The European Conferences of the Project promoted by the Union of Municipalities of the Patrì Valley (Italy), financed by the EACEA Executive Agency of the European Commission entitled "Youth over Pandemic: A new Idea of civic Participation for the Future - YoungEU Project”.
The project, relating to the community program CERV, Citizenship, Equality, Rights and Values, a project which had the aim of networking thematic cities and organizations from 16 countries of the European Union.
Partnership: Unione dei Comuni "Valle del Patrì" and Antares Onlus (Italy); Institucia Regionalnych Aktivit Novohradu (Slovakia); Holloko Municipality (Hungary); Posesti Municipality (Romania); Latvijas Pasvaldibu Savieniba Biedriba LPS (Latvia); Sverigeungerska Kvinnoförenid "Sissi" (Sweden); Troyan Municipality (Bulgaria); Association of Estonian Cities and Municipalities AECM (Estonia); Social Inclusion (Greece); Gmina Przygodzice (Poland); Junta de Freguesia de Buarcos Buarcos e São Julião (Portugal); Siggiewi Local Council (Malta); Business & Professional Women CR Production, z. ú. (Czech Republic); Udruga za promicanje aktivnog građanstva – ECHO (Croatia) and Asociación Sociocultural Luenda (Spain).
The shared objective was to actively help young people, preparing them for the radical changes taking place in a post-pandemic scenario, and to face the challenges of the Future.
Starting from these programmatic premises, with the project promoted by the Union of Valle del Patrì Municipalities the aim was to offer the possibility of keeping the debate alive between the local authorities involved and the associations on the future of the EU, in order to jointly shape the The Union that we want to help build, with the active contribution of citizens and with an important involvement of young people.
The project was configured as a permanent consultation, which guaranteed each participant in the project to express themselves during the events scheduled in different nations, allowing massive civic participation, through European conferences which animated the European debate, encouraging citizens to reflect on the type of Europe they want to help build.
The YoungEU project, which has now reached its conclusion, saw the creation of six itinerant conference sessions, during which all the specific aspects of the topics covered were explored, developed and discussed.
The first of the planned events took place in Malta in April 2023, followed by an event in Bucharest in June 2023. From 20 to 23 September 2023, the third event stopped in Italy, in the territory of the Union of Patrì. In November 2023, the fourth event was held in Budapest and Holloko (Hungary). In January 2024, the city of Zagreb in Croatia was chosen as the location for the realization of the 5th event. During each meeting, workshops, round tables, visits and case studies were held, in order to optimize the involvement of all local forces and outline the directions of cooperation.
From 21 to 24 April 2024 the YoungEU project stopped in Prague (Czech Republic) where the thematic conference sessions concluded. The final event in Prague was also focused on the dissemination and valorisation actions of the Project Results and specific issues relating to Democracy and Citizenship, the European Challenges for the Future and the role of young people were discussed, with the participation of many Italian and foreign administrators and experts on the topics covered.
Finally, the last session of the Conferences was the opportunity for the presentation of the results of the Permanent Working. The “Final Dossier” represents the tangible starting point for the network's cooperation and the creation of further future collaborations. This work collects ideas, proposals and actions to identify and outline the lines of intervention of a Europe attentive to the needs of the society of the future.
