News2

Zagreb 2011 is on Twitter @zagrebpressteam#zagreb2011

Our aim throughout the session will be to document those experiences you have and perhaps to even be a part of some of them. We hope that the newspapers, the videos and the other content we produce for you will serve as a perfect me-mento of your experiences in Zagreb.

We also hope to give you more than just a collec-tion of your highlights of the session. The articles in this session are designed to provoke discussion, to cre-

ate debate and to challenge consensus. We hope that we can offer a new perspective on problems and that we can illuminate new issues to you.

Having gotten this far in EYP already we can as-sume you are informed, intelligent and interested in each others’ opinions. On numerous occasions you will be told by individu-als that you young people are ‘the future of Europe’. This might sound like a compliment but you should

see it as a challenge. And challenging others, and yourself, is exactly what you should be doing during this session. And we hope to be able to challenge you as well through the content we produce.

We cannot emphasise how important it is that you engage with this newspa-per, with this press-team and with everything that this session has to throw at you. Talk to your journal-ist, discuss the paper with them, tell us what you want

to see in the next issue. The session newspaper is about providing a record of your experiences at the session and therefore it requires your involvement. All we ask from you is that you engage with every aspect of the session, including the press team. We promise that doing so will only improve your experience of the ses-sion.

Yours,

James & Ned

Welcome to ZagrebThe Editors Have Their Say

Name: Republic of CroatiaLanguage: CroatianPopulation: 4,483,804Capital City: Zagreb (pop. 780,000)Location: Croatia is situated between central and eastern Europe bordering the Adriatic Sea between Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.Area: 56,542 sq. km (21,830 sq. mi.)Number 1 Single: TBF - Veseljko (listen below)

Crucial Croatian

Thank you - Hvala What time does Teambuilding start? - Sto virijeme me Team-building pocetak?I like your bikini (write it down for the pool party dudes)= Suida mi se tuoj bikini I love Croatia = Volim Hrvatska Today is a sunny day (smalltalk cliché) = Danasnij je suncvani dan! I am European! = Ja sam Europski!

and the largest national park in Croatia.

With a fourteen century-long history and influences from ancient Greek, Roman and Illyr-ian cultures, it is not surprising that Croatia is extremely diverse. Playing host to the world’s only Frog Museum, situated in Lokve, and the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, modern Croatian culture has a lot to offer. For instance Acadamia Cravata is a non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving and improving the recognition of the typical formal necktie, ‘the Cravat’, which was originally known as ‘the Croate’.

Croatia has played host to many world-renowned figures. Among these are; famous thir-teenth century explorer Marko Polo, commonly believed to be Italian. Nikola Tesla and Andrija Mohorovic were both reputable Croatian scientists excelling in electromagnetism and seismology respectively. Ian Fleming’s well-known character

James Bond was modeled on a Croatian II-world-war double spy, Dusko Popov, and finally actor Goran Visnijc played Dr. Luka Kovac in popular medical TV series E.R.

News 3

PHOTO/ Sara Juricic

It begins with ‘C’ and ends in ‘A’. It’s big, it probably took you a long time to get here and it’s the location of the 68th Session of the European Youth Parliament. But there’s a lot more to Croatia then just sunshine, beautiful landscape and a pool.

At the central current of the river Glina, 100 km south of Zagreb, lying beneath picturesque hills is the attractive thermal spa of Topusko, our home for the next few days. Throughout the years, Topusko has been host to many visitors;

from the ancient Japodes peoples, Romans, kings, ab-bots, great historical figures and royalty from all over Europe and now you EYPers. The nearby Plitvice National Lakes is the oldest national park in South East Europe

So you thinkyou knowCroatia?

Grainne Hawkes & Elena Tripaldi

Welcome to the 68 th International Session of the European Youth Parliament

News4

In the early hours of Sep-tember 21st the US State of Georgia executed Troy Davis by lethal injection. He had spent 16 years on death row, throughout which time he consistently protested his innocence. All but two non-police witnesses have with-drawn their testimonies since his conviction, many of them citing coercion on the part of the police to ensure Davis’ conviction. One of the two remaining witnesses is the alternate chief suspect who is implicated by 9 separate wit-nesses’ affidavits.

