Anathea (19) participated in the “My Europe” workshop in Bucharest, Romania, in 2011. Currently she´s taking a gap year from her studies. She´s interested in culture, history and film studies. One day she wants to become a Cultural Attaché.

For me, Europe is…

…an on-going “project”.

If you could, what would be the first thing you would change in Europe?

I don’t know, that’s not something I am thinking of every day, but I’d probably rebuild Europe, politically and economically.

On a more realistic note, I’d probably sign all countries into Schengen and the Eurozone. I’d strengthen the security and create a virtual information service. I’d make undergraduate studies free of charge. I’d introduce a financial education course in high school and I’d make it mandatory. I’d also enforce a mandatory program for those who have debts so they’ll learn how to sort out their lives in order to pay off those debts. I’d also create a program to use the elderly people in teaching job-related material ( as the Employment group suggested)… Small steps…

You can find all her contributions to Spotlight Europe here

Dr. Dieter Sattler is Head Editor of the Politics Department at Frankfurter Neue Presse (FNP). His favourite pieces are commentaries, analyses and features. He was born on 13 October 1958 in Fritzlar, Germany, but grew up in Frankfurt. He visited the Helmholtz-Gymnasium (where he was a co-founder of the student magazine “Holzwurm”) and after finishing secondary school in 1977, went on to study Politics, German and Philosophy at Goethe University in Frankfurt. While writing his PhD thesis with Prof. Albert Schmidt, he became a permanent freelance contributor to FNP’s sports and cultural sections. After finishing his PhD, he first became an editor for the local section, from 1997 onwards in the politics section. His favourite hobbies are football and tennis.

You can find his pieces written for FNP here. His contributions to Spotlight Europe are collected here

Prof. Dr. Manfred Pohl was born in 1944 in Saarbrucken. In 1965 he completed an apprenticeship with a local bank and afterwards studied history, philosophy, literature, and economics at the University of Saarbrucken, where he received his PhD in history in 1972 with a thesis about the banking history of Saarland. The same year he took the lead of the historical institution of the Deutsche Bank AG, a position he held until 2004. In addition he started lecturing economics, corporate history, and corporate culture at Goethe University Frankfurt and was appointed as honorary professor in 1992. Besides his academic engagement, Prof. Pohl has been forerunner and patron of various cultural initiatives. Manfred Pohl is CEO and founder of the Frankfurter Zukunftsrat. Additionally, he is founder and Deputy Chairman of the European Association for Banking and Financial History (EABH). and Institute for Corporate Cultural Affairs. In 2011 he was awarded with the Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse of the Federal Republic Germany for his charitable commitment in the European banking and financial sector.

You can find all his contributions to Spotlight Europe here

 

Federico Ghizzoni is Chief Executive Officer of UniCredit. He was born in Piacenza, Italy on October 14, 1955. He holds a degree in Law from University of Law in Parma and started his career in 1980 at Credito Italiano’s Piacenza Branch. Between 1988 and 1989 he assumed the position of Branch Director in Trieste and continued his career as Director of Seriate Branch. In 1990, Ghizzoni was appointed Deputy General Manager to Credito Italiano’s London Office. After having been appointed General Manager at the Singapore Office of Credito Italiano in 1995, Ghizzoni was Executive Director responsible for Corporate and International Banking from 2000 to 2002, at Bank Pekao S.A, an affiliate of UniCredit Group. In 2003 Ghizzoni moved to Turkey as Executive Board Member at Koç Financial Services and as General Manager at Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi. In July 2007 Ghizzoni was appointed Head of CEE Banking Operations and Deputy CEO at Bank Austria AG. In August 2010 he assumed the position of Deputy CEO and Deputy General Manager of UniCredit. In  September 2010 he assumed his current position. He is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of UniCredit Bank AG in Munich and Member of several  Boards of Directors of international financial institutes. Ghizzoni is also Chairman of the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala Association in Milan. Since 2012 he is a Member of the Board of Patrons for European Youth.

You can find all his contributions to Spotlight Europe here

Elena (20) participated in our workshop in Bucharest, Romania, in 2011. At the moment she is a student of Computer Science at University of Bucharest. In the future she would like to become a software engineer. In her free time she likes various forms of entertainment and studying foreign languages.

 

 

For me, Europe is…

…my home, the place of my hopes, of my dreams and of my best wishes. Europe is also the family we, its people, create and the family we belong to.

If you could, what would be the first thing you would change in Europe?

I would like to see a united Europe, a Europe which stands up for itself and for all its diversity, which is why I would have the European countries interact more with each other on a human level in order for them to obtain a better understanding of one another and of their issues. Furthermore, I would like Europe to be more uniform in areas such as health care, education and quality of life.

Activities for the Youth Council:

Member of the Working Group on Education

You can find all her contributions to Spotlight Europe here

Anissa (21) participated in our workshop in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 2011. After finishing high school she started her degree in law at Goethe University in Frankfurt. Upon completion she would like to enter the diplomatic service of Germany. In her free time she spends time with family and friends and enjoys discovering new cultures.

For me, Europe is…

…a strong and fair one for millions and not just for millionaires.

If you could, what would be the first thing you would change in Europe?

I would forbid the privatisation of water. In my opinion there is no place for private sector participation in natural resource management. Water is the livelihood of every creature. On the contrary, Europe should strengthen the public sector to make it work efficiently.

Activities for the Youth Council:

Member of the Working Group on Violence & Crime

You can find all of her contributions to Spotlight Europe here