*++ PRESS RELASE ++*

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*EU’s Eastern Partnership programme still neglects the interests of young
people (from Eastern Europe)*

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*Brussels 22. March 2011*

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*European Students` Forum (AEGEE-Europe) has taken a leading role in
creating an initiative to advance the mobility and the integration in
Western educational exchange programmes of students and young adults from
Easter European countries. During the Stakeholders Meeting hosted the
European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the civil society
organization and youth representatives crossed their ties towards creating
an informal network to develop strategies in order to improve the situation
of youth from the 6 countries included in the Eastern Partnership programme
of the European Commission.*

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European Students` Forum (AEGEE-Europe) welcomes the EU Eastern Partnership
Initiative and firmly believes that it will help to consolidate democratic
European values amongst eastern neighbors, enhance the cooperation and bring
them closer to the European Union. To this end, to stress the dimension of
engagement of youth as active citizens, who is facing nowadays mobility
limitation and problems with access to educational systems in Western
countries, there is a need to designe mobility programmes for them .


*Manos Valasis, the president of AEGEE-Europe* s that “Today, after 26 years
of existence, we [AEGEE] are building bridges between 41 European countries
and having established strong local branches in Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia while having presence even in Belarus, we
believe it’s high time to drop borders on mobility, to heal all wounds time
has created in the Caucasus and to help strengthening the Active Citizenship
movement.”


*Klavdija Cernilogar, Head of Policy Development & Advocacy Department of
European Youth Forum* stressed that “the 6 Eastern Partnership countries are
not an external area, they are our members.” She has elaborated that still
significant challenges do exist in this area like the decreased mobility of
young Eastern Europeans due to visa limitations. “This still makes it very
hard for them to participate in youth exchanges and similar projects.” She
stated that the European Youth Forum still sees difficulties in the
networking, communication and knowledge exchange between youth associations
in the East. A project group has been founded that shall inquire about the
needs of young people in this area. Also the Youth Work Development Fund
will focus now on projects implemented in Belarus. She also added that “It
is the best way to engage National Youth Councils, as they know the local
needs the best!”.


*Federic Varenne, Programme Manager, European Commission, DG EuropeAid
Development and Cooperation *presented the concept of a new regional
programme that will aim to support civil society organisations in the 6
Eastern Partnership countries. Currently data is being collected and the
programme will aim to support civil society organisations through capacity
building. Also local initiatives will be supported. “We need a round table
for stakeholders and we are currently working on it”. He also stated that
“we need to work more on non-formal education”.


*Christophe Leclercq, founder and publisher of EurActiv* declared: 'What
surprises me is not the lack of initiatives on youth exchanges with Eastern
Europe, but their great variety, and the low numbers achieved. This is
impeding both the educational value, and the geopolitical impact, the
support to democratic civil societies. We need a better marketing, notably
bundling more resources around one or two flagship programmes. Possibly also
labelling existing ones run by national and private organisations. This
reminds me of the ERASMUS set-up stage, against a background of scepticism,
during which AEGEE-Europe was instrumental. You are visionary on involving
the East: keep it up!'


*Michael Makowiecki, Communications Director of AEGEE-Europe*, who chaired
the meeting has concluded that “in times when young people from Western
Europe have less and less time and motivation to be active in NGOs and be
true active citizens, young people from Eastern Europe while having the
strong will and motivation to contribute to the European society as
volunteers and active citizens, they are being limited in their mobility and
excluded from European educational exchange programs.”  He stated the
importance of a strong network working for the inclusion of young people
from the Eastern Partnership countries.


AEGEE-Europe sees  the importance of a strong network working for the
inclusion of young people from the Eastern Partnership countries.


--
Michael Makowiecki
Communications Director
AEGEE-Europe / European Students' Forum

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