2nd issue

Thessaloniki, Greece, 19th Dec 2010

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Editorial Dear, all! The second day of the 22nd National Selection of EYP Greece, even though very long, ended in a satisfying man-ner; all the Committees complet-ed their resolutions. The work is however not over yet! Today’s General Assem-bly is the peak of the Session, as the Committees attempt to de-fend the resolutions which they crafted with much devotion. The heated debates had proven the Committee Work to be success and, moreover, the team spirit is running high. As this, the third day is slowly coming to an end, hopefully in the days to come the newspapers will keep the memories alive. Speaking of which, this is-sue is filled with articles inspired by the discussions delegates had

during the previous day, both di-rectly and indirectly. BOTTOMS UP, WHO CARES ABOUT THE EU? and SOCIAL EXCLUSION are dis-cussing some of the most critical social issues that concern us all, and the Journalists provided not only with the introduction to the problem but also shared their own observations and thoughts. Further, ARRR…GUING and EU-ROPEAN VISIONARIES give us an insight into the slightly different and generally important aspects of everyday life. The THESSALE-AKS TIMES is filled with reports and photographs about the Com-mittee Work and other activities. Through reading these articles, even to us who do not have di-rect contact with committees, it is very much clear that everyone of them has developed a distinct

identity. GA ALGORITHM, HOW TO TIE A TIE A TIE… and YOU ARE RECOGNIZED deal with the General Assembly related issues. There are also such entertaining articles as EUROPOLL and DAD-SON. This, 2nd Issue is howev-er not the last issue you will have the chance to read! There will be one more Issue online, gathering some of the most interesting arti-cles we had the privilege to edit and it will be available for down-load at eypgreece.org. Gathered pictures from the session will be uploaded on www.flickr.com/photos/eypgr. That is it! We sin-cerely hope you enjoyed the ses-sion and that we will be seeing some of you around. Have a safe

trip home! ■

Sandra&Tom

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ContEntEXPERT TALKS

WHO CARES ABOUT EUROPEAN UNION ANYWAY?

GA ALGORITHM

HOW TO TIE A TIE A TIE...

DAD-SON

ARRR....GUING

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7

910

BOTTOMS UP?

YOU ARE RECOGNIZED!8

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EUROPOLL13(WE ARE) EUROPEAN VISIONARIES 14SOCIAL EXCLUSION16TESSALEAKS TIMES17THE WEATHER23

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At the afternoon of the Committee Work day of the ses-sion, the delegates had the op-portunity to attend a workshop concerning three crucial topics that occupy every single EU-member state. Thanks to the three experienced speakers the delegates were informed about freedom of expression on the Internet, smoking bans and al-cohol restrictions and the unem-ployment of vulnerable groups aged 16-24. The first speaker, Miss Anastasia Papadopoulou, as a lawyer emphasized on the mean-ing of Internet security and the fundamental principle of free-dom of expression, despite the fact that there is a very obvious governmental control of cyber-space. She underlined that the main goal of the Internet is to promote research and provision of information. Then, she added that protection of private infor-

mation included on the Internet cannot be achieved due to com-puters’ feature of storing re-cords of every program upload-ed. She supported that the only solution was the activation of citizens through the initiative of «Digital Greece». Moreover, she stressed out the obvious need for both reinforcement and revision of e-laws. The next impressively interactive speaker who took the floor was Miss Sophia Chryso-poulou, the head of Brussels office of MEP Theodoros Sky-lakakis. She initially provided a deep insight in tobacco’s tradi-tion and history. Furthermore, urged by the Lisbon Treaty, she encouraged that all EU-member states be responsible for public health (particularly alcohol and tobacco policies). There should be a compromise between smok-ers and non-smokers, however, without undermining the right

