This year 2007, and for the 20th birthday of the Erasmus programme, La Sorbonne is one of the 250 European universities and one of the 500 locations where Newropeans will go to meet Europeans. It was indeed at La Sorbonne more than 20 years ago, when Franck Biancheri and future Newropeans launched “Les Etats Généraux des Etudiants Européens” (EGEE) the first official European meeting of European students.
Friday May 18, Franck Biancheri and several members of Newropeans were back at La Sorbonne, to discuss the future of the Erasmus programme.
It was indeed at La Sorbonne more than 20 years ago, when Franck Biancheri and future Newropeans launched “Les Etats Généraux des Etudiants Européens” (EGEE) the first official European meeting of European students. EGEE was going to become Aegee Europe, the first European students organization and Franck Biancheri, as its founding president, one of the main protagonists in the launching of the Erasmus program (1).
This year 2007, and for the 20th birthday of the Erasmus programme, La Sorbonne is one of the 250 European universities and one of the 500 locations where Newropeans will go to meet Europeans. This tour is already the biggest European citizens initiative ever (2), its aim: To meet European citizens and discuss the future of the European Union with them.
1,5 millions students having already benefited from Erasmus, the first truly European programme, is also the first really European generation in the history of the European construction. It is this generation of Europeans aged under 40 that Newropeans counts on and will count mainly to democratise the European Union from inside.
They are the voters having lived and having tried out Europe when they were students, but also in their companies, associations, projects…
They have an insight to the shortages and limits of this formidable human project which is the European construction.
They are the ones who will mainly enable us to enter the European Parliament and implement our proposals (3) and our programme (4).
They are the ones who Newropeans will meet all this year to listen to the dissatisfactions and expectations, and to present our first answers. ‘First answers’ because Newropeans feeds upon and feeds its political debates of these thousands of meetings with each citizen, amongst citizens, this is what makes the Newropeans specifically unique.
Newropeans is a political project running over the next 15 years but it is initially a citizen project made for and by citizens. Our success is and will be first of all the success of the European civil society, yours, you who are reading these lines. To succeed we need the help of everyone under multiple forms, specifically or on a more regular form, relational, technical or financial.
Today Newropeans is building a network of motivated citizens, who are members, supporters or simply willing to offer a few hours of their time.
It is thanks to the assistance of voluntary ordinary citizens like you, like me, concerned enough about common well being and aware that our future is not being decided any more at the national level, but at the European level that the Newropeans project is being built on.
It is thanks to voluntary ordinary citizens that Newropeans is present right now in 13 countries, soon in 15, and we hope in 20 by the end of 2007.
If you recognize yourselves in these few lines and wish to help us in any way, then contact us. Our present needs are numerous:
- Our priority: the Newropeans Democratic Marathon 2007. If you have relationships in any country of the EU ready to welcome Newropeans and / or to help us from a logistic point of view then contact me: dcarayol@newropeans.eu
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