| Author (Person) | Bower, Helen |
|---|---|
| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning |
| Series Title | In Focus |
| Series Details | 10.7.02 |
| Publication Date | 10/07/2002 |
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus |
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210 young people from 28 European countries have gathered in Brussels from the 9-14 July 2002 to discuss their ideas on the future of Europe, which they will present to the European Convention on 12 July 2002. During the listening phase of the Convention, members have been keen to hear what citizens think, in order to assess what they expect from Europe and how they see the European Union developing in the future. The views of Europe's young people are seen to be a fundamental part of this contribution. As Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the Chairman of the Convention, said in his opening speech to the European Convention:
The key task of the Youth Convention will be to discuss three questions:
The participants of the Youth Convention have been selected in a variety of ways. 168 of the youths were chosen by the full and alternate members of the Convention representing national parliaments or governments, 6 by the Chairman and Vice-chairman, 32 by the representatives of the European Parliament, and 4 by the European Commission representatives. The Youth Convention will follow the same composition as the European Convention with a chairman and eight members of a Praesidium elected by the participants. The results of the elections were made public on Tuesday 9 July 2002. Giacomo Filibeck will act as President of the Convention and the 8 Praesidium members are Juliannne Bir, Miles Kemp, Marie-Caroline Laurent, Anne Lührmann, Claire McCarthy, Ellen Trane Nørby, Anita Stefin and Roberta Tedesco Triccas. These candidates will be in charge of chairing the Youth Convention plenary sessions and working groups and representing the Youth Convention externally, including the presentation of the conclusions and results of the Youth Convention to the European Convention and the interested public. Akos Komassy, Jan Kreutz and Leo Varadkar, who will act as rapportuers for each of the three working groups, will be responsible for providing the basic document for each working group and for drafting the report from the working group. The three working groups are:
In order to present more tangible results, each elected rapporteur will present a discussion paper to stimulate debate within the working group. The young people are being encouraged to present different ideas on the future of Europe to what has been put on the table so far. Sir John Kerr, Secretary General of the EU Convention, told the Youth Convention,
A special Eurobarometer survey was carried out between 27 May and 16 June 2002 on a representative sample of 7,558 young people to provide input to the debate at the Youth Convention. It shows that employment, solidarity, mobility and respect for democratic values are all important to young Europeans but they are less concerned about the EU's enlargement and the effectiveness of the institutions. In addition to the Youth Convention, the European Union is stepping up its efforts in other areas to help implement the White Paper, entitled 'A new impetus for European Youth' which was proposed in November 2001 and adopted by the Council of the European Union in May 2002. 1,000 young Europeans gathered in Copenhagen for the first two weeks of the Danish Presidency to examine what they would like to see in a European Constitution, if there was to be one. The results of the work of 'Youth 2002' will be sent to opinion-formers throughout Europe and to the European Convention. The European Commission has also sent out two questionnaires to the Member States and the candidate countries which tackle the issues of how to improve young people's participation in social and political life and how to inform them better about European affairs. The questionnaires specifically examine the turn-out of young people in elections, eligibility criteria, national initiatives to help young people in difficulties, teaching of citizenship in school curricula and financial resources devoted to informing young people. The responses will be available in November 2002 and they will form the basis of a work programme that should be adopted by the Council in 2003. At Community level, the European Commission intends to support pilot projects from 2003 on initiatives to improve young people's participation such as an information and dialogue website. It also examining new ideas such as that of a 'Youth Europass', a symbolic passport recording young people's participation in initiatives/events in Europe. Links: European Commission:
Youth Convention:
Convention on the Future of Europe: Youth 2002: European Sources Online: In Focus:
Helen Bower Young people from across Europe gathered in Brussels from the 9-14 July 2002 to discuss their ideas on the future of Europe, which they will present to the European Convention on 12 July 2002. |
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| Subject Categories | Geography, Politics and International Relations |