ExpertTalks

by Maria Sakellaridi&Despina Papadopoulou

in vision for the better future

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to smoke, she added in the end. After the conclusion of her speech, the delegates had an opportunity to pose questions to the speaker. Specifically, a delegate asked about whether smoking should or should not be banned, since it is a matter of lifestyle. The expert’s answer was that if smoking is a matter of personal choice and does not have a direct impact on social level, then it does not represent a violation of human rights. The third speaker, Mis-ter Anargiros Dimopoulos, physiotherapist with specialty in Rehabilitation, Secretary Gen-eral of Klimax, though, due to multiple obligations, could not be present at the workshop. He kindly sent us the copy of his recorded speech. In his speech, he insisted on the fact that vul-nerable groups cannot actu-ally enter the labor market. His statements were followed and

proved by statistical research in-dicated by himself. He created a link between unemployment and poverty concerning regular needs. As a final point, he pre-sented the basic principles that should illustrate the nature of human behavior. Before the closing of the workshop, Dimitris Hapi-zanis, the president of EYP Greece, thanked the three ex-perts for their vital contribution to that part of the session and then the former president of EYP Greece, Lina Selanikli, for taking up the organisation of this successful and memorable event..■

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Who cares about the European Union

anyway?

Almost one year ago the Greek economy started rapidly deteriorating – or at least that is when it hit the news. The Inter-national Monetary Fund in co-op-eration with the European Union came up with a very controversial plan to rescue the Greek economy. Some analysts suggest that the mechanism has worked and that Greece is slowly exiting the reces-sion, while others insist that the worst part of the crisis and the af-termath of the austerity measures are yet to be seen. I am no econo-mist; I am actually not even inter-ested in economics, therefore I will leave the predictions to the experts who know how and why to perform them. The topic that I would like

to address is a side effect of the economic crisis in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and who knows where else. It is Euroscepticism and I will try to explain how it has been dramatically enhanced by the turn of events in Europe’s economic scene. We can see people recalling the good old times when a country could play the trick of currency de-valuation and temporarily fix its economy, as if these monetarist patches would last forever. Economy is not the only rea-son why Europeans came together in the first place. There is more to the Union than just Schengen and the Eurogroup. There are 27 flags and 23 different languages. There is Bavarian folk dances and Italian

by stavros Pagonidis

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Italian the Baltic and wine from the Mediterranean, Scandinavian public trans-portation and Balkan cel-ebrations. There are thou-sands of young Europeans who gather up every four months and spend nine days together with their fellows, becoming aware of Euro-pean matters and enjoy cultural exchange. Who are they? ‘They’ don’t criticize their Greek friends because their economy got messed up, but because they talk loudly in quiet British res-taurants. They can say “I love you” in a dozen of lan-guages and insult some-

one in even more! They get thrilled by the idea of a truly united Europe and re-ally appreciate the fact that the powers who could once spark a World War now work towards the prosper-ity of Europe, and that af-ter an eternity of conflicts, Europe is finally enjoying peace throughout the en-tire continent. If you disagree with my point of view, talking about it over the internet or while having a cup of coffee would be more than a plea-sure for me. If on the con-trary you agree with what you read, if you do believe in

a united Europe and if you enjoy this magnificent mo-saic of cultures under the common tag of “Europe”, then I require your assis-tance to fight for this idea. Let us prove to the Euros-cepticists that we deserve better than a shattered and competitive Europe. Let us say, and mean every word of it, that we want “Unity through Diversity”. So, next time you hear some-one wondering “Who cares about the Union, anyway?” find the courage to stand up and say “I do!”■

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{The GA algorithm}

“procedure GA”

write “Set your alarm.” read alarmfor(hours=0; hours<alarm; hours=hours+1) {write “Sleep again!”} write “Wake up!”coffee=0; while (coffee==0) { write “Did you have coffee? (type 1 for yes or 0 for no) read coffee} write “Get ready (dressed formally). Go to the Hellenic College.”arrival=0 While (arrival==0) {write “Did you arrive to the school? (type 1 for yes or 0 for no)” read arrival}write “Meet your committee. Do your last preparations with your committee. Go to the GA venue because it is starting!!! Take it seriously and give it your best! Opening ceremony of the GA.”for (committee=1; committee<=10; com-mittee = committee +1) {write “A member of the proposing commit-tee is reading the resolution’s opera-tive clauses.”write “The other committees will now be able to ask for points of information. (questions)”write “The proposing committee now is given the floor to answer the questions. (answers)”write “We now call a member of the pro-

