Part 1: 16 to 17 July 2020 // Part II: 20 to 21 July 2020


Place:Online-conference platform A project of the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO), the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), crossborder factory, Youth Initiative of Human Rights (YIHR) Serbia, Peuple et Culture, Une Terre Culturelle, Pangera e.V. and Pulse of Europe Toulouse.



Context


The project of a democratic, peaceful, sustainable, social and prosperous Europe is today facing one of the greatest challenges in its history - and not only because of the experiences with the Coronavirus Pandemic. Societies and citizens of Europe are facing the challenge of "rebooting" their societies and returning to more stability, reducing the economic, social and political consequences, re-opening borders among the Schengen area, re-establishing restricted civil rights and freedoms with responsibility and evaluating the experiences from the crisis on many levels. This occurs within EU member states societies - especially among youth - and as well the ones of the Western Balkans willing to join the EU.


As a contribution to those challenges, and as an impetus to the German Presidency of the European Council the Franco-German Youth Office, in cooperation with the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) and partner organisations from France, Germany and the Western Balkans (Crossborder factory, YIHR, Peuple et Culture, Une Terre Culturelle, Pangera e.V, Pulse of Europe Toulouse), is gathering 100 young citizens aged from 17 to 25 years old, from France, Germany, Croatia and the Western Balkans on a four-day-online conference aimed at discussing the future of Europe, by favoring debate, dialogue and initiatives among young citizens. The project takes place in the context of the 20th anniversary of the FGYO's Southeastern Europe Initiative1 - the expected results are an important impulse from young people for the future content-related work of FGYO’s Southeastern Europe Initiative.



 Project objectives and description


The project: „Re-boot Europe! Conference by young citizens on the Future of Europe" will make an important contribution with the voice of young citizens from the Western Balkans, France, Croatia and Germany. There is now space to proactively think and imagine the future of Europe, not only to react to the Brexit and Covid crisis but also the shape of Europe we want.


The conference will allow to:


  • analyze the political, structural and values crisis of Europe in a rapidly changing world 


  • involve not only young citizens from France, Croatia and Germany but also young citizens from the Western Balkans on an equal footing in the debate on the future of Europe


  • jointly develop concrete ideas and projects for the future shape of Europe.


It will: 


  • offer an online platform on which young citizens can develop questions, ideas and concrete projects on the future shape of Europe in multilateral small groups on 8 specific topics, with online expert support on the 8 thematic European policy areas.


  • propose an online marketplace where interim results and finished project ideas can be presented and discussed in a variety of forms such as interactive conferences, videos, blogs, etc.


The eight thematic clusters are:


Cluster 1: Reconciliation and dealing with the legacies of the past


Cluster 2: Migration and mobility


Cluster 3: Solidarity (local, regional, national, European and global level)


Cluster 4: Climate Change, Green Deal


Cluster 5: Future of the European Union: shared values, internal reforms and developments, enlargement and neighborhood policy, international/global role of the European Union


Cluster 6: Open Societies (human rights, civil rights, free media) and dealing with nationalist attitudes and authoritarian politics


Cluster 7: Social entrepreneurship / Digital society


Cluster 8: Intercultural competence / Dealing with complexity



Impacts and outcomes


The results (available on this website) of the joint online working groups of young people in the form of various concrete project drafts will be an important contribution to the future activities / programme profile of the DFJW, RYCO and their partner organisations. The working groups will be invited to submit their projects to FGYO and/or RYCO for financial and methodological support. Moreover, the thoughts, ideas and concrete proposals of young citizens - also and especially in the context of the Coronavirus crisis – will be shared with prominent political representatives, among them the EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth and the French and German Ministers in charge of European issues. The results will also be presented in the Sofia Summit organized within the Berlin Process and will provide an additional impetus to the German EU Presidency of the Council of the European Union.