EESC info

A mandatory syllabus on European politics to increase citizens' knowledge of the EU before they cast their ballots was the most voted proposal of this year's Your Europe, Your Say (YEYS), the youth event organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 21-22 March 2019. Together with three other proposals focusing on the use of new technologies and social media to boost election turnout, it will be sent to the European Parliament for consideration.

After 2 days of lively discussions and debates, the 99 high-school students aged 16-17 selected for YEYS 2019 presented 10 recommendations during a final plenary session. Education and social media were in the spotlight, and a number of projects combined online platforms and real life meetings to connect civil society with policy-makers. The 4 most voted proposals were:

1. #Future is now, a project for a mandatory syllabus for schools all across Europe with 3 strands: practical, with visits to EU institutions; theory, with tests and presentations; and an interactive platform with quizzes and videos.

2. EU&U.EU, a website summarizing information on the EU and EU elections to increase transparency and awareness with an intensive use of social media and multimedia contents.

3. (ex-aequo) Europe E-VOTE, a proposal to make election day a national holiday and to promote electronic voting and From You to EU, an initiative to connect social movements with politicians and enable them to work together to find solutions.

The other proposals presented by the students were:

#Insta (nt) vote,  improving EU social media accounts performance by including high quality content specifically addressed to young people, such as short videos and influencer comments as a way to increase awareness and participation.

Network of Young Europeans, a project aiming to inform on EU action and limits, connect diverse people across Europe and inspire debate through an Internet platform to organise projects and publish their outcome.

Find(ing) your voice, a project involving a summit that would take place 3 times per year with face to face dialogue and activities involving young Europeans and politicians plus a website with interactive contents and information.

Shape your future – express yourself, consisting in a website that would allow posting opinions on several topics targeting young people from under 26. Users could like or dislike the opinions and the most popular ones would be presented at the European Parliament.

SharEU, an APP that could be used to connect social movements to EU institutions, with specialized moderators that would submit a monthly report to the European Parliament on the initiatives posted, thus creating a closer link to the people.

Voices worth being heard, a platform where initiatives and speeches could be promoted to encourage voters to engage and fight for their own ideas. The audience would select the initiatives to be presented to the European Parliament.

Students were welcomed by Luca Jahier, EESC President, who said: We have to follow the example of Greta Thunberg, who was capable of mobilising a great number of people in a short time using a direct language. Please engage in this fight, be provocative, as you are fighting not only for your own future, but also for our future. Isabel Caño, EESC Vice-President for communication, closed the event with these remarks:We are proud to share your ideas, your dreams, your enthusiasm and your solutions in an institution like the EESC, where we all learn to negotiate as a way to reach consensus. (dgf)

With YEYS turning ten this year, EESC Info met former vice-president, Irini Pari, who first came up with the idea for this event in 2010, to take a look back at YEYS' beginnings and a look forward to Europe's future.

EESC Info: Ms Pari, could you tell us how this initiative came to life? What was the inspiration behind it?

Irini Pari: As vice-president for communication, I wanted to reach out to young Europeans. I wanted to give these "unusual suspects" the opportunity to live, understand and share Europe first-hand, away from the stereotypes, and encourage them to be engaged and active in society. I wanted to see the stars of Europe shine in those young people's eyes and I did!

Are you satisfied with the way YEYS has developed over time?

Yes! It is a blessing to see something you created develop and grow.  It is a huge reward to know you have touched a thousand young hearts across Europe. I take this opportunity to warmly thank all the vice-presidents for communication who have carried the flame, especially Isabel, and the entire YEYS team for embracing this event with so much enthusiasm and passion and keeping up the good work over the years.  

How do you see the role of young people in the construction of Europe now and in the future?

I believe firmly in young people and their dynamism. Young people today are growing up in difficult and challenging times, yet every challenge is also a magnificent opportunity! Look at millennials, they are already giving answers, exploring new paths through the sharing economy and platforms, developing entrepreneurship, giving meaning and values to their working life, making a priority of contributing to society and combating climate change. With the vigorous youth climate action we are witnessing these days, I would say YEYS is proving more relevant than ever - young people are asking to take the floor and we have been giving it to them proactively!

How would you rate YEYS 2019?

Like every year I am impressed by the results! This year the teenagers from around Europe debated the subject Vote for the future. They asked for more education, more information and more transparency using all means available - interactive websites, lessons, contacts, activities, meetings - and involving everyone -  senior citizens, youth, politicians, social movements, experts and media.

What would your ideal Europe be like?

I dream of a deeply democratic Europe where elections, division of powers, fundamental rights and the rule of law are respected. A Europe where there is a thriving, dynamic, independent and participatory democracy based on dialogue.   We know very well that there is not only one truth in life!  It is important to understand other people’s points of view, build bridges, find a sense of purpose and put individual interests behind the common good. I am a proud to be a member of this Committee because it is exactly what we do here.  Yes, Europe is quite a challenge. Yes, Europe is complicated. Yes, Europe is imperfect, but that is its beauty. Building Europe is a long and difficult road, but it's worth taking, let's take it together!

The first edition of Your Europe, Your Say took place in 2010, a time when the devastating financial crisis had just started, all EU institutions had different presidents and Brexit was an unknown word. A time when Instagram did not exist, WhatsApp had just been created and Twitter had only 100 million users, nothing compared with the 1.5 billion users registered in 2019. Many things have changed since, but the enthusiasm and the energy of young people is still the same, and for YEYS's 10^th anniversary, the EESC invited three former participants to take part in the debates and share their experiences.