posing committee to defend the resolu-tion. (defense speech).”write “Let the committees that want to attack the resolution raise their plac-ards. (attack speeches)”write “We will now continue with the first round of open debate, the commit-tees who would like to ask a question can now raise their placards. (ques-tions)”write “We will now return to the propos-ing committee to answer the questions.”write “(…more rounds open debate…)”write “Now the proposing committee has three minutes to answer the last round of questions and do the summation speech.”write “Now we will continue to the vot-ing procedures.”write “Coffee break.”}write “Closing ceremony. End of the ses-sion! Go back to your places have a rest and from now on live according to the EYP spirit!”■

by Dionysis Theodoropoulos

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Have you delivered a speech in front of bunch of people you might or not necessarily know? If not, don’t panic - just remember the SPEECH rule – the one to stick to:S – speak SLOWLY enoughP – PEOPLE in audience are important – they are your audienceE – do it with EMOTION – you certainly want to leave an impressionE – EMPHASIZE certain parts of speechC – choose your words, be CREATIVEH – HOLD your thought, don’t drift away from the topic! Don’t forget the FAIL rule, the one y o u want to avoid:F – speak too FASTA – forget about your AU-DIENCEI – IGNORE the appropri-ate length L – speak at inappropriate

On the topic I had a brief chat with VP of this session - Sofia Zafirou.TL: Do you remember your first speech? Sofia: Yes.TL: When Was it?Sofia: It was some time ago, in 2008.TL: hoW DiD you feel During it? Sofia: Tired and anx-ious, it was a weird experience.TL: at the enD, Do you have an aDvice for eyp-ers? Sofia: Write your speech on your own, so you can manage to read it.■

by Viktor Sanca

You are recognized!useful tiPs for delivering a sPeech

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A man is sitting in his armchair, relaxing after a tiring day at work, reading the news-papers. His 5-year-old son ap-proaches him and says,“-Daddy, would you like to play with me?-Not right now, son, I feel very tired.” After a few minutes the boy returns with the same re-quest:“-Please dad, it’s raining and I can’t go outside, come and play with me.-I told you not now! Do not bother me again!” The kid did not feel like giving up so he tried for a third time:“-I just want to spend some time with you, dad…” Clearly annoyed the fa-ther took a page from the news-

papers, depicting a world map, tore it into pieces and told his son: “You see, this world is bro-ken. Why don’t you try and fix it, and then I’ll play with you”, replied the father figuring that a 5-year-old had no idea what the world map looks like. To his father’s great sur-prise, the kid returned only a few minutes later, with the map pieces in the correct place. The father asked his son how he had managed to build the puzzle in such a short time and the kid re-plied: “On the back side of the page with the world there was a picture of a man. Since I was able to fix the man, I was able fix the world…” ■

Dad-Son

by Stavros Pagoninis

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Save your honour by going through our little guide!

1. Place the tie accordingly2. Bring the wide end over the narrow end3. Swing the wide end behind the narrow and back to the left4. Swing it over in front to the right,5. Then up through the back6. Loosen the front knot and get the wide side trough it7. Tighten the knot8. Enjoy being a man

ever had your manhood challenged for not knowing how to maSter the art of “the tie”? Save your honour by going through our little guide!

