Carpe Diem

Voilà, as my Flemish friends would say… One more week has gone by and so many things have happened, mostly in Barcelona. One more COMEM – short for Council of Members, one of millions of acronyms we learn throughout our Youth Forum’s life – took place and was successfully accomplished, a new opportunity for interesting political debates to take place, for important feedback on my daily work to be given and, equally important, for pleasant re-encounters with good old friends and refreshing discoveries of new ones. My list of friends on Facebook always increases a lot during and/or after a COMEM and that is a good sign, I think. But the most valuable sign for me is rather the fact of feeling well, in spite of the tiredness, when the meeting comes to its end, and being able to see the same mix of relief and happiness on the faces of my Secretariat and Bureau colleagues. This time I am especially happy for my Italian friends, who, after many years of hard work, have now attained the full membership status in the European Youth Forum for their National Youth Council ; for my Ukrainian friends who, after many years of internal fights, managed to take back their well-deserved place among the other European nations which are part of the European Youth Forum ; for my Bureau colleague and good friend Tine Radinja, who was finally given a fair chance of exposing and defending the result of his dedication and hard work in the field of Training and, in the process, gave everyone a good lesson of humbleness ; and for our President and dearest friend Bettina Schwarzmayr, who, as usual, successfully led the members through a busy and difficult agenda and received a more than deserved long applause at the end of the last COMEM of her presidential term. But, of course, I am also happy for my Catalan friends, who proved once again that one doesn’t need to be big or important to be a great host; and, last but not the least, for my amazingly competent colleagues, who, once again, made my life easy and simple, by optimally performing their tasks and being always there for anything that was needed. Special thanks to Klavdija, Mark and Pedro who, by now, understand all my facial expressions and take care of my needs and wishes even before I manage to say the words, but also to all the others who compensate their lack of experience and/or responsibilities with a tremendously generous good will, professionalism and dedication to their work. In more or less six months, the present cycle will come to its end, with the election of a new Bureau and the approval of a new Work Plan. For me, it will also be time to start focusing on the handover and looking for a new job. I don’t know if it will be easy or difficult to find one, but I don’t have any doubts that it will be almost impossible to find one in which I will meet so many wonderful people, do so many meaningful things and get so much pleasure from what I do. I always knew it, but it’s becoming ever clearer: I will miss the European Youth Forum a lot. But, in the meantime and as there is still one year to go, I will keep doing my best to enjoy my job, my colleagues, my friends and, as it happened today, the Brussels’ sun!