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YEN - Youth of European Nationalities

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Structures

Table of Contents
Board & Office Working Groups General Assembly Statutory Documents

Board & Office

YEN's Board consists of the President, two Vice-Presidents, three Convenors and one Treasurer, who belong to youth minorities from all over Europe.

Board is a key part of YEN body, which takes over the main decision-making process. Each Board member assumes a certain functional role to maintain and develop the internal, as well as external work of YEN. Board members are driven by the needs of YEN member organisations and follow the core democratic values of the youth organisation, contributing to the diversity of Europe and young people from minorities.

The Board will be elected during the annual General Assembly for a period of two years.

The roles of Board members:
The President of YEN leads, manages and develops our network. He informs and communicates significant developments and changes in the internal and external relations.
Vice President for External Relations (VPER) is responsible for the external representation of YEN, promotion of its mission and fostering relations with YEN’s external partners.
Vice President for Internal Relations is responsible for the Internal Strategy and Development of the organization
Treasurer keeps an eye on the money and other treasures of the organisation.
Convenor of Communication takes care of the merchandise, designing campaigns, and is a trusty sidekick to the other convenors when it comes to giving ideas and providing tools for them as well.
Convenor for Member Integration takes care of YEN’s member organisations while building relations with new and potential Member organisations and partners.

Executive board

Louis Albert-Becker (he/him)
President/Präsident

Breton/Bretone

Wencke Andresen (she/her)
Vice President for External Relations/Vizepräsident für Externes

German Minority in Denmark

Filip Budar (He/Him)
Vice President for Internal Relations/ Vize-Präsidentin für Interne Beziehungen

Sorbe in Deutschland / Sorbian in Germany

Luka Olip (he/him)
Treasurer/ Schatzmeister

Carinthian Slovene/ Kärntner Slowene

Board

Johanna Kézdi (she/her)
Convenor for Communication/Kommissarin für Kommunikation

German in Romania / Deutsche Minderheit in Rumänien

Weronika Koston (she/her)
Convenor for Minority rights and Politics / Kommissarin für Minderheitenrechte und Politik

German Minority in Poland / Deutsche Minderheit in Polen

Enora Le Louarn(she/her)
Convenor for Member Integration/Kommissarin für Mitgliederintegration

Breton / Bretonin

Office

Bo Sösemann (he/him)
Secretary General / Geschäftsführer

Danish Minority in Germany

Jenny Browne (she/they)
Project Manager for the Project/Projektmanager*in für das Projekt "RISE UP: Safeguarding endangered languages"

Home

Marie Benthin (she/her)
Project Manager / Projektmanager*in

Working Groups

YEN has three working groups: Communication, Member Integration and Minority Rights & Policy.

The Working Groups’ aim is to develop ideas and conduct projects for YEN in accordance with their main working focus and to advance the strategic orientation and the content of YEN’s work. The participants have the opportunity to get immersed in a particular topic and gain competence in a specific subject to contribute to the strengthening of the YEN and their own minority organisation.

The working groups consist of active young people from autochthonous, national and linguistic minority organisations with 3 to 10 people in each group. Elections to working groups take place during the annual General Assembly for a period of one year, with the possibility of re-election.

Working Group Communication

Paul Mossner (SdU)
Nina Peckelsen (FYK)
Matti Ullrich (SdU)
Jakob Schäfer (Pawk)
Linea Kopf (SdU)
Iris Kessler (SdU)
Linda Stoklasa (GFU)
Alexander Wukovits (HAK)
Simon Scapan (Pawk)

Working Group Minority rights and politics

Christoph Graf (Pawk)
Ydwine Scarse (FYK)
Tatjana Kovačević (Lunjina)
Davor Danevski (Lunjina)
Stefan Pitz (Kenstroll Breizh/RdJ)
Rejzka Lipičec (Pawk)

Working Group Member Integration

Angelica Augustin (GiuRu)
Zoran Petković (Lunjina)
Silvan Brügger (GiuRu)

General Assembly

YEN's main decision-making body is the General Assembly, which takes place once a year.

It elects the Presidium of the organisation, which consists of a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer and three Commissioners. The commissioners chair the working groups, whose members are elected by the General Assembly for one year.

Statutory Documents

The two documents regulating the functioning of YEN as an organisation are its Statutes and Rules of Procedure.

Any changes must be decided on by the General Assembly of YEN.

Rules of Procedure - version 2024 Statutes of YEN - version 2024

Code of Conduct der JEV

To achieve our goals YEN uses a variety of activities. A main element of our work is implementing international youth exchanges, international seminars, congresses, workshops, cultural and social events. We believe that intercultural exchange is a key to achieving greater understanding and to empowering young people from minorities.

During YEN events we want participants to freely express themselves, and to gain a greater understanding of the diversity amongst minorities in Europe. We expect anyone joining our events to do so with an open mind and to treat everyone in a way that ensures respect, dignity, equality, and their right to participate.

Therefore in 2023 YENs General Assembly approved a Code of Conduct which describes how YEN envisions how everyone should act at a YEN event:

YEN's code of conduct