How to tie a tie a tie a tie…

by Ivan Stojanovic&Viktor Sanca

T h e s s a L e a k s

In every aspect of our lives we find something to argue. We can argue with our family, friends, partners, associates and so on. However the core of arguing doesn’t change much. We have something we believe in, the other side, similarly. We explain that we are right, them, likewise. We generally put significant amount of work in finding who is to blame. But is that really necessary? Do we really enjoy it? Lets try to find out how these conversations are structured. Deep down, 3 main steps lead us into these generally heart-breaking and unre-solvable discussions: Gathering information, interpreting them and having a conclusion. Each step is unique and has the same impor-tance in an argument. Gathering information is the first ring of the chain. We have limited sources and what we gather is generally different from what the others gather. The key vari-

able in this is our attentiveness and the envi-ronment that surrounds us. Imagine a plane moves in the sky with a banner attached to the back that says ‘I love you Sandra’ and Sandra, with her 6-year-old brother Tom sees this plane. They are both fascinated by it. But, Sandra is fascinated by how ro-mantic her boyfriend is where Tom has seen a plane for the first time. The event is the same, but their perceptions are focused on different things. Interpreting this information varies more than we expect, since our past effects our interpretations. Even if the issue of Cy-prus is slightly delicate, it is a perfect exam-ple. From the point of view of an outsider, the issue of Cyprus can be easily solved if it is just discussed. However, since Greece and Turkey have a hostile background, these countries cannot easily make sure that both sides adopt a friendly approach.

ARRR11

T h e s s a L e a k s

And conclusion is the final part of this journey. We make statements that actu-ally say something on the issue, originating from our interpretations. This part is strong-ly self-sided even if we don’t realize it. This is also related to the high value of ownership (most psychologists agree that we overvalue what we have). Simply, we are selfish. This tendency is clearly seen in the bad work-ing second hand market. People negotiate the price but the seller asks more because he has discovered all uses of the object and knows exactly what he is giving up, and also pricing the things that actually don’t have an economic value. On the other hand, the buyer doesn’t want to pay much because it has already been used in many ways, smells strange, and seems hard to personalize since somebody else has already done it. So how is this related to arguing? Firstly, we should learn that we should change our stance from certainty to curios-

ity. When there is an argument, most prob-ably one knows something that the other doesn’t. So instead of being arrogant and as-suming we know everything, we should try to find out what others know that we don’t. It is never about who is right and who is wrong. If there is a problem, instead of rolling the dice of blame and giving full re-sponsibility to someone, we should share the load of guilt since 99% we are also wrong. In this way, the problems are solved a lot quick-er; less people are hurt including us. That is actually why we have EYP as a working body, that’s why we have team-building and why we set ground rules, gold-en rules or some other rules to respect dur-ing the committee work. Because, even if we think we already know most of this, we need to be reminded since excitement, tension, enthusiasm sometimes makes us forget about these. Keep up the smile!■

guing...by Cem Kocabasa

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stin ygia, cheers, santé…there are many well known names for raising a glass of alcoholic beverage. There are also many different opinions within the EU about when and how citizens should be able to consume the liquid. The chairs of the ENVI com-mittee Johan Wallin and Maral Simonian are citizens in two of the most extreme ends of the “alcoholic restric-tions” spectrum, Sweden and Greece. Sweden is the only EU member with a State monop-oly for all alcoholic beverag-es over 3, 5%. Furthermore, the prices are kept high with taxes, opening hours are re-stricted and the age limit is 20. With all these restric-tions, is Sweden the poster child for sobriety? It is com-monly known that Swedes have a liberal approach to life. So is it as simple as the attraction of the “forbidden fruit”? In some ways there probably is some truth to it, especially for the age group of 16-20. However, the drink-ing culture in Sweden is far from the one in Greece. In general the Greeks have a tradition of drinking alco-

holic beverages like ouzo and wine with their food while Swedes mostly have kept the two separate in their every-day life. The past two decades different European cultures have gotten closer to one an-other and countries like Swe-den have been influenced by the Mediterranean ways. Feta cheese and olive oil are given products in the food stores and with that change so has the concept of alco-hol. Unfortunately, the State does not follow the change of the Swedish people concern-ing alcohol and for the time being Swedes have to swal-low their pride and buy wine for half of the months rent. But as much as it would please the people if Sweden to liberate the alcohol mar-ket there would be a good possibility for some very un-pleasant implications. One of these implications would be a high increase of alcohol during the first period which could put people’s lives in risk. In addition, the idea of lowering the age limit would most certainly have that ef-fect since it would be every 18-year olds dream to be able