One of the most integral

principals of any democracy based on Rule of Law is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The issues with evidence Davis’ conviction raised above would seem enough to cast considerable doubt as to Da-vis’ guilt, certainly enough to warrant clemency of execu-tion.

Davis is dead now. The US State of Georgia killed him. No future revelations will make any difference now that the ultimate punish-ment has been dealt. That a man can be sent to his death by a modern, democratic state on seemingly question-able evidence, all the while adamantly protesting his in-

nocence seems bizarre, if not barbaric.

The Troy Davis case, if nothing else, raises serious questions about the use of the death penalty by any state and has added credence to the many advocates calling for its abolition.

An individual is only justified in the taking of a life in cases of self defence. Otherwise, they are deemed “murderer”, the most heinous form of criminal. Should not a similar moral code apply to a state? The killing of a con-vict is not in self defence; it is an act of revenge, of punish-ment, of a twisted justice.

130 people have been released from Death Row in

Death Sentence

the US following the eventual proving of their innocence. How many were not so lucky? The Northwestern Univer-sity School of Law Center on Wrongful Convictions has found there to be at least 39 cases where executions have taken place in the US with seri-ous doubts about guilt or with compelling evidence of in-nocence. Surely the Troy Davis case moves this to 40.

It is as important for a legal system to ensure that no in-nocent people are punished as to ensure that the guilty are brought to justice. The death penalty simply does not con-form to this norm of the Rule of Law. It is a cruel, irrevers-ible punishment on behalf of a state. It is also an ineffective form of punishment.

For one it is tremendously expensive. True, the actually cost of execution is not that much as compared to paying for a convicts stay in prison for years and years. However, any state with even a smattering of respect for the Rule of Law and the principle of “innocence un-til proven guilty” has a lengthy and incredibly expensive ap-peals process that dwarfs the expense of keeping a convict in prison.

It is also an ineffective form of deterrent. True, it is better in this regard than the alternative offered by states such as Ire-land and the United Kingdom where the death penalty has been replaced by ever dwin-dling prison sentences where a killer being released in under a decade is a fairly common event.

In Canada, however, the death penalty has been re-placed by prison sentencing where “life means life”. Here, murder rates have seen a steady decline since the abolition of the death penalty in 1976.

The death penalty is a barbar-ic throwback to a less civilised, more violent world. It is time to move on and the European Union should take the lead in promoting the norm already established internally that the death penalty is just wrong.

Eoin O’Driscoll

The Death penalty Is A Barbaric Punishment Not Fit For Democratic Society

Albina puts her earphones on as someone starts drilling in the apartment above hers, interrupting our Skype con-versation. We don’t get too far, as she has to run to the hospital so the only thing I learnt from our little chat was that she and Dražen both hate the colour orange. Shortly after that I don’t have much luck with Dražen either, as technology keeps failing us during our Skype conversation.

I finally manage to catch them in Zagreb but this time family got in the way. Dražen hasn’t seen his parents in two months - and family comes first.

As we reached Topusko I was in for a surprise - I finally managed to interrupt Dražen while he’s writing an e-mail and I go in for the kill. “This is the grand finale”, I say to myself. If you had not guessed it yet, this is the interview with our

literally unstoppable Head Organisers – Albina and Dražen.

Talking about surprises, this session came as a big surprise for both of them. “It was March 2010 and there was only one day left to present your bid for an International Session,“ Dražen continues. “It was an impulsive act, in one day we checked out a couple of menus, put together a budget and sent in our bid.“

They say they never thought they were going to get it, but the Governing Body had other plans for the next year or so of their lives.

They were prepared for the challenge. Albina has been involved with EYP since 2004, Dražen since 2003.

