From the 27th to 30th of May 2004, under the title “Size Matters”, AEGEE local branch in Maastricht organized a simulation of a session of the Council of the European Union after its enlargement to 25 Member States, gathering 40 students from all over Europe at an interesting debate on various topics that are of importance to the European Union.

Size Matters? Some of you may agree, some of you may not...In any case, it is a rather compound issue to discuss.
For three days the participants of the Congress ‘Size Matters’ organized by AEGEE-Maastricht were talking about this issue in several aspects. They participated in a simulation of the Council of the European Union discussing the question of Iraq, finding out that reaching a compromise between so many countries is not that easy of a task. When the accession of Turkey to the EU was questioned, the participants tried everything in their power to convince their opponents of their opinions and arguments. Also labour migration and media culture in the enlarged European Union were discussed with experts from The Netherlands and Italy.

While most of the daytime was spent on serious activities, the evenings were devoted to intercultural exchange in a more practical understanding. Participants of the Congress got a nice introduction into Dutch student life and leisure activities, prepared by students from the Netherlands.

We still don’t know whether size really matters, after three days most participants still had a different opinion. But what we did find out is that with good co-operation a lot can be achieved. This counts equally much for the European Union, the participants of an AEGEE events and students all over Europe. It was mostly due to strong co-operation that everyone was able to make the best out of these days.

Cultural Exchange is, next to Active Citizenship, Peace and Stability and Higher Education, one of AEGEE’s main fields of action.

AEGEE is one of Europe's largest interdisciplinary and voluntary student associations, operating without being linked to any political party, promoting a unified Europe, cross-border co-operation, communication and integration in academic environment, and at the same time striving to create an open and tolerant society by involving students and young graduates in valuable projects and discussions over the topics of importance for the communities they live in. It is represented in 260 university cities, in 42 countries all around Europe and has about 17000 members.

More information:
Ewa Solarczyk
Vice-President / Director for Public Relations

European Students' Forum - AEGEE
Rue Nestor de Tiere 15
1030 Bruxelles
Phone: +32 2 245 23 00
Fax: +32 2 245 62 60
Web: www.aegee.org
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