to buy alcohol from the store. Another point is that Greece is not even close to the idyllic situation for alco-hol consumption. We should not forget that it was here that the first god, Dionysus, was worshiped for alcohol and celebrated with a yearly feast where the goal was to become completely intoxicat-ed. Today Greece has one of the highest numbers of traf-fic accidents in the world per capita which could directly be linked to the danger of drunk driving. To conclude, the cur-rent restrictions of alcohol in Sweden seem almost ridi-cules compared to other EU members and it seems in many ways unfair for the Swedish State to still keep the alcohol monopoly. On the other hand, freeing the mar-ket has to happen in careful stages so that the State en-sures safety and health of their citizens. ■

Bottoms up?by Veronica Moitus

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EUROPOLLAnswers:23 78 France 9% 2 4 7 M i l l i o n 07.02.1992 Ode to Joy Jose Manuel Barroso

-If you have 6 or more correct answers, you are granted the title of ‘Euro Geek’.-If you have 4 or 5 correct answers, you’re half way there. So keep up the good work!-If you have less than 4 correct answers, we suggest you listen to Voltaire and ‘Cultivate your garden’.-If you have 0 correct answers and still no clue… do you even speak English?

Now lets clarify the hardest questions. Most of the par-ticipants knew that the highest mountain belongs to the Alps, but the geography tricked most of them. Austria and Switzerland were among the most popular answers, since they are at the roughest part of the Alps. However Mont Blanc, with the height of 4,807 meters is the highest point in the Union. The number of Internet users was also a delicate ques-tion. In order to estimate this quantity, the population of Europe (492 Million) also had to be approximated. Some of us would argue that with simple Math it could easily be determined. There were however some of us with lesser logical skills, who by guess-ing randomly impressed us with their far more accurate estima-tions. A true bonus was the question on the name of the Euro-pean anthem. In contrast to the name of the anthem itself, the re-sults were rather depressing. In case you still don’t know, it’s Ode to Joy, also called 9th Symphony. However, we appreciate the fact that most of you could at least hum the melody and also more than half of you appeared to know the lyrics of the first verse. Surprisingly the 4th question was no challenge. It turns out that the national unemployment rates don’t have the abil-ity to deceive the participants. To prove our good intentions we should mention that some of the subjects were left out completely since their achieve-ment rate was simply devastating. Questions on the GDP per capita and the number of airports, after receiving too many wrong answers in a row, had to be cut.

Don’t feel crushed, if you scored lower than you expected. Admittedly we checked up every second answer online ourselves and are not judging anyone here. As you mıght have guessed correctly, the purpose of this quiz was to direct your attention to European issues and trig-ger some interesting discussions. Enough pelting you with questions… For now. ■

1. How many official EU languages are there?2. What is the average life expectancy in EU mem-ber states?3. Which country has the highest mountain in EU?4. What is the unemployment rate in the union?5. What is the number of Internet users? 6. When was the EU, with its current concept es-tablished? 7. What is the name of the European Anthem?8. What is the name of the president of the Euro-pean Commission?

Before you check your answers, here’s how well the others did.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of ask-ing few trivial questions to some of the delegates and some chairs. So, if you haven’t seen the questions, now is the time to test yourself. Please try to answer them on your own, then check your answers and view the result. Good luck!

by Teresa Stadler&Cem Kocabasa

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Henry Dunant, Olof Palme, Robert Schumann. What did these people have in common? Of course they were individu-als with innovative solu-tions to society’s most pressing social problems. They were ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than leav-ing societal needs to the government or business sectors, they found what was not working and solved the problem by changing

the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. They were possessed by their ideas, commit-ting their lives to changing the direction of their field. They were both visionaries and ultimate realists, con-cerned with the practical implementation of their vi-sion above all else. For the most of the EYPers we are visionaries ourselves. We dream of a better world where all the humans will have equal opportunities and nobody