The idea of head organis-ing an International Ses-sion has been around since 2006. “We never had enough time, energy, or people. We were more focused on na-tional development in EYP Croatia. Having developed quite a lot in a few years, it felt like the right time to,” Albina says, pausing, “put a cherry on top.“ “Basically, we just gave it a go - we had nothing to lose,“ she finishes.

When asked about how they deal with keeping themselves motivated, Dražen jokes: “I just imag-ine 300 angry and hungry people [all wanting some-thing from me].“ On a more serious note he admits never being able to having done

News 5

The People That Made This Session Happen

Putting the cherry on top

this without Albina. Head organising a session is most definitely stressful, but it is ’all positive stress’. “We have a great team, extremely responsible organisers and good division of work,“ Albina assures me.

It is clear that Albina thinks of herself as more of a team player. She likes when ’people do things together, when there’s more brains involved’. “You are bound to get a better solution once everyone offers their own perspective. Plus, it’s more fun, interesting and the stress level is lower,“ she firmly states.

Dražen is the more impul-sive and disorganised one of this duo. He loves the role of a leader because ’it’s a good way to challenge oneself ’. “I have a really deep voice and people get scared when I shout,“ Dražen says, “but still, I could not do it with-out Albina. She has strong sides like punctuality, but above all she has got the ten-dency to know Excel.“ “He calls me Miss Excel Table,“ Albina chuckles.

People find Albina to be open and enthusiastic, a good listener. “I’m consid-ered to be rude and loud,“ Dražen admits. They are complete opposites, yet they complement each other. “We want the same thing, we have the same vision of the session – how things should look like, how they should run,“ says Dražen.

Coming to an IS is a truly great moment for a delegate, they both agree. That is what made Albina stick around for 7 years. “You gain a lot of confidence and expand your views.”

“You face a new reality, as you see that there is so much out there besides your school and country”, Dražen adds.

However different, one is for sure, if they were stranded on a desert island they would bring an iPod, a Blackberry and... each other.

Karin-Liis Lahtmäe

“We just gave it a go - we had nothing to lose” - Albina

Leviathan: Will we ever kill it?Elena Tripaldi discusses the philosophical implications of understanding of power

“Freedom”The theoretical distinction between “freedom of ” (posi-tive) and “freedom from”(negative) was first established by Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997). In the first case, the State is responsibi-lising citizens to their actions, while in the second case, State is not judging citizen’s actions in the extent in which they do not harm others.

in favour of the governor, in order to be free.

In both conceptions, "free-dom" is negative .

Such a notion of freedom cannot but imply a radical

unconcern towards politics, due to a sense of disorienta-tion. Furthermore, the State remains in both contracts a repressive structure, since it does not implement natural instincts and inclinations but fights and controls them.

Finally, such a State is an institution with effective-ness but without real human responsiblity. In fact, equal-ity amongst citizens requires a representation mechanism, which leaves citizens execut-ing something they haven’t directly established for and without any other respon-sible but themselves. Guilt due to a subliminal repres-sive intention in the State, lack of political interest and sense of powerlessness, together they all depict a scenario of social distortion.

Philosophical analysis is now bringing theory dan-gerously close to practice.

What should change?Constitutionally, power

should be the result of a constant consultation of different social components. Likewise, our understand-ing of human rights should change: “human right” should be intended as re-lational, not starting from the notion of "individual" anymore. We should per-ceive equality not as forced flattening of skills and flaws, but as respect of differences.

With its decision making divided amongst European Commission, European Council and European Par-liament the European Union seems to have an opened path to detach from democ-racies modeled on Hobbes’s and Rousseau’s.

Finally, our motto “unity through diversity” can now sound as an invitation to a new conception of "human right".

