The idea to bring together one chapter from every state of the European Economic Community (EEC), now the EU, was born during a meeting of Belgian and Dutch JCI members at the European Conference in Antwerp in 1978. During a “preparation weekend” in Hasselt in January 1979, the principles of the twinning agreement were discussed. In May 1979, the first European Multi Twinning meeting took place at Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands: it was the year of the first elections to the European Parlement. During this weekend, 9 European chapters founded the EMT (Alphen aan den Rijn, Dusseldorf, Hasselt, High-Wycombe, Kolding, Luxemburg, Malahide (now Fingal), Paisley and Villefranche en Beaujolais). From that moment on, the EMT has become a yearly conference, each year organised by a member-chapter treating a particular theme.