Henry Dunant

Olof Palme

Robert Schumann

(We are)

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will be excluded due to his ethnicity, gender, religion, political beliefs or economic status. In this new world nobody is going to be un-educated, poor or sick even if there is a cure for his sick-ness. This has to be one of the most tragic things that humanity has ever done to itself. People keep dying of sicknesses that are curable because they cannot afford the cure’s cost. This happens when people do not use mon-ey just as a currency and fail to see that their contribution to the community should

be based on their abilities. Sciences will care for the humanity and not just for knowledge or maximization of the profit. Arts will be at their best and all works of it will be accessible to the pub-lic and people will have the education to understand it and be expressed by it. What we have to do is just to inspire other people to follow our visions and make them dream with us.■

by Dionysis Theodoropoulos

European visionaries

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For many of us liv-ing an ordinary life is just a part of the everyday rou-tine. For some it is a con-stant struggle. The year of 2010 marks the year of combating poverty and social exclusion, but how to fight the issue without knowing what its burning points are? Social exclusion is a wide term that covers a va-riety of aspects considering the limitation or deliber-ate impairment to certain group of people to have same rights in society as other, dominant group. It is ruthlessly present in every part of the world no matter of the region or its economic or cultural devel-opment. That is the reason why it exists on various lev-els and it is present at any period. Everything from not tolerating the people of dif-

ferent race, over to the na-tional and politically-based hatred covering every as-pect of personal opinions, whenever each is breached in a manner of limiting the participation in normal so-ciety structure, it is called social exclusion. The ques-tion arises: how to prevent it? For every preven-tion it is crucial to know the problem. But the even greater issue is overseeing when are rights of certain group jeopardized or al-ready violated. It should be the basic motivation of all people to achieve as it can be simply said: equal conditions for everyone. Keep your eyes open, it can be you who will make a wrong move. It is even more painful realiz-ing that you are being the victim.■

by Viktor Sanca

Social exclusion

ThessaLeaksTimes

Special Edition!

Committee artiCles

ThessaLeaks Times

Many might feel discouraged to tackle a topic such as the «Middle East» conflict which had always been considered as a tough challenge to discuss. Nevertheless, the dynamic delegates of AFET seem brave enough to deal with such a controversial and complex issue. Approaching its basic aspects was definitely a challenge. Though, throughout brainstorming in pairs and categorizing their priori-ties, this committee was indeed ready to distinct the difficulties of the topic and come to a conclusion about all possible solutions. Although there were a lot of different opinions they have managed - with respect and col-laboration- to balance the outcome

of their discussion. After a very inter-esting and fruitful conversation, their chairs Ingrid and Aspa thought that it was high time the AFET committee had some real fun. As a result they de-cided to call their journalist to play a game with the committee. The game chosen was «Pass the pulse» in which the AFET committee though tired showed great concentration and in-terest. The debate following the game was without doubt one of a kind! Af-ter a lot of effort, controversies and disagreements, the committee mem-bers accomplished reaching a consen-sus upon their subject, finally forming a really alternative resolution!.■

AFET

by Maria Sekallaridi&Veronica Moitus

Battling hunger early in the morning is not an easy thing to do. According to statistical information, food requirements of the whole hu-man race will double in the next forty years due to constant growth of pop-ulation. Bearing in mind how many people already live on the verge of starvation, this is a piece of informa-tion that should be taken into serious consideration. And so AGRI did. Since the first moment of committee work the atmosphere in the room was profes-sional to some extent, but still carried

the signature of young minds that es-tablished it. It is not a small achieve-ment for a group that had only for hours to get to know each other.Well prepared Chairs’ Team consist-ing of Gio and Sini managed to mod-erate the discussions, the exchange of ideas and still keep track of an abundance of post-its that kept com-ing from all sides with upmost grace. With all aforementioned el-ements incorporated in the making of the resolution, I have no doubt that the final product will leave little to be wished for.■.■

