Eight concrete proposals were handed to Věra Jourová, European Commission's Vice-President for Values and Transparency, by secondary school students from all over Europe. The students were taking part in the virtual youth event Your Europe, Your Say! (YEYS2022). Entitled "The truth about lies. Youth challenging disinformation", the event was hosted by the EESC on 31 March-1 April 2022. 

After two days of lively virtual discussions and debates, the 99 students aged 16-18 participating in #YEYS2022 came up with a set of specific recommendations, which they presented to and discussed with Vice-President Věra Jourová.

"Education is key to increasing the resilience of our society against disinformation and fake news," said Ms Jourová closing the event Your Europe, Your Say 2022. Vice-President Jourová thoroughly addressed all of the students' recommendations.and discussed them one by one with the students. "Disinformation is a threat to our society, especially in times of war. We must tackle it while preserving freedom of speech," she said. 

The goal of #YEYS2022 was to raise awareness of the dangers of disinformation and to encourage the students to become more active in the fight against fake news. During the event, the youngsters were trained to detect disinformation easily and act against it. They worked in small groups and different workshops and developed a disinformation campaign, which later had to be tackled through a strong information counter-campaign.   

The students were welcomed by Christa Schweng, President of the EESC, who said: "Fake news is constantly being spread in an attempt to undermine European values and democracy. #YEYS2022 is an opportunity for youth to develop critical thinking and learn about tools to fight disinformation. Young people are key to shaping a better future for Europe."

Cillian Lohan, EESC Vice-President for communication, closed the event with these remarks: "As representatives of civil society, we'd like to meet more with our youth, hear their open-minded approaches and blend our concerns with their imagination and vision for the future". 

YEYS2022 has been flagged as one of the main events taking place during the European Year of Youth 2022.

Further details about YEYS 2022 are available on the event's official page. (ks)