Under the aegis of Franck Biancheri, the first “Etats généraux des étudiants de l’Europe”, EGEE I, was held in Paris from 16 to 22 April 1985, 35 years ago! A founding event for one of the most important trans-European interdisciplinary student associations, of which he was the founding president, still today, 35 years later: 13000 members, present in 161 university cities in Europe (see AEGEE-Europe website).
These were the first steps in the trans-European political dimension for the man who will be the main pioneer of new forms of democratisation at trans-European level, a fight that Franck Biancheri will lead, until his premature death in 2012, within the framework of many other structures that he will have founded.
However, this spring of 2020 is a very special anniversary that AEGEE is celebrating through its antennaes throughout Europe: a virtual celebration, which has to face the challenge of the coronavirus forcing each of its members to stay at home. A constraint of confinement that pushes the association to implement innovative tools of organization, functioning, and governance (the next Agora is to be held in May), which will undoubtedly be one of the major paradigm shifts in the evolution of the association tomorrow, which will surely be able to show itself once again a pioneer in this field, as Franck Biancheri had conceived it 35 years ago.
We propose you a small tour through our archives to discover what EGEE I was, how it was organised over the 7 days of the event, the organisation of the congress and the guests and honorary speakers, the evenings, memorable for some alumni, the media coverage… starting with Franck Biancheri’s introduction in the congress brochure, published today: “It is now time to make the citizens the real driving force of the process of community construction. The word of the President, Franck Biancheri, on the congress EGEE1, April 16th, 1985″.
And now it’s time for the party to find out what AEGEE has in store for us! Happy Birthday to you!
Marianne Ranke-Cormier, VP AAFB