies of AEGEE-Europe) in 1992, 1996 and 2002 and contributed actively to the organization of Agora-Patra in 2014.
- It printed the monthly issue of our news magazine “Europolis” during the 90’s and until the mid 00’s. Afterwards the internet took over the role.
- AEGEE-Athina was the co-organizer in one of the most successful multi-year projects in the history of AEGEE, the Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue Project. This project was an AEGEE-Ankara initiative and was made possible with the support of the European Union and the embassies of the two countries. The project led to the organization of large-scale exchange events (eg. Kayafest in 2003) for Greek and Turkish participants, which managed to promote dialogue and strengthen the sense of friendship between the participants. The impact was shown, amongst other means, by the increased percentage of Turkish and Greek students who chose the other side of the Aegean for Erasmus exchanges in the following years.
- It held the european conference “Europe and Euro: unification vs. marginalization” in 1997, long before the adoption of our common currency, with the participation and support of dozens of national and european bodies.
- Our organization promoted intergenerational communication, in collaboration with the European Commission for the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations in 2012.
- It contributed in the organization of the two-day entrepreneurship and volunteering event; “Employment Action Days” with the support of the Athens University of Economics and the Office of the European Parliament in Greece in 2013.
- It informs the citizens about the regulations of the European institutions and mobilizes them to exercise their right to vote in the European elections, within the framework of the YVote program in 2009 and 2018.
- AEGEE-Athina organized the cultural exchange “Connecting Europe” with participants from Spain, Germany, Russia and Turkey in 2018.
- AEGEE-Athina organizes one Summer University almost every year since the program was created in 1988. The most recent SU was organized during the summer of 2019 and took place in the island of Crete.
- During 2019 AEGEE-Athina organized its 2nd/4th Network Meeting, during November and December, an event that connects members of different locals, helping them in exchanging good practices and ideas.
The actions of the antenna are coordinated by the Board Members who are elected every year by the members.