Latest News
--01102000--
Official start of the Borderless Europe Essay Contest. Contribute with
your ideas to a Borderless Europe:
http://www.aegee.org/essay
--16092000--
Mr Schoenherr (AEGEE-Visa Freedom Fighter) asked at the conference in
Alba-Julia Mr P. Roman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, if Romania
wants to join the United States of America or the EU
as there are no visa regulations for citizens of the US while there are
for EU citizens. Mr Roman announces that Visa regulation for EU citizens
will be removed from 1st of December on. But this is also depending on
the upcoming elections in Romania. Big complaints were addressed by the
participants against the Italian Embassies in Eastern European countries,
that are not working efficient. Students burnt their old passports in
protest against the visa regulations of the EU towards citizens of the
pre-accession country Romania.
--07092000--
At the conference in Szeged (HUN) Mr Szent Itvdnyi, President of the Paliamentary
Commission of Foreign Affairs of Hungary complained towards the EU that
in their strategy there is no first Enlargement round without Poland.
Through this, all other pre-accession countries are depending on the developments
in Poland. Furthermore he stressed, that in the Enlargement process the
EU is sometimes applying higher criteria to the pre-accession states,
than to their own member states.
--17082000--
The new webpages of the project have been launched. If you have any comments,
feedback, send it to webmaster@aegee.org.
--10082000--
The Borderless Europe Rally endedin Bruxelles. "I encountered more
borders than I ever imagined, concludes Fanny Ropiteau, from France. "Living
and travelling without problems in the Schengen Area I nearly forgot that
there are still a lot of borders in Europe. There is still a long way
to go before reaching a Borderless Europe." There are good reasons
for existing borders, but the Schengen agreement proves, that it is possible
to overcome them. During their journey the participants met a lot of people
that are open for a more Borderless Europe:
http://www.aegee.org/rally
--09062000--
The conference "Europe of 15+" in the European Parliament in
Bruxelles (B) marked the official beginning of the Borderless Europe project.
At the conference Mr. J.M. Wiersma (MEP) remarked that the borders of
the European Union are indeed impermeable. He expressed his concern that
the enlargement of the European Union will result in the erection of a
new wall in eastern Europe and create a new socio-economic division, which
will threaten the stability of Europe. According to Wiersma this will
create tensions, especially with Russia. Therefore we have to consider
the consequences of shifting borders, and act in the interest of Europe
as a whole. We have to promote an open approach, so eventually countries
such as Belarus and the Ukraine can join. Prof. J. Pelkmans, Senior Research
Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies, underlined this statement
by adressing the protectionist EU labour laws. Pelkmans gave a negative
answer to the question "Are the Hordes Coming?" arguing that
workers from CEE countries cannot compete on the western labour market
because of the host country control systems: Free movement of workers
in the Union is very unfree! Consequently, even inside the Fortress borders
do exist:
http://www.aegee.org/europe15+
