2011 – 2nd International Youth Meeting: European Citizen – Where are you?

The European Youth Meeting “2nd International Youth Meeting: European Citizen – Where are you?” in Belgrade, Serbia, took place from May 23^rd to 31^st, 2011.

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The serial project “European Citizen – Where are you?” had started with a first seminar in autumn 2008. So young people from more than 15 European countries met from September 11^th to 19^th, 2008 in the middle of Germany at the “Jugend und Erwachsenen-Bildungshaus – Marcel Callo” (house for youth and adult education), in Spa Town Heiligenstadt, for the seminar “European Citizen – Where are you?”, realised by CGE Erfurt e.V. and its international partner organisations. The seminar’s aim was the discussion between representants of the invited partner organisations about the topics “European citizenship“ and “active participation of juveniles”. At first there had been a discourse of what “citizenship” means and then, what such an “active citizenship” – at national and European scale – requires. The discourse of cultural differences and similarities, and values, which the juveniles of Europe share or which separates them, lead to the question for the reasons for a existing or even non-existing or rather diffuse identification with the European Union, and its causes. Based on these work’s results, afterwards to the discussion with the participants was tended of institutional and non-institutional options of active participance of juveniles, as well as of exchanging methods of spreading those amongst the juveniles in Europe.

Having this first seminar achieved, CGE Erfurt e.V. decided to continue its efforts. In summer 2010 already the “1st International Youth Meeting: European Citizen – Where are you?” took place. From August 1^st to 7^th, 2010 more than 40 juveniles and actives of the domain of youth work from different states of the EU and Turkey have been invited to Heiligenstadt again, to set a platform for debating the essential topics of European citizenship and youth participance, sharing experiences, and additionally learning more of non-formal methods, which can be used in future youth projects. For this purpose CGE Erfurt e.V. organised several activities at different “floors”, so that the conference’s participants got the option of choosing out of the programme. Each project day was like a cluster with a special theme; from democracy to media. But these clusters had ever been connected to the project’s topics: youth participance, European citizenship, plus non-formal learning. Within the framework of the project there had been an excursion to Erfurt on August 5^th, 2010. Following several workshops on topics like website/blog, graphics, and design etc., Plattform e.V. of Erfurt invited for a visitation of the “Projekt Ladebalken” (project “progress bar”) and for discussing the topics “youth participance at local level and the role of media”.

© by Miomir Rajcevic

The “2nd International Youth Meeting: European Citizen – Where are you?” took place in May 2011 in Belgrade. The Purpose was to deepen the experiences made in 2008 and 2010 with participants from different states of the EU and from Turkey, as well as from countries of the Western Balkans. Already requested is the “3rd International Youth Meeting: European Citizen – Where are you?” in Riga, Latvia, in September 2011, which now also invites participants from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. The serial project will finish for now in spring/summer 2012 with a comprehensive evaluation meeting in Greece.

Backgrund information on the project you find here.

Previous projects:
2008 – European Citizen – Where are you?
2010 – 1st International Youth Meeting: European Citizen – Where are you?

Follow-up project:
2011 – 3rd International Youth Meeting: European Citizen – Where are you?

The project has been realised with funds of the YOUTH IN ACTION programme of the European Commission: