22.03.2004 - Seminar “Youth issues and the European Parliament
Elections 2004”
Youth issues really not important for
MEPs?...
On the 25th of March AEGEE-Europe is
organizing a seminar on the youth issues and the European Parliament
Elections 2004. Increasing the number of reasons for young people to vote
in the EP 2004 and thus achieving a higher participation of young people
in the voting process, can be done by highlighting the policies relevant
for them and their reflection within the policy makers’
viewpoints.
The two topics of
discussion will concern the future of the EU education programmes and the
opportunities and obstacles of the employment and entrepreneurship for the
youth in the enlarging European Union. Our main aim is not only to gain
different points of view on the two topics, but also make the results of
the seminar widely available to students and representatives of the
Institutions, especially the European Parliament and the Commission,
supplying them with a student point of view on the topics of major
importance for young people and their future on our
continent.
“While youth
participation and involvement in the elections are among the priorities of
the Irish Presidency, our enthusiasm regarding the seminar was turned down
when almost 200 MEPs contacted declined our invitations. As there is a
general lack of awareness regarding the importance of the European
Parliament Elections and not strong support from MEPs to have a dialogue
with young people in addressing issues relevant to them, we are worried
that we are going to face again a low level of participation among young
people in June voting. - says Adrian Pintilie, President of AEGEE-Europe -
"We wish that the statements made by politicians regarding youth
participation and policies went beyond words and matched concrete actions
such as this seminar, and the support for the involvement of young
people was not an extra PR but a reality.”
The seminar is prepared in close co-operation with JADE
(a student-run, pan-European network representing about 20.000 young
entrepreneurs in more than 150 local non-profit organisations called
Junior Enterprises) and AEGEE’s official media partner EURACTIV (the
leading EU policy portal). The venue of the
seminar is the Romanian Embassy in Brussels, and the panel discussion
triggers off at 5 pm, preceded by the welcome coffee at 4.30 and followed
by the cocktail at 7 pm. To learn more about the seminar go
to: www.aegee.org. If you want
to participate contact: Ewa Solarczyk at
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AEGEE is
one of Europe's largest interdisciplinary and voluntary student
associations, operating without being linked to any political party,
promoting a unified Europe, cross-border co-operation, communication and
integration in academic environment, and at the same time striving to
create an open and tolerant society by involving students and young
graduates in valuable projects and discussions over the topics of
importance for the communities they live in It is represented in 260
university cities, in 42 countries all around Europe and has about 17000
members.
More
information: Ewa
Solarczyk Vice-President /
Director for Public Relations
European Students' Forum - AEGEE Rue Nestor de Tiere 15 1030
Bruxelles Phone: +32 2 245 23
00 Fax: +32 2 245 62 60 Web: www.aegee.org Email: [log in to unmask] |