Comment6

The "history of concepts" (Begriffsgeschichte) was founded in 1967 by con-stitutional historician O. Brunner and philosopers W. Conze and R. Koselleck to collect a "lexicon" retracing meanings of constitutional concepts. When Reihnart Koselleck concluded that concepts could not pre-scind from context, studies to define each context's extent were carried out. "Freedom", "Popular Sover-eignity" and "Democracy" were taken as pointers for our political era. As strictly connected with the no-tion of "individual", Italian scholars G. Duso and S. Chignola set the start of our political age to Hobbes's and Rousseau's political works.

In Leviathan(1651) and De Cive (1642), Hobbes funds politics on equality amongst human beings. In fact they all are exposed to the risk of prevarication, due to the natural state of things -depicted by most famous expression homo homini lu-pus. "Individual" is here the smallest part of the political body.

Hence, the fact that out-side the contract established with governors there is nothing but the natural state leaves no space for any alternative. Legitimate violence and decision on justice become exclusively the purview of governors.

Rousseau's conception gets to the same conclusions de-spite its opposite start. Even though man is originally good and self sufficient, the individual is the basis of social interaction. A state of order has to be established through a contract, where citizens are explicitly asked to alienate all their power

“How Scholars Brought New Insights to Studies on Current Democracies”

Drugs are harmful and dangerous. There can be no doubt about that. There is not, however, a consensus on how the problem of drug usage and distribution can be solved.

In 1998 the United Nations declared their aim to achieve a drug free world. The United States stuck to its ‘war on drugs’ to get to this goal, the way they have been fighting this problem since the early 1970s when President Richard Nixon came up with this Wterm. The idea behind this policy is rather simple – active combat and zero tolerance to-wards drug dealers and users.

In 2008 1.5 million Ameri-cans were arrested for drug offences, of which half a mil-lion went to jail for that. The United States sponsors the spraying of herbicides over South and Central American jungles to increase the price of

coca leaves. The US govern-ment spend 15 billion dollars yearly on war on drugs.

So it is clear that the United States has had a strict course against drugs. Unfortunately, this policy has not brought the expected results. Although the war on drugs takes a lot of effort, money and even human lives, the amount of drug users has hardly changed over the past decade. Three-quarters of Americans believe

that we are currently losing the war, a view shared by the European Commission, who stated it had ‘found no evidence that the global drug problem was reduced (..) from 1998 to 2007’,

There are other ways to

fight the drug issue. Some European countries see drugs as more of a doctor’s than a policeman’s problem. The aim is to reduce the use of recreational substances by educating society and treating addiction. A prime example is the Netherlands where heroin assisted treatment has not only reduced the number of addicts by 30% but also keeps junkies off the streets. In Switzerland, which uses a

similar policy as the Nether-lands, the initiative to end the heroin program was rejected by a majority of voters.

Some people are ready to take this idea further. There is a growing movement in favour of decriminalizing the

use of drugs and legalising particular substances. The Economist argued for legalisa-tion as early as 1989; the UN Global Commission of Drug Policy also encourages this step. Although this means ‘hard-to-measure trade-offs’, ‘prohibition seems even more harmful,’ says the Economist.

The main advantages to this model are putting stop to or-ganised drug crime and being able to offer greater healthcare to those addicted. The money taken in from taxation and not spent on law enforcement can be used to educate society and treat drug abusers.

Surely current anti-drug policy is foolish. But as long as it does not affect their everyday life, no parent will feel comfortable with making drugs more accessible to their children. Could this be the key issue stopping the legali-sation of drugs?

Comment 7

“ The Number of Drug Users Has Hardly Changed Over the Past Decade.. .Why?”

Ugis Balmaks considers whether current drug policy will ever be an effective solution

In 2008 1.5 million Americans were arrested for drug offences.

Can This War Be Won?

Comment8

Growth at the Bottom

“In Europe, everyone is rich,” says Chiayu Lin, an exchange student to Germany from China. Few doubt the European Union to be an economic superpower - in 2010, it had a GDP slightly higher than the United States with around 16 Million US Dol-lars and more than three times that of China. At the same time, China has to distribute this sum amongst about twice as many citizens than the EU. None-theless, if we believe current tendencies and assumptions by both investment companies and economists, Europeans will not be the fat cats forever.

They have been called different names, from emerging markets to converging economies: coun-tries like China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Russia or Mexico. These countries have in

common that their economies are growing at tremendous rates, they are establishing new mar-kets, offering cheap labour and becoming export giants. With growing populations and there-fore a labour force that is ambi-tious to reach higher standards of living and a better life for their children, these formerly strug-gling countries are taking over global markets. Most of these countries even share a common history: Brazil and Russia only became formally democratic in 1985 and 1990. Often, when democracy is established, this comes with new policies: aside from free elections, the rule of law and the establishment of Human Rights, free market economies are introduced.

As often happens, privatisation waves and liberalization policies

also led to economic crises in these countries. India, a formerly close trading partner of the Soviet Union, was hit by Russia’s economic crisis in the beginning of the 90s which led to high rates of poverty and unemployment. During a currency crisis at the end of the 80s, Brazil suffered from an inflation rate of up to 50% a month and experimented with six different currencies be-fore stabilization. At the begin-ning of the 20th century, none of these countries were too well off and nearly all were struggling to establish stability. Today, the ones that have managed to do so are booming - be it through the provision of natural resources or the offering of global services.

A Goldman Sachs study first published in 2001 by economist Jim O’Neill paints a picture of

completely different balances of power in the year 2050: China will have been the number one economic superpower for over 20 years. While the USA will still take second place, it will be followed by India, Brazil and Russia. Mexico and Indonesia will be close on their heels and Nigeria and South Africa are expected to take in spots before all economically powerful Euro-pean countries such as Germany and France.

And where will Europe be in this picture? Dependent on Russian oil and gas supplies, indebted to China, unable to compete against cheap labour from India? Some go even a step further. China joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 and is thereby manag-ing to translate its increasing

Franziska Maier

economic power into increasing political influence. Now newly established economic powers are not only investing in already established economic superpow-ers, but are seeking alternative ways of trade: while the ways in which development aid can and cannot work has been subject

of discussion in Europe and North America for ages, China is increasing its trade with Africa, claiming to be able to meet with the people there on an eye-level instead of as former colonialists. By setting less political condi-tions and giving less direction as to how to spend donated money, it is offering developing countries many advantages and establishing friendly ties. While the West is a strict parent, China is the older brother who knows what it is like growing up in our household.

It is almost uncontested that a new economic world order will automatically lead to a new po-litical world order and thereby, a new distribution of powers. While everyone is busy putting on a friendly face and putting an emphasise on their will to diplomacy and goodwill, there is no doubt that these emerging economies could in the future pose a threat to established Western powers. Some won-der whether China and other emerging economies will join the current world order in a more dominant position than today, or in fact overthrow cur-rent global systems and establish a world order of their own. The Shanghai Co-operation Organi-sation (SCO), for example, is a mutual-security organization comprising China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It mainly works together in fields of common security and peacekeeping, but is increasingly also focusing on economic co-operation. Other rising economies in the region

such as India, Iran and Pakistan have been granted observer statuses and are likely to join the organization at some point. The United States, in an attempt to be a part of what emerging econo-mies were planning, applied for observer status but was denied access.

The potential new powers of the world want the same space for themselves that the West had always wanted at G-8 summits and at the beginnings of the foundation of the WTO. Of course, this does not necessar-ily mean that the SCO or other organizations such as the BRICS states - the new powers of 2050 according to Goldman Sachs, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - are plotting to form an alliance against the West. They are also ambitious to join Western dominated organizations and find their place in the current order. However, it remains to be seen whether a simple spot or an increase in representativeness for these states will be enough - it seems with a growth rate of around 6% per year, nothing is quite enough. Brazil, for exam-ple, is striving for a permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations.

Within a global order where Brazil, Russia, India and China are dominating powers, the West losing parts of its political and economic power is perhaps not even the most worrying part of the scenario. While Brazil and India have largely established political structures and are left only with the problem of cor-ruption and all governmental and economic sectors, Russian and Chinese commitment to democracy is not as obvious. Human Rights violations, care-fully managed media coverage, and the suppression of a civil society movement are consider-able problems in these countries.

Comment 9

In 2050 China will have been the world’s largest economy for 20

years.

Economic prosperity is at the moment keeping the masses content with current systems, but often it also enables a broad-er horizon: more international connections, a higher access to education and increased aspira-tions for revolutionary ideas could be the result.

At the same, while economies in these countries prosper, some people are left behind: the in-equality in distribution of wealth is extremely high in almost all these emerging economies and especially so in the BRIC states. Many freshly baked millionaires are investing in internal capital markets, founding new success-ful business and establishing big companies which pose a threat to small businesses. On the other hand, people live in poverty in the slums of big cities or in rural areas without access to education and employment. As an example, half of the Indian population is illiterate. In Brazil, 80% of the population lives in

big cities, many have moved as a result of the shrinking of employment possibilities in ag-riculture and live in slums. The only thing they see of economic development is 30-story build-ings in the next neighbourhood filled with the most expensive cars in the world. Political and social stability is not a given.

It remains to be seen how the EU will deal with this unprec-edented issue. And every one of us young Europeans will have to make a decision: Will we deal with whatever the future brings and work for an Indian software developer one day? Do we ac-cept these developments as long as they strive for democracy and become organizers of protest against Chinese Human Rights violations? Or do we sit back with a good book and leave the investment bankers to tell people to put their money wherever they want because growth at the top is always slower than growth at the bottom?

The Real Taste: EYP InternationalBram van Meldert introduces you to the bewildering world of European Youth Parliament

Most of you have been to regional and national selec-tion sessions to get here and thus you already have some ideas on what EYP is like. However, this session will be different from all your previous experiences.

First of all there is of course the obvious fact that the session is hold in Zagreb, which add, an exotic flavour to the experience. More important, however, is the wide range of different nationalities present at the session.

Having a drink while talk-ing with new friends from all over Europe should be far more interesting than talking with friends from home and partying with an international film com-pany guarantees lots of fun.

Eurovillage and Euroconcert are unique expressions of European diversity, which give us the opportunity to experience the cultural

richness of our continent as never before.

Besides all these social and cultural interactions you will get the exceptional oppor-tunity to exchange thoughts about current issues of Euro-pean politics with young-sters from all over Europe. You might find out that you agree on certain issues with someone from the other

side of the continent, while disagreeing on these issues with someone from your own school.

You will have the chance to

talk with someone from Bel-gium about the Belgian gov-ernment crisis. A French-man could explain to you his opinion on the DSK affair. If you want to know something more about the indignados you should speak with a Spanish delegate and if you are interested in the riots in London you can contact the British delegation.

Furthermore the high standards of EYP will chal-lenge you to leave your comfort zone and to go beyond abilities you even

didn’t know you have. So go out and get to know these strangers. Discover Euro-pean diversity. Go and have fun. Party as never before. Go and speak up. Reach consensus and dare to disa-gree. Go and learn. Develop yourself and take as much as you can from this unique experience. Go out and taste the real EYP!

Features10

“It was a new, fascinating and unforgettable experi-ence which helped me in many different areas to be a

better person.” - Croatian delegate

“Guiding You Through The EYP Maze”

Everyday is a party in ZagrebAndreia Moraru gives you an excuse to party every night... as if you needed one

Features 11

Even though EYP events are by definition an occasion for celebration, the Zagreb press team researched for you plenty of reasons to justify the late night entertainment for each and every day spent in the lovely Croatia.

After a long day of travel-ling, registrations, unpack-ing and small talk with your roommates, the first day of the month and of Team-Building is a busy one for your social calendar. We begin the session by hon-ouring the wisest among us because this year’s theme for the International Day of Older Persons is celebrating later life. Created by the UN General Assembly on Octo-ber 1st 1990, the holiday was designed to show apprecia-tion towards the contribution that older people make to society. In 2011, it became a great reason to voice that life is beautiful at any age and the UK’s slogan for this day, Full of Life, perfectly embod-ies that.