Carlos Aceituno, from Spain, was one of the participants in the first YEYS in 2010. That year, the eruption of a volcano in Iceland blocked air traffic in Europe, so several delegations could not make it to Brussels and the Spanish and Portuguese teachers had to drive their students back home in a shared rental van. But Carlos remembers YEYS for many other reasons: "It was a good opportunity to learn about the work of the EU institutions and to create a personal link with the EU project." Carlos, who is now 25, works with teenagers as a maths teacher, but is also interested in politics: "I want to gain some experience in teaching and then, in the future, get involved in education initiatives for persons with disabilities or even create my own consulting company in this field". Carlos has a very clear view of the influence of YEYS on his professional path: "I wouldn't say that attending YEYS determined my choices, because at that time I already knew that I wanted to become a teacher, but it definitely helped me to understand the link between education and political action.

In 2012, only seven years ago, Evita Nedzvecka came from Latvia to take part in the third YEYS. Now she is the youngest diplomat in her country and works for the Latvian embassy in Oslo. A brilliant career that can also be linked to her YEYS experience: "I'm sure that taking part in YEYS triggered my decision to study international affairs, and that eventually led me to become a diplomat. It also helped me to understand how decisions are taken by the institutions and how people can have an influence on them." But the experience was also positive from a personal point of view, as some participants are still in touch through social media and, as Evita says, "it also helped me to gain experience and confidence, after that I knew that I could do anything I wanted to."

Giovanni Arcari, from Italy, lived the YEYS experience in 2014 and shares most of the views of the two other former participants: "I've always been interested in politics, but not in political parties, and thanks to YEYS I discovered the role of the EESC and civil society. Personally I will go on spreading what the EESC is and does and how great it is to take part in YEYS." Giovanni, now aged 22, is studying mechanical engineering in Germany. He also underlines the benefits of YEYS in terms of self-confidence: "It was, for me, the first time that I had to speak in public, and I had to do it in English. It really helped me to break down some mental barriers and I discovered that I was able to communicate with people from other countries and different backgrounds."

The role of these "veterans" was to take part in the debates and make use of their experience to help this year's participants to better define their proposals. The three of them pointed out the energy and enthusiasm of the students and were impressed by their solid knowledge, mostly gained through an intensive use of social media and online resources. They also agreed that YEYS's methodology has largely improved: "I think the new format is much more creative, it allows participants to freely express themselves", says Carlos. Giovanni shares this idea, but suggests that debates should be "a little more structured" to avoid distraction. Evita wrapped up the discussion with a simple truth: "Talent is talent, doesn't matter where it comes from or what methodology you are using", and this is really what YEYS is all about. (dgf)

YEYS participants may be teenagers, but their view on EU affairs does not differ much from that of adults: they care as much as their parents do about the growth of populism, the threats to democracy and recent developments potentially endangering the EU project, such as Brexit. They have also understood that the EU must recover citizens' trust by communicating better, and they have even found a potential solution in social media as a key tool to enhance transparency, awareness and participation in EU affairs.

"In my country there is a lack of information about the upcoming European elections. I personally didn't know anything before coming to Brussels," said one Austrian student, adding: "When politicians are debating, they speak a language that young people don't understand." This communication issue was also mentioned by other participants, who placed their trust mainly in social media to reach young voters: "There is barely any interaction between EU social media and their followers; the content is actually very boring!" said one German student.

The risk that this lack of communication can lead to a rise in populism of various kinds and threaten democracy and EU values was also raised during the debates: "Those who fall asleep in a democracy might wake up in a dictatorship one day," said a member of one of the groups. Many other participants spoke of EU values as the main link shared by young people from all Member States: "We come from different countries, but we are all fighting together for the same values," said one young girl, who was immediately backed up by a fellow participant who declared that "Europe is about being united in diversity and trying to preserve peace and democracy."

All these concerns were reflected in the ten proposals the students drafted, which all included the need for clarity and transparency in EU communication policy. And, in the view of these young people, the solution is literally in our hands in the form of mobile phones: social media are the answer, as they enable a direct link between politicians and citizens. As one of the students said: "Politicians think young people don't care about politics, but that is not true. But if they want young people to participate, they have to learn how to use social media wisely!" (dgf)

A record 1039 applications were received for this 10th YEYS - 972 from the EU countries and 67 from the five candidate countries -  with the highest number coming from Romania (221) and the lowest from Malta and Montenegro (4 each).

33 secondary schools were selected to participate - one from each of the 28 EU Member States and five candidate countries (Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey) - using an electronic name picker. For the first time in YEYS' history one of Brussels' European schools, which educate the children of EU officials mainly in the language of the parents' countries of origin and as such have a multilingual and multicultural population studying side by side and sharing some common classes joined the debate.

On 20 and 21 March 2019, 102 students - three from each of the participating schools - came to Brussels to take part in the big debate.  The youngest were 15 years old and the oldest 20, with the majority between 16 and 18. Unlike in older assemblies, women outnumbered men (60 to 42).

Ahead of the event, the participants prepared for the debate under the guidance of an accompanying teacher. They were also visited by an EESC member who helped stir the debate focusing around a set of key questions:

• How can we strengthen representative democracy in the future?
• What kind of political engagement exists beyond the European elections, and how would you take part in it?
• What in your view should be done to increase voter participation in the EP elections?

During the event, the students worked under the guidance of expert moderators in order to prepare 10 recommendations to present to EU policymakers. Then the three most appealing proposals were selected by vote.

Your Europe, Your Say! (YEYS) is organised by the EESC, the voice of civil society at European level, and is the Committee's flagship event for youth. Through this initiative, the EESC aims to ensure that the views, experiences and ideas of the younger generation are taken on board in EU policy-making.

Further details about YEYS2019 are available on the event's official page. (dm & ks)