The Czech EU Presidency Youth Event has just begun!
Published: Wednesday, 3 June 2009, 01:42All young people from EU Member States, EU candidate states and EFTA countries managed to get to the golden city of Prague in order to take part in the Czech EU Presidency Youth Event.
In two days, they will tackle following issues:
Employability, entrepreneurship and talents
Participation, outreach and information
Evidence – based policy making
Social inclusion and well being of youth
Volunteering and education
Today, the conference started with a plenary session and speeches of prominent guests both from the Czech Republic and European bodies.
First, the participants were addressed by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Mrs. Miroslava Kopicová. She stressed the importance of the new EU Youth Strategy. She also reminded the participants that 2011 will be announced as the European Year of Volunteering. “I believe that, particularly now during the economic downturn, voluntary activities deserve our attention, as they contribute in a major way to social inclusion and solidarity.”
She was followed by the Director for Youth, Sport and Citizenship from the European Commission, Mr. Pierre Mairesse. He introduced the new Communication of the European Commission and its 8 fields of action to the participants. These 8 fields are reflected also in the topics of the working groups of the Youth Event. Mr. Mairesse underlined the importance of the Czech Presidency Youth Event which is supposed to fill in the gaps in the Communication before the Swedish Youth Presidency will propose concrete proposals of action to achieve the aims.
Aleš Sedláček, President of the Czech Council of Children and Youth, which is one of the organizers of the Youth Event, welcomed the participants in Prague as well. He pointed out the long tradition that youth volunteering has in the Czech Republic and the concrete impact of volunteering on young people. He also reminded the participants that freedom cannot be taken for granted and shared with them the experience from the communist era in the Czech Republic. Finally, he expressed his hope that the Czech Presidency can bring concrete and useful inputs to the discussions about the new EU Youth Strategy and that the Czech Council will soon become a member of the European Youth Forum and will be able to advocate there the interest of Czech youth.
Tine Radinja, the President of the European Youth Forum, presented the position of the Forum towards the evaluation of the current framework of co-operation in the youth field and the new Communication of the European Commission. He stressed the fact that the EU must not adopt a strategy for youth, but a strategy with youth. Young people should be actively involved in solving the problems and proposing solutions to the challenges of today’s society.
Markus Köhler, HR Manager of Microsoft Czech Republic, was invited to bring to the Youth Event the point of view of business sector and employers. Current financial crisis has wide consequences for the whole economy. Mr. Kohler pointed out that education plays crucial role in today’s information society. The entrepreneurial spirit should be promoted among young people.
Finally, David Křížek, Czech representative in yachting and coach had a very inspiring speech. Health and Sport is one of the fields of action of the new EU Youth Strategy according to which young people should be motivated to a healthy lifestyle. Mr. Křížek told the participants his life story full of challenges as well as his experience from working with young sportsmen.
After the official part of the opening session, a more working-style programme followed. Mr. Sergej Koperdak from the European Commission introduced the new EU Youth Strategy in detail to the participants. Colourful presentation with many metaphors presented the participants the eight fields of actions as eight branches of a tree. He also presented the consultation process which preceded the adoption of the new EC Communication as well as explained the main challenges that young people are facing today. The priorities of the new strategy are reflecting those. Now it will be up to the Youth Event in two following days to comment on what is missing in the Communication, what should be done in a different way and what young people do not consider as a priority. The results of this discussion will afterwards be presented to the meeting of Directors General responsible for youth.
After dinner the participants got to know each other through various icebreaking activities. And what´s coming next? Tomorrow the whole day is going to be dedicated to work in workshops in breathtaking premises of the Břevnov monastery.
