Finnish Youth Co-Operation Allianssi and JEF- Finland proposed during the spring 2002 to organise a national youth convention in Finland. Now the major decisions for the convention have been taken; the Finnish ministry of education and the Finnish information centre of European Parliament have assigned funding.

The national youth convention’s main aim is to enhance young people’s involvement in the discussion on the EU’s future and to bring out the youth’s voice in the work of the EU's future convention.

The youth convention is planned to gather 80-120 young Finnish citizens (aged from 16 to 30 years) to a plenary session on the 21nd and the 22rd of November 2002. There is a strong educational aspect in the project and therefore members of the youth convention also work on the issues before and after the plenary session. Special attention will be put on media coverage in order to spread the idea of youth involvement in the discussion on EU’s future.

The national youth convention is a project that aims to promote democracy and parlamentarism in the European society and among it’s young citizens. For example, the EP’s Finnish delegation of the EU's future convention and the Finnish delegation of the European Youth Convention are integrated in the project and are invited to take part in the national youth convention’s work. The Finnish prime minister Paavo Lipponen has also promised to participate the youth convention.

Main work method during the convention is groupwork. There will be six different groups handling European issues and questions like the European integration, European foreign policy, safety and defence policy, social policy, globalisation, environmental issues and enlargement. The result of the working groups and the plenary session is a document which brings all different ideas and opinions together. There will be no votings during the convention; this method ensures a living discussion.

The organising organisation, Allianssi, is a non-governmental umbrella organisation for Finnish youth organisations. Allianssi’s nearest partner in this project is the JEF–Finland (Eurooppalaisen Suomen Nuoret ry). JEF– Finland is a NG-organisation for all young people who are interested in European matters. Allianssi and JEF–Finland work together to maintain and to raise public discussion on the EU especially among young citizens. All other Finnish youth NGO’s are asked to take part in the work for the national convention.

Project secretary Sari Siikanen – sari.siikanen@alli.fi