Activities in Greece

in Thessaloniki:

- 9. May Europe Day: Street Action in Aristotelous square on 9/5 with Info Stand. JEF Thessaloniki's members walked around the central square of the city handing out leaflets concerning the EU and informing people about JEF and Europe Day. The event was a great chance and a first important step for this new JEF section of Greece. A similar action took place on May 1st for the enlargement day.

- Day Event with University of Macedonia

Contact person: Galateia Ksanthopoulou (e-mail: ksanthop(at)hotmail.com)

in Athens:

- International Seminar with AEGEE

- 1. May Enlargement Day:

A day of great celebration! The E.U. Enlargement Day found us, the

members of JEF – Athens on the street promoting the idea of "Europe

United as one".Wearing our new T-Shirts and our best mood, we gathered in Ermou St.;at the center of Athens, facing the Greek Parliament, near Syntagma (Constitution) square. Along with us -the proud members of JEF –

Athens- were Nikos Lampropoulos (vice President JEF – Europe) and Vassilis Stamogiannis (President JEF – Greece).

And what a site we were! 20 JEFfers walking around, holding JEF balloons and wearing flags of all the E.U member States, handing out JEF and E.U material, having up front -leading the way- one of the two spindleshanks (you know, the guys with the tall wooden legs!!!) wearing large E.U flags!

The promoting material proved after all to be inadequate! The people seemed very interested in finding out more about the E.U, and they stopped and asked questions. Needless to say we were more than happy to inform them and give them a little something to keep them occupied on their way.

The end of the action found us very happy for the result. Another successful action! Another victory on the hard way of uniting Europe…

- May 9th 2004 Day of Europe:

Need to say more? A day that wasn’t ignored in any European country, neither in Greece! On the 9th of May the members of JEF – Athens visited the nearby city of Piraeus where the Info-Point Europe had an informative stand. It was a great, sunny day, people all over the streets… Great day for street action number 2 (after May 1st). With smile on our faces we approached the people that surrounded the stand and informed them about the History of Europe, the meaning of the celebration on May 9th and the big issues that arise in our future after the Enlargement of May 1st. We tried to explain them the idea of Federalism and the benefits of a United Europe.

Needless to say we were more than happy to see many of them signing the Appeal of JEF Europe for a European Constitution! Another step forward to our goal. Citizens are getting more and more involved in the idea of a United Europe…

Contact person: Maria Tsiga (e-mail: tsiger(at)panafonet.gr)

- 4. June: Conference at the University of Economics on "European Elections: 25 countries vote- the european citizens decide ". Speakers: Michalis Papayannakis (President European Movement Greece, MEP),Nikolaos Baltas (professor of Economics, Chairman of the Department of Economics, Jean Monnet Chair), Giorgos Gerapetritis (professor of Constitutional Law, University of Athens), Nikos Lampropoulos (Vice-President JEF Europe). The conference was very successful, not only because of the large amount of young people attending, but also because n a time where the european elections campaigns of the greek parties- as well as the media - focus on the national agenda, we managed to get in the heart of issues at stake in the upcoming elections.

-6-13th June, Info-house on the euroelections (2m x 2m installation, open 12hours a day), which will be situated on a very central place in Athens. Our aim is to familiarise greek citizens with the european idea, encourage people to vote and get them acquainted with the european parties- make them realise how important the strengthening of the parties is for a european democracy. We have information material from the European parties/ their campaings and NOT the campaigns of the national parties of Greece, along with JEF material and other flyers we have from the euro-parliament. We really believe this will be the high point of our campaign in Athens acting also as a closure for our election This event is under the auspices of the Office of the European Parliament in Athens.

In Komotini:

- 1. May: Enlargement Day:

* Press Conference: attended by 10 local media outlets where press packs on the Enlargement and JEF were distributed. They had a fruitful outcome of articles as well, that are available upon request.

*Info Stand: featuring EU and JEF publications with focus on enlargement opened from 12:00 to 18:00h! In total they distributed around 1600 brochures, but the public reached was far longer through the press coverag they received.

- 4.May: Simulation of the Council of Ministers - Big Event with the cooperation of the European Law Students Association and the Info Point Europe Komotini.

Twenty-five delegates, one representative of the Comission and the responsible of the CFSP, discussed about "The role of the Common Foreing and Security Policy fot the future enlarged EU". Each delegate did his best to support the policy of his country.

During the debate, emphasis had given on issues such as the functionality and flexibility of the CFSP and how EU can cooperate with other International Organizations, in order to bring lasting peace and fight the monster of terrorism within Europe and, why not, globally. After a 6-hour debate, all delegates, finally, bringed their policies and created two resolutions, one for the future of the CFSP and one for Terrorism. All the participants renew their appointment for the next year and close the debate with the best wishes for the enlarged Europe and the hope for a better future.

- 9.May: Europe Day:

* Info Stand featuring JEF and European Commission publications. The stand operated with JEF-EU informers from 09:00 to 21:00h! In total they distributed about 3000 brochures on the EU and JEF.

* "Paint the New Europe!": youngsters were invited to paint their future Europe, on a 30 metre-long paper placed down on the square. We also had 10 kites with the colours of the flags of the new member states, along with " more ones from Bulgaria, Rumania and Turkey flying in the central square of the town.

Contact person: George Kipouros (e-mail: kipouros(at)ipekomotini.gr)

                       Danai Tani (e-mail: dtani(at)mail.gr)