Key 20 - AEGEE Europe

Patrons of
AEGEE-Europe
Over its 20 years of existence AEGEE has enjoyed the support of a
wide variety of statesmen and cultural personalities, including Secretary
General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, François Mitterand,
former President and Jacques Chirac, current President of
France, Prime Minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt, EU commissioners
Günter Verheugen and Danuta Hübner, Secretary
General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer, and Pat
Cox, former President of the European Parliament. At present,
AEGEE-Europe enjoys the patronage of the following distinguished
European personalities:
Mikhail Gorbachev, born in 1931,
was the general secretary of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union
from 1985 until 1991 and its president
in 1990/1. In 1990, he was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
He is currently president of the
Gorbachev Foundation.
Bronislaw Geremek, born in 1932 in Warsaw, is a Polish
social historian and politician, and a former advisor to Solidarity
leader Lech Walesa. He served as Minister of Foreign
Affairs from 1997 to 2000. He has also been Chairman of
the OSCE. Since May 2004 Professor Geremek is an MEP.
Václav Havel, born in 1936 in
Prague, writer and dramatist,
was participant in the Prague
Spring of 1968. He was president
of Czechoslovakia from
1989 until its “Velvet Divorce”
in 1992, and then became
president of the new Czech
Republic. His second term
ended in 2003, but he remains actively involved in politics
and runs the Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation
along with his second wife.
Jacques Santer, born in 1937, was Prime Minister
of Luxembourg for ten years, resigning in 1994 in
order to become President
20th Anniversary
of the European Commission.
From 1999 until
2004, he was a member of
the European Parliament,
and he has also been president
of the World Bank
and governor of the IMF.
The idea: students for European integration
Rita Süssmuth, born in
1937, has been a professor
in the fields of sociology
and psychology. In
1987 she was elected to the
German Parliament, serving
as its President between
1988 and 1998.
Eric Froment became president of the Conference of
European Rectors in 2001. A professor of Economics,
he was president of the Université de Lyon 2 from 1991
until 1996. Professor Froment has also been secretary
general of the Conférence des Présidents d'Université
from 1999 until 2001.
Wolfgang Thierse, born in
1943, replaced Rita Süssmuth
as President of the Bundestag in
1998. With an academic background
in culture theory and
esthetics, Mr. Thierse became
active in the oppositional Neues
Forum in 1989 and later joined
the SPD, becoming a member of parliament in 1990.
Catherine Lalumière, born in 1936 in Rennes, France,
was the first female secretary general of the Council of
Europe. In 1999 she was elected to the European Parliament,
among others serving on the committees dealing with
foreign affairs and defence policy.
György Konrád, born 1933 in
Debrecen, participated in the
Hungarian Uprising against Soviet
occupation in 1956. The novelist
and essayist was jailed. He is now
president of the Academy of Arts in
Berlin and vice-president of PEN
International.
Árpad Göncz, born in Budapest in 1922, is a Hungarian liberal
politician. After spending five years in prison following revolutionary
protests he began to work as a translator and writer in
1963. In the 1980s he was a founding member of the Alliance of
Free Democrats (SZDSZ). He served as President of the Republic
of Hungary from 1990 until 2000.
Dr. Kenneth J.R. Edwards, who holds a PhD in agricultural
botany, has held several positions at Cambridge University. He was
vice-chancellor of Leicester University from 1995 until 1999 and
president of the Conference of European Rectors until 2001.
Daniel Tarschys, born in 1943, holds a chair as Professor of Political
Science at Stockholm University. He has also been State Secretary
for the Swedish Prime Minister's Office in 1978-9, and Secretary-General
of the Council of Europe from 1994 to 1999. As a
member of the Swedish Parliament, Tarschys chaired the Standing
Committees on Social Affairs and on Foreign Affairs.
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