1. Welcome

Dear ESNCard holders & Dear ESNFriends,

ESN is happy to inform you on many developments that have been going on in the last month:

ESN International is proud to present the two latest member states of the network: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. We are also very pleased about the outcome of the Opening Conference about 20 years of the Erasmus Programme where Vice-president of the European Commission Wallström and Commissioner Jan Figel' participated.

Our partner SkyEurope opened many new airports so that our members can fly to many new destinations with 15% of discount.

Outside of ESN, there are also many interesting projects going on, as there are the European media as cafebabel.com and the Successors' European Youth Summit (SEYS).

Finally, we also want to spread our opinion about obstacles against student mobility. We are glad that the European Commission is working on the prevention of discrimination of foreign students.

Enjoy reading the newsletter. ESN International wishes you a happy New Year!

Yours,
Davide, Ewa, Tomaso, Corinne and Jakob

Contact: secretariat@esn.org
ESN c\o CRUI - CNR
Rue du Trone, 98
B-1050 Brussels
BELGIUM
Tel.: +32 (0) 2 2902 271
Fax.: +32 (0) 2 2902 280
Mob.: +32 (0) 485 924 512

For any questions regarding your subscription or to unsubscribe please contact the network administrator at na@esn.org.

2. ESNLive: ESN expands towards the Balkans!

The two newest sections of ESN - ESN Sarajevo and ESN Belgrade - not only represent an education institution, they also represent two important countries! It was great to see that during the Councils of National Representatives of both December and January, the magic number of 31 ESN-countries has been reached.

We cannot stress enough that we are glad and proud, to have brought together two countries that until 10 years ago, could not work together and understand eachother's differences.

Soon, also they will organise the Erasmus Days, although they are not part of the programme, they can't wait to receive erasmus students.

Dobrodosli Srbija i BiH!

3. Topic of the month: 20 Years of the Erasmus Programme: the Opening Conference was a great success!

On the 18th and 19th of January, Erasmus Student Network opened the celebrations of the 20 years of the Erasmus Programme with a two-day conference evaluating the development of the programme. The conference, the Erasmus Birthday Party and the workshop with Jan Figel' are highlights in the history of our network.

Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission, had an opening speech during which she acknowledged the work of student volunteers supporting Erasmus at local universities. She encouraged Erasmus students to act as the ambassadors of Europe. Her speech is available here.

In the evening, ESN organised in one of Brussels' most famous clubs YOU, the Birthday Toast in an informal atmosphere. We were glad to host 300 celebrating students and the Commissioner of Education and Multilingualism Jan Figel'. They all enjoyed a giant birthday cake and drinks offered by the YOU disco.

The next day Jan Figel' came to the workshops where students could ask questions to him and people of his cabinet. For ESN this was a unique opportunity.

More information can be found on http://www.20erasmus.eu

4. Our partners introduce:

SkyEurope

777.777 tickets for 1 euro*

*Taxes and charges excluded. Subject to availability. Valid on selected routes. Valid for internet bookings only.

Moreover, we have just recently launched new destinations, especially to/from Vienna. SkyEurope now offers direct flights from Vienna Airport to these destinations:

• Vienna - Barcelona
• Vienna - Dubrovnik
• Vienna - Split
• Vienna - Zadar
• Vienna - Athens
• Vienna - Thessaloniki
• Vienna - Larnaca
• Vienna - Pisa
• Vienna - Rimini (San Marino)
• Vienna - Paris
• Vienna - Amsterdam
• Vienna - Brussels
• Vienna - Nice
• Vienna - Venice/Treviso
• Vienna - Sofia
• Vienna - Bukarest

• Brussels Airport - Prague
• Brussels Airport - Vienna
• Brussels Airport - Budapest
• Copenhagen - Prague

ESNCard holders enjoy a 15% discount on all SkyEurope flights.
For enjoying the discount you must at first subscribe in the new
ESNCommunity at http://www.esn.org/community/

After you submit your ESNCard number and code, you can click on the link for the discount and book your flights online!

The discount is valid all year long and involves the flight fare only (and not taxes and surcharges). ESNCards from the last year edition are valid as well.

5. Get Involved: café babel – the first European media

A new vision for European media

Aiming to break down the barriers created by national media, cafebabel.com is the first online magazine of its type. Published in seven languages – English, French, German, Italian, Spanish,Catalan and Polish – the site presents its readers with an insight into European current affairs from a trans-national perspective.

cafebabel.com's aim is to stimulate and develop European public opinion through two distinct but closely related missions. The online magazine – cafebabel.com – offers every week analyses of current affairs from a unique, European perspective. Secondly, at grassroots level café babel's network, actively promotes this perspective through debates, conferences and other events organised in towns and cities across Europe.

cafebabel.com is made up of a network of local teams across Europe. Bringing together young people from across the continent, this network aims to contribute to the construction of pan-European public opinion through the cafebabel.com magazine. The local teams are cafebabel.com's backbone. Their function? To propose subjects for issues, articles and interviews; to recruit writers and translators; to promote cafebabel.com; and to organise 'café debates' and events. Interested in setting up a local cafebabel.com team? Then go to the cafebabel website

6. What's going on in Europe besides ESN?

SEYS is a meeting of people who are proven achievers yet have not lost their enthusiasm and original approach, who know how to take risks and have grown weary of the drawn-out discussions of 'instrumental' politicians, entrepreneurs and so-called analysts.

SEYS is the beginning of a new tradition, the beginning of a new solution to the old troubles of the world.

The European Institute for Social and Economic Development is an independent citizen's association whose aim is to create a new tradition, entirely different from formal and formalised summits and forums, a tradition of an intellectual workshop of a young, though already influential generation.

"I consider the SEYS meeting to be very meaningful. That is why I attended it in 2006 and I will be taking part again in 2007."

Václav Havel, former president of Czech Republic

For more information go to http://www.seys2007.com

7. Student mobility?

The following debate has risen as the Commission finds that both Austria and Belgium are discriminating students by not granting them the same rights as the member states.

The Austrian legislation had required that the holders of secondary education diplomas from other Member States had to prove that they have met conditions governing access to the higher education in their home country (e.g. passing the entrance exams). The Court held that Austria's legislation discriminated against holders of secondary education diplomas awarded in another Member State, since they could not gain access to Austrian higher education under the same conditions as holders of the equivalent Austrian diploma

Belgium –more precisely the Parliament of the Communauté française – adopted, in June 2006 a decree, by which it introduced, for a certain number of medical studies, a quota of 70 % for students who have their residency in Belgium. With today's letter of formal notice, the European Commission indicates – for similar reasons as in the Austrian case – that this system has discriminatory effect on the EU nationals not residing in Belgium and that Belgium failed to justify the introduction of this system.

ESN is very concerned with situations like these and hopes that both governments find a way to treat foreign students on an equal basis. Both Member States have now 2 months to respond to the European Commission's concerns.