The second day of Team-Building is over, you already know your committee and you are looking forward to the evening programme. If you are in need of a conver-sation starter, you can begin with the classic line “Did you know that October 2nd is the International Day of Non-Violence?”. The birthday of Mahatma Gandhi became in 2007 the official day to promote the non-violence and it can become your way of endorsing friendship for a whole day.

After two solemn events, just in time for the Com-mittee Work, October the 3rd brings World Smile Day. Coined and initiated by Harvey Ball, the creator of the Smiley Face, it was first celebrated in 1991. Now,

the observance has its own website, www.worldsmileday.com, where people share ways to celebrate it. The next day, while you will be busy discussing important issues, everybody else will give ku-dos to our dear non-talking friends.

Yes, the 4th is the World Animal Day and many events, parades, shows, tel-evision or radio programmes will give the deserved atten-tion to our dear living things.

Time is passing by incred-ibly quickly and we are already half way through the session, which is a very good moment to honour the ones that are here for you, especially to give you valu-able advice, regardless of the topic, your teachers. Their crucial importance to our development was recognised by UNESCO in 1994, when

the 5th was recognised as the World Teachers’ Day. If you want to take a few minutes and say ‘Thank you!’ to your favourite one, you can use www.5oct.org to send him/her an e-card. After you do that, don’t forget to send en-couragements to your class-mates, because the 6th is the International Walk to School Day. Initially celebrated in the USA, now 17 European countries promote healthier and environmentally friendly habits, by inspiring their stu-dents to walk to school.

The resolutions are ready, the booklet is printed, seems like it is time for the GA and for the Ada Lovance Day on the 7th. A project that began in 2009 in Britain as a blog event on http://www.pledge-bank.com, which promoted successful women in technol-ogy, now aims to encourage

people all around the world to talk about women they admire, creating new role models.

After such a busy week, your energy level must be very low, but don’t worry about that. The International Egg Commission, thought about that and named the second Friday of October, the World Egg Day. So have your fair share of proteins and get ready for the Farewell Party.

October the 9th, Departures Day. 137 years ago, on the exact same day, the Universal Postal Union had been estab-lished in Bern. Since 1969 we observe the World Post Day and what a better way to cel-ebrate it than by exchanging e-mail addresses, Skype ids, Facebook accounts? Don’t forget to thank the Swiss for starting the global communi-cation revolution!

The Zagreb Prss Team.. .Any Excuse For A Party

Meet The Chairs12

Swift, Stolker, le Fanu, Synge, Yeats, Kavanagh, Wilde, Beckett and Joyce.

What is your favorite Croatian word?

When I had to ask my management professor

out, due to a lost bet. She is thirty-ish and really hot.

Supercalifragilisticexpiali-docious (Mary Poppins!)

Rosa Douw (ITRE II) Eoin Rogers (CULT I)

Lorenzo Parulli (CRIS)

Describe Anna in one word?

What makes you a true Irish (other than your name)?

What is your most embarrassing moment

ever?

Pizza.

On my porch, with a glass of red wine, waiting for that handsome man in the kitchen to finish cooking dinner, on a quiet Sunday afternoon ... I could go on for hours…

First thing you thought of when you woke up this morning?

Why are you better than Monica?

President Anna O’Leary (ITRE 1)

Vice-President Monica Bota Moisin (SEDE)

Vice-President Lluis Solervicens (CULT II)

Victoria Bendiksby Wilkinson (ITRE 1)

Do you have any bad habits?

Always bringing too many shoes to a session, I

brought 13 pairs this time!

Because my chestnuts bring all the girls to the

yard.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

“Seriously, now...”

