Your Europe, Your Say! 2018

United in diversity: a younger future for European culture!

According to the European Economic and Social Committee website about Your Europe Your Say for 2018:

“Your Europe, Your Say!” is the EESC’s annual youth event. Schools from all Member States of the European Union and from the candidate countries are invited to apply for participation and one school per country is then selected by random drawing. Shortly thereafter, the 33 selected schools choose three pupils and one accompanying teacher who will be sent to Brussels to discuss a topical subject and draw up resolutions addressed to the EU institutions.

2018 is the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH), and the European Economic and Social Committee will ask the young participants for their opinion on the best way to engage European youth in the protection and promotion of our common cultural heritage. The Committee is also interested in the pupils’ fresh views on the relationship between culture, democracy and peace.

The EESC, as the voice of civil society, is eager to ensure that the ideas of Europe’s younger generation are heard.

Because democracy has based on debate and it is useful to know what are the new generation ideas I’m starting to collect opinions from Your Europe Your Say for 2018 edition participants.

My first Guest is from France, Lycée Expérimental de Saint-Nazaire:

We are so glad to have been chosen to participate to this event and we are thankful for your interest. These latest days we have started working on the provided documents and have begun to brainstorm around this year’s topic : what it meant to us, how we could analyse it.

We hope to contact other schools and students to get their thoughts in order to enlarge our point of view and allow a sort of plurality of opinions. Indeed, the group is composed of the three selected students (Charline, Chanaé and Augustin) and a member of the educative team (Julien) but other pupils participate the meetings and work sessions as well.

Our school is an alternative one, we function like no other in France. Our teaching and learning methods are based on free-choice of learning and our school management’s pillar concept is “co-gestion” between members of the educative team and the students on equal grounds. Concretely it means that no student is obliged to intend a course rather than an other, there is no headmaster and no cook, no hierarchy between students and MEE (“Membres de l’Equipe Educative”) we are the ones taking the budgets decisions and cleaning the school, combining both decisional power and executive responsibility.

Other schools from that 33 list are waited to express some thoughts before and after the March moment about the preparation and experience of the event. Also, I offer this space to that proposal which will not be selected by the decision panel of Your Europe Your Say 2018 edition but represent young people opinion. Please feel free to send me your words.

Now a second thought is coming from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia where the selected school “SEPUGS Vasil Antevski Dren” says about Your Europe Your Say moment:

First of all we are grateful that we were selected to be part of that event. We are satisfied that we will attend on the event where we will discuss about problems of European citizens. We hope that we will cooperate with each other and to achive the main goals. Even the time is short, we will use it productively.

I wish them all to find the right themes in a growing debate for adults decision and to identify solutions for the future of the enlarging European Union to include all nations from Europe. If you want to express an opinion regarding this event, please, write to me anytime.

It is the moment for a new guest participant at the event Your Europe Your Say. From Austria are coming pupils from HAK Hallein which send few words to us and the first image of this preparation period:

We are very grateful for the chance to take part in the YEYS event!

At the 19 of February Mr Gaydosik comes to our school in Hallein to give us some information about the EU and the YEYS – event.

Additionally, we have just started to talk about “culture” in our lessons in International Business. To give you an impression, I send you added photo about our International Business lesson this morning. (29 January 2018 r.n.)

On the official website for the event are available details about “School visits” like the mentioned guest one. Members of the European Economic and Social Committee are coming into participant school to assist and prepare them for the March moment.

All youth have a solemn responsibility to identify and propose the relevant things for seniors debate and decision, so soon we will know what issues are in mind in this year.

If you are one of those 99 participants, you can send me your thoughts about this experience if you are not directly involved. Still, your words can be a reasonable proposal for the others.

In March the EESC will decide the three new interest for the next year in Europe. Be part of it!

The list of selected schools is available here.

These are the proposal voted in 2017 after final debates and negotiations.

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