Dear JEFfers,

My name is Sofia Tyligada, and I am a 22 year old law student living in Athens, Greece. In my 5 years of activity in JEF I have taken a leading role in organizing a wide variety of activities in the local, national and international level. As Vice President of JEF Greece I have particularly been active in the Speak Up Europe campaign, while at the same time I served as co-chair for PC1 (Federal Democracy).

With my experience, I hope to contribute to the new political challenges that we, as federalists are facing. Particularly, I believe that we should retain a critical stance about the Reform Treaty and profoundly state our opposition to the secretive method used once again by the Council. However, nothing should obstruct us from lobbying for a more federal Europe, even if ‘Reform Treaties’ is the only way through. Furthermore, we should go on campaigning for a European Constitution. A true and federal one, as a result of a suitable convention formed by the people and for the people.

New practices inside JEF could boost the involvement of members in contributing more actively to the political dialogue of the organisation. This can be realised by the organisation of dedicated events for resolution drafting. Simultaneously, our seminars- and all kinds of events/ public debates/ simulations could have more diverse topics tackling more EU Policies, something which would both enrich our knowledge and help us form even more concrete positions over different aspects of European integration.

Moreover, the seminars and events realised by sections represent the plurality of the organization itself, and these should be further encouraged. Let me stress that we should all respect the diversity in method of working as well as the diversity of approaching to the European idea of each and every section of our European network. The federalist idea behind JEF is what keeps our political cause and reason of existence. But each section should get all the support and understanding it needs, according to the idiosyncrasy of the national youth it addresses.

A new perspective for JEF- encourage by the new Youth in Action Programme- is to ‘go global’. Finding worldwide partners and organising diverse events with them will allow us to spread the idea of federalism as a potential political role model to activists from different continents, in our strive to establish Europe’s place in the world.

Thank you for having the patience to read some of my thoughts. I hope I will be give the opportunity to let my work speak in the future.