Stefan Vandenhende (AFET II)

Meet The Chairs 13

If you do not count my pathetic attempts to cook,

somehow I have always been a decent child and

have never really had despotic embarrassing

moments.

Growing, giving, receiving.

I can perform the Impe-rio spell without a flaw.

I collapsed above the Black Sea during the first flight in my life.

“Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional” – Charles ‘Chili’ Davies.

My six pack.

Huggable and I’d add ex-tremely if I could!

I have a radio station. Check it out yourself at

www.welle20.de

Benjamin Brown (ECON)

Gustaf Danielsson (LIBE)

Ezgi Ince (DROI)Benjamin Gradhand (ENVI)

Sini Johanna Hyytiainen (DEVE)

Dmytro Honcharenko (IMCO)

Luca Olumets (EMPL) Ogulcan Torun (AFET I)Most embarrassing

moment ever?

Tell us something inter-esting?

How would you describe Anna in one word?

What differs you most from your identical twin

brother?

What is the goal of being a delegate according to you?

What is your secret talent?

Most embarrassing moment ever?

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Julie van der Post & Florentine Oberman

Grainne Hawkes offers her top tips for making friends at the session

How To...14

So you’re at your first EYP In-ternational Session and at a loss how to make friends. Just follow these simple steps and you’ll soon be the social butterfly of the session. You might even manage to beat my record 43 friends on facebook….Names: These are unimportant. Forget them. If you must, persis-tently pronounce them incor-rectly. Never ask a person their name. It shows that you may be taking an interest in another person other than yourself. This is not how you make friends.Appearance: Appearance and personal grooming is completely overrated. Do not wash, do not shower and certainly do not wear any perfume or aftershave. ‘Shabby chic’ is key here. There’s nothing worse then seeing somebody well kept, well dressed and put together. Nobody likes somebody looking better than them. This is not how you make friends.Smile: Like an angry dog bearing its teeth, smiling is threatening. Nobody will like you should you engage in this behaviour. Quite

frankly it’s just socially danger-ous and irresponsible. This is not how you make friends.Be approachable: You may think having open body language will help your quest for friendship. Nothing could be further from the truth. Stay away from groups of people. Find refuge in a corner and frown. If you can, cover your face completely with your hands or a nearby object. People will find this interesting and ap-proach you. Do not smile, do not

show an interest in other people, and do not encourage people to approach you. This is not how you make friends.Talk: Making conversation is the worst thing you can do while looking for friends. People hate talking, that’s what music and TV was invented for. Why would people want to hear the

sound of your voice recounting experiences that they may share in common with you? If you must communicate, do so in an aloof and disinterested manner. You need to let the other person know you do not care about what they are saying and never will. Do not make light and humor-ous conversation. This is not how you make friends.Be respectful: A politically inappropriate comment. A racial comment. A sexist comment. In-

sensitive comments about touchy subjects are great for grabbing people’s attention. Being cultur-ally aware and embracing differ-ent viewpoints is wrong. This is not how you make friends.Listen: When somebody is speaking to you continuously look distracted and ask them to repeat themselves again and

again. This will infuriate them and cause them to become passionately annoyed. Passion is important for any friendship. Encouraging questions, nod-ding and remaining attentive will discourage them from talking to you and possibly scare them away. This is not how you make friends. Eye contact: Stare people down. It works. People like noth-ing more then a one way, non mutual, sudden staring contest. Never lock eyes with another person, particularly if you are forced to converse with them. Instead, look over their shoulder and/or head. Eye contact is for stalkers. This is not how you make friends.Abide by social norms and have manners: Holding doors open, greeting people, table manners and etiquette are from another era and embarrassingly outdated. They show eagerness. They show a willingness to help others. They indicate you care about others. In other words, they are socially offensive. This is not how you make friends.

Maria Pashi shows the Press Team’s socialising skills at their best

How to... Make Friends and Influence People

Social Networking Is Much More Fun In The Real World

“Follow these simple steps and you’ll soon be the social

butterfly of the session.”