Multi-lingual JEF webzine wins the 2012 European Citizen’s Prize

In 2005, following the campaign for a European Constitution, the Young European Federalists-France launched the Together for the Yes, Together for Europe website which published articles that were in favour of a yes vote in the upcoming treaty referendum.

Despite the defeat of the European treaty, the Young European Federalists-France decided to pursue the adventure and created a webzine. The Taurillon was born and before long it was publishing an article per day.

In view of its success, the other members of JEF-Europe decided to create webzines in their own language. This was how JEF-Italy and JEF-Germany create Eurobull and Treffpunkt Europa. JEF-Europe took care of the English version, The New Federalist, with the aim of encouraging all members of the Young Europeans Federalists to participate, especially those who have lacked a webzine available in their native language.

Treffpunkt Europa

Soon after the French edition was established, its editors aimed to make the webzine multi-lingual. When JEF Germany did not have the resources to manage its German language version, JEF France simply decided to launch a German edition itself.

Initially it was named Taurillon.de and later Taurin-Magazin. However, due to the lack of native German speakers the editors-in-chief had many hurdles to overcome, but nevertheless succeeded in establishing it as the fourth language edition.

Finally, in 2009, JEF Germany took over the German edition and re-named the webzine according to its own printed magazine “Treffpunkt Europa”.

Since then, the German edition has slowly increased its publishing volume from around four articles per month to ten to 15 articles. In addition to this achievement, Treffpunkt Europa also managed to establish partnerships. First with "move", then with the Dahrendorf Symposium, afterwards with Euractiv.de and finally with "Europp", the European Policy and Politics blog by the LSE. For the future Treffpunkt Europa aims to build its small editorial team in order to increase the quantity and quality of the articles. The European Citizen’s Prize is further motivation to do so.

The New Federalist

The New Federalist (TNF) was the paper magazine of the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe) for many years before switching to a digital version in 2005. (www.thenewfederalist.eu)

From exclusive interviews to extensive reviews of the European political agenda, The New Federalist remains a key medium for sharing the youth federalist perspective. The webzine attracts thousands of visitors from across Europe and the wider world, with people coming together to be informed, debate and share their European future.

Eurobull

The project “Eurobull.it- The magazine that makes light on Europe” was created in 2006 in the wake of Taurillon.org, and was established in Italy by some boys from the European Federalist Youth (GFE).

As a result of the strong appointment always guaranteed by the GFE, the variety of the webzine’s content, the number of authors that are committed to writing and editing and the numerous collaborations with other magazines, Eurobull.it has experience constant growth.

Its objective remains to contribute to the diffusion of the ideal of the Manifesto of Ventotene, which has become a point of reference for all those people that look for information, close examinations, political elaborations and critical opinions on the impassioning theme of Europe more and more.

A public-spirited and participative project

The JEF webzine can be proud of its citizen-oriented and participative character. It became a platform available for every European citizen to express themselves. From Estonia to Portugal by way of Greece, our webzine puts Europe at the forefront of young citizens lives.

We have published more than 4,000 articles across our four edition. We have interviewed European and national leaders, including Herman Van Rompuy, Neelie Kroes and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. More than 1,000 contributors have written at least one article for our webzine.

We have been mentioned of national newspapers such as Le Monde, Le Point and Libération. This is further evidence of our success.

A big thanks to all the contributors

We would like to thanks the numerous voluntary writers who contributed to the success of the JEF webzine. Everyday we work towards the construction of a close, democratic and federal Europe. It is by projects such as this one that Europe lives by.

This prize is for the 1,000 writers who have contributed to the JEF webzine. It is for those who wrote a contribution just once and for those who write more regularly. It is also for those who actively participate in its success today and for those who gave their energy many years ago.

The European Citizen’s Prize is for you, European citizens who built this beautiful ideal that is Europe.