It is Europe's youth that will spur on the "rEUnaissance"

The EESC holds a conference in Bucharest on the importance of a serious dialogue about the EU with Europe's young generation

On 13 November, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a conference entitled "Let's talk Europe! Communicating the EU to young people". The conference was held in conjunction with an EESC extraordinary Bureau meeting in Bucharest ahead of Romania taking over the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Focusing on the topic of youth, which is among the priorities of both the current EESC presidency and the upcoming Romanian presidency, the conference discussed the situation of young people in Romania and explored the reasons why the young should support the EU's values against the backdrop of rising populism and growing disillusionment felt by Europe's young generation.

The conference also forms part of preparations for an EESC opinion on possible ways for people to acquire knowledge about the EU. The opinion has been requested by the Romanian presidency and will take into account the input gathered in Bucharest.

Opening the event, Costin Radu Cantar, undersecretary of state at Romania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the younger generations represented the European project's most important resource.

The EESC president Luca Jahier expressed his satisfaction that the upcoming Romanian presidency had chosen youth to be among its priorities and stressed the need to include the young in an "eye-level dialogue" about the EU and the values it stands for.

"The EU project is the best option we have, which has brought peace, improved stability, security, prosperity and democracy to our continent. This is why we must engage and communicate the EU with young people and show them we are serious about this dialogue, instead of merely citing them at official occasions," Mr Jahier said.

Yet the current political climate in many EU countries has brought the very existence of the European project under threat. Europe's younger generations have become disillusioned and politically disengaged, which has made them vulnerable to populist propaganda.

"In most of our countries, millennials are disillusioned. Populist movements take advantage of this. Their strong presence on social networks, where they can spread fake news and propaganda, makes it easier for them to reach out to the young generation," Mr Jahier warned.

In 2014, more than 70% of voters under 24 did not vote in the European Parliament elections, while in the Brexit referendum only 64% of young citizens voted.

These figures were echoed by those presented by other speakers at the conference, which included representatives of the Romanian Youth Council, the youth organisation of Romania's National Trade Union Bloc, members of academia and other distinguished participants.

A 2014 research project on Romanian youth presented by a speaker at the conference, Cătălin Augustin Stoica, Associate Professor of Sociology at Romania's National University for Political and Administrative Studies, found that some 49% of young Romanians had very little confidence in political parties. The level of trust in young politicians was equally low.

Only 1% of the respondents in the study said that they "very much" trusted the parliament and the government, whereas only 8% and 11% had "much" confidence in those two institutions respectively.

"According to the study, the future does not look bright. Times are tough," Mr Stoica said.

Mr Jahier warned that disillusionment felt by the young was "unacceptable" if we wanted the European project to succeed.

"We need some rebellion, some destructive and creative force that will open a new window of opportunity. For no matter how hard the older generation tries, we all are condemned to a certain 'ossification of our minds'. We need young, creative and constructive thinking to drive our societies forward," concluded the EESC president.