"Simply a generation ahead!"
JEF is a pan-European political youth NGO with about 30.000 members in 30 different European countries. JEF-Europe is the name of the umbrella organisation. Its seat – the European Secretariat of JEF – is placed in Brussels. Its responsibility is the political and organisational coordination of the national sections and their representation on the European level. In person it is represented by the Executive Bureau (EB) which can be seen as the management of the organisation. During the European Congress the EB is appointed by delegates of the national sections in the Federal Committee.
JEF-Europe's activities:
Trainings: Trainings are organized by JEF-Europe and have the supportive role to develop the skills of its members in various areas. These areas are mainly linked to the necessary skills of becoming an active volunteer in JEF: Project and financial management, fund raising, how to implement JEF policies etc.
International seminars: These seminars are usually organised in cooperation with one of JEF-Europe's member sections, depending on the country in which the seminar takes place. With these seminars JEF-Europe tries to include certain sections and give them a chance to take part in an international project, financially supported by the European Union's Youth in Action Programme or the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. The seminars always have a different topic and give the participants the chance to work intensively on this topic. The methodology used in these seminars consists of a mixture of non-formal and formal education methods.
Jour Fix: Each first Wednesday of every month all members of the organisation living in Brussels have the opportunity to get together in an informal environment to spend an evening together.
The New Federalist: This webzine is a platform for articles on relevant European topics written by JEFers to freely express their opinion on these topics. It exists in four languages (EN, FR, DE and IT). It exist predominantly as an online version, but some printed special editions are published during the year and sent to the member sections and all contributors.
Political campaigns: Political campaigns are usually organised together with a range of different partners to represent a broader public and to emphasize on the importance of the interests represented. Examples for such campaigns are: The support for a more citizen friendly European Citizen's Initiative, the call for transnational lists in European elections and the European Alliance for the Statute of the European Association. During a political campaign, JEF usually issues press releases, calls on its member sections for support (e.g. by contacting their national politicians), publishes open letters and gets in contact with members of the European Parliament to ensure their support.
Other activities of JEF include the organisation of transnational street actions as well as political (information) campaigns and projects in order to raise awareness of current European issues among the general public. Beside the various activities offered to its members, one of the main activities of JEF-Europe is to lobby the European institutions for a democratic European federation. Therefore, JEF-Europe contributes to consultations and green papers that are issued by the European Commission and ensures regular meetings, visits as well as email contacts with the relevant key players in the European institutions. JEF also issues press releases and statements on a regular basis to spread its demands concerning certain EU actions towards both the media and its partner organisations.
Furthermore, members are invited to join one of the working groups or political commissions to work together on the different organizational and political aspects of JEF.
Für weitere Informationen: www.jef.eu
