Excerpts of a briefing note on the Convention from the European Youth
Forum.

1. Second Youth Convention

Another important agenda point raised at the meetings of the Contact
Group was the organisation of a follow-up event to the Youth Convention
held in Brussels from 9 to 14 July 2002. Proposals have been presented
and will be further discussed at the forthcoming meetings.

On this issue, progress was made. Mendez de Vigo, President of the
European Parliament at the Convention, requested a new civil society
forum and a sequel to the European Youth Convention in a letter
addressed to President Valery Giscard D’Estaing. Opening the doors to
civil society as well as to the young, he argued, appears to be in line
with the commitments made by the Convention to involve citizens in its
work. The Presidium of the Convention is expected to consider the issue
at its meeting of 30 January.

2. National Youth Conventions across Europe

Since the European Youth Convention held in Brussels in July, several
national organisations have taken up the initiative to organise their
own national Youth Convention, so as to stimulate the interest of young
people in their countries in the future of Europe.

A) Portugal The Portuguese National Youth Council organised its own
event on 28-29 November 2002 in the Lisbon Office of the European
Parliament, “in order to enrich and spread the debate started in
Brussels”. The 63 participants were assisted by the President of the
Portuguese Parliament, who opened their work, and the Portuguese members
of the adult Convention. The event was supported by the Portuguese
Parliament, the Regional Governments of the Azores and Madeira, the
Representation Office of the European Commission, the European
Information Centre and the Portuguese Youth Institute. As such, the
Portuguese delegation of the European Youth Convention sought to
“develop and foster the debate about the future of Europe at the
national level, with youth”.

B) Finland At the Finnish Youth Convention that took place on 21-22
November 2002, some hundred young Finnish citizens split up into six
groups to deal with European integration, European foreign policy,
safety and defence policy, social policy, enlargement, environmental
issues and globalisation. They gathered on the invitation of the Finnish
Youth Council Alliansi and the Finnish section of the Young European
Federalists.

C) Denmark Under the Danish Presidency, a Conference entitled “Youropa
-The Future of Europe” was organised by the Danish Ministry of
Education, the Danish Youth Council and the Youth Forum to make “more
young people participate actively in the debates about the Future of
Europe.” On this occasion, 275 young people from EU Member States and
candidate countries gathered in Copenhagen on 5-8 December to tackle
subjects like the enlargement of the EU, youth organisations and
integration, democracy and European civil society, the EU and
globalisation etc. The output of the event can be consulted at
http://www.youropa.dk/conference/vision_paper2.doc

D) Italy In line with these examples, the National Delegation to the
Youth Convention, in co-operation with the Observatory on the European
Convention, created by the Italian ministry for Community policies,
invited 210 young people from all national youth NGOs as well as
university and school students to join them in there discussion on the
future of Europe. Gathering in Rome on 10-12 January, the participants
sat in three working groups, focusing on: 1 Young people in Europe:
participation, polities and instruments 2 Future of Europe: reforms,
institutions, polities 3 Europe in the world: peace, responsibility and
direction. Under the presidency of Giacomo Fillibeck, President of the
European Youth Forum and President of the European Youth Convention, the
participants gathered in plenary the following days to discuss the
results of the working groups and present the results to the press. They
called for a European Federal Constitution, a European Government
represented by the European Commission and a common taxation policy.
Several Italian Convention members participated in the event.

E) France In Paris, about 1000 political science students from 20
European universities gathered in a first session of a European Student
Convention, in the company of President Valery Giscard D’Estaing,
Convention Members Pierre Raffarin, Ana Palacio, Micher Barnier and
others. The event closed with the adoption of a draft for the Future of
Europe. A second sitting will be organised next summer in Rome.

F) Turkey The future of Europe will also be on the agenda of the
“International European Youth Congress” at Sakarya University, Turkey
between 1-3 April 2003. The Youth Forum welcomes these initiatives, as
they constitute an important follow-up to the Youth Convention and
promote the involvement of young Europeans in the debate on the creation
of their Europe.

For further info, contact: youthforum@youthforum.org