AGRIby Ivan Stojanovic

ThessaLeaks Times

CULT

What would describe the committee of CULT? Well, accord-ing to our sources CULT has best of both worlds, Greek eloquence and Swedish willingness to cooper-ate. After having a fruitful evening of team building, they were more than prepared to start the discus-sion about educational strategies and solutions for the EU in order to secure a competitive and knowl-edge based economy. In addition, we found CULT’s co-operative skills remarkably impressive; we even dare to say that it would put many of today’s politicians to shame. Furthermore, CULT kept being con-fident and goal-oriented as hours

passed. When we approached their chair he was more than delighted to say that his delegates were even more than he hoped for. We sug-gest giving your chair a big hug as soon as possible!When it came to finalising and forming the resolution, the CULT committee appeared to be ex-tremely effective. Although there were moments of expressing oppo-site points of view, they never gave up trying to reach compromise and adopt a common committee policy. As journalists, we will not reveal confidential information but we can promise some proper topic presentations on GA.■

DEVE

The dawn of the new day found the delegates of the DEVE com-mittee running to catch their bus to the Hellenic College of Thessaloniki and their dedication followed them in their committee work. Guidelines for their committee were presented with a board of seven golden rules. The only thing that at times needed to be resorted was for the delegates to keep their focus, but fortunately the chairs were on it at all times. Be-sides being successful in teambuilding, DEVE shows that great co-operation can happen even when there is an un-even distribution of boys and girls. As a

result, every guy should count Nikos as a lucky man, since he has the privilege of being an only male delegate in this committee. DEVE discussed disaster prep-arations following the Haitian earth-quake and floods to avoid as much af-ter-damage as possible. Not even half way through committee work, DEVE showed their brilliance when they were only a step away from finalizing their suggestions for solutions. Let me tell you, this committee is a force to be reckon with when GA comes ■■

by Maria Sekallaridi&Veronica Moitus

by Maria Sekallaridi&Veronica Moitus

ThessaLeaks Times

After having their memories refreshed by their ambitious chairs, the team cleared the room of un-certainties and misunderstandings. In the following World Cup of Ideas, delegates revealed their true talents, leaving no doubt that the problem can and will be solved. Soon, some ideas were discarded to leave them with the crème de la crème of points and pro-viding a perfect basis for the upcom-ing debate. Something that was noted with great admiration was the way that the team members co-operate and interact proofing that yesterday’s

fooling around had the aspired out-come. Furthermore, silence seems to be a foreign word for them and forces their chairs to raise their voices every once in a while (putting everyone in the room at increased risk of suffering a heart attack). Their heads are full of bril-liant ideas and if they succeed in put-ting them on paper, this team of junior financial experts might be some real competition for leading economists (given that they recover from all the laughing that was going on). Now it is all about investing into GA!■

ECONby Teresa Stadler

All committee topics of this National Selection Confer-ence are up to date and deal with issues that affect each and every one of us. However, there is one committee in particular whose topic directly concerns the dele-gates. It is the Committee on Em-ployment, which addresses the matter of unemployment rates, which figure at 20% in the 16-24 age group of the workforce. This means that as soon as they fin-ish high school, one out of five of this session’s delegates will be confronted with the topic under discussion. At the beginning of Com-mittee Work the delegates were

slightly sleepy and hesitant to express their opinion. They soon got over that stage but af-terwards they had to deal with some communication issues. There were moments when more than three delegates were talk-ing at the same time, either to the committee as a whole or to one other person. Fortunately, under the guidance of Sofia and Larissa, their lovely, yet serious chairs, the members of EMPL managed to control the flow of their discussion and Committee Work continued in a less hectic manner. The conversation had a melancholic flavour as the del-

egates agreed that the youth are being raised in an overprotected environment and are lacking personal and communal goals. The educational system was dis-cussed as well, described as too specialized and not suitable to the needs of society. Eventually, the Committee was able to put together a resolution in an at-tempt to tackle all of the afore-mentioned matters, and even more, and will passionately de-fend this resolution at the excit-ing General Assembly.■

EMPLby Stavros Pagonidis

ThessaLeaks Times

ENVI NON-sMOkING AND NON-ALCOhOLIC DELEGATEs

Our environmental commit-tee showed us once again their am-bition to make the world go around in the best way possible. Our del-egates tried really hard to tackle sev-eral problems concerning the laws’ enforcement. However, the motto of this committee (which was actu-ally the opinion of a delegate) is that the non-smoking lifestyle should be a personal choice. Moreover, they emphasized to the lack of proper education which derives both from school and family. However, with the vital help of the chairs, the delegates deeply understood the impact of ad-

vertising alcohol which results in an increase in severe health problems having actually also an impact in so-cial life, as it is scientifically proved the main reason of car accidents. Finally, after a heated debate over our crucial issue, the delegates had a relaxing game, and came up with the final resolution which they will cer-tainly defend due to their willingness to solve that social problem. Good luck ENVI delegates, tomorrow is go-ing to be the day of your triumph..■

by Despina Papadopoulou

FEMM

Time goes fast in the cor-ridors of Hellenic College. As GA is getting even closer, the working at-mosphere is constantly heating up for girls and boys from the FEMM committee. Ice was already broken yesterday in the Teambuilding, and they were ready for serious part of this session! The factor of time didn’t bother delegates much since they unleashed all their potential in a fruitful creative process. Ideas just started pouring on post-its and soon main flow of the discussion was pre-sented on the board. What is a bet-ter preparation for tomorrow’s Gen-eral Assembly than a discussion? Conversation developed steadily

while each point was elaborated. Firstly without any apparent group self-esteem, you could see in the each delegate face the pleasure and relief as they came to the conclusion that they can really do it tomorrow! Finding a balanced solution for gender issues is not an easy task, but it was really interesting to ob-serve what happened. While doing preparations for writing of the reso-lution, it was interesting to observe that girls were absolutely leading the discussion. Is that an early sign of complete suc-cess? We’ll find out tomorrow as we progress to the culmination of this session. ■

by Viktor Sanca

ThessaLeaks Times

Upon first arriving to the committee room I was amazed. I must be careful not to make them conceited but it was really a great first impression. You see them di-vided in two groups working on the assignment their chair Mareja has given them, completely disci-plined and speaking only English even though there was no one around to control them. To be honest, the topic they are discussing - a topic of

successful integration and just treatment of minorities in the member states - is a one of great importance and not an easy nut to crack. While reading the info pack about the topic, I started thinking of all the different ap-proaches I could have when covering this committee, imag-ining all possible difficulties on the way. But when I entered the room with the LIBE I banner I saw

them overcoming all of those problems with such a refined ap-proach. After seeing such a great performance today, exchange of ideas, creative debates and good teamwork I guarantee a great show at the GA. Hope they meet their match, only to get the chance to live up to their full po-tential.■

LIBE 1by Ivan Stojanovic

content: in a state of peaceful happiness Raise your right hand if you think that your personal infor-mation must be kept private. Now raise your left hand if you have a Facebook account. The photo I took basically describes the current situation. They try to eliminate this concept of trade-off and provide an environment where secure and rich Internet content flourish. The delegates were excited to put ideas together and form a resolution starting from early in the morning. One of the main concerns was that the time was insufficient to cover the entire topic, but the delegates were convinced that they will cov-er most of it and the atmosphere

was optimistic. Ogulcan stated that optimism is exactly the approach they need since they need to fo-cus rather than worry. The main focus of the discussions is whether harmful content should be banned or not. The freedom of expression and free flow of information would be deeply harmed in case ministers have full control on the content. On the other hand, people agree that some content favors crime, such as child pornography and drugs. There is also a huge amount of personal information stored online that has to be defended. Economic limitations and variety of content is yet another obstacle in front of the delegates.■

LIBE 2 by Cem Kocabasa

T h e s s a L e a k s

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