European Youth Council 2017

Europe's future shapes the twinning agreements

What shall Europe be like? How can twinning agreements be shaped in the future? What kind of projects can bring young Europeans closer together? And what does Europe mean anyway?

These and other questions are central at the European Youth Council 2017. In November 2017, the City of Constance is going to welcome around 100 adolescents and young adults from Constance and its four European twin cities – Fontainebleau (France), Richmond-upon-Thames (UK), Lodi (Italy) and Tábor (Czech Republic) – to make a difference in and for Europe.

The European Youth Council takes place from November 2nd – 6th, 2017

The event aims to bring young Europeans together, facilitating exchange, discussion and the possibility to get to know each other. An important goal of the meeting is the development of new, specific projects that can, in the long run, make the twinning agreements more appealing for the young citizens. Therefore, the exchange with local decision makers and experts is of special importance. Their tasks consist in listening to the young people, taking their view seriously and not forgetting them and their demands in the moment of decision making. These experts and decision makers shall also serve as advisors, share their knowledge and their experiences with the adolescents, and provide them with feedback. Thus, the European Youth Council is intended to be the starting point of a recurring event.

The project teams in Constance and the twin cities

To ensure that the project meets its expectations and needs, young people are being involved since the beginning. In all five cities, the young citizens prepare the European Youth Council and collect their ideas, hopes and demands for twinning agreements as well as for their future in Europe in general. The majority of the preparation is done in Constance. Here a project team of adolescents and young adults, supported by the Konzilstadt Konstanz, pre-selects the European issues that are to be discussed and gathers ideas for new town-twinning projects. Furthermore, the young people from Constance will assume organizational tasks, such as raising awareness of the project among other target groups. In May, ambassadors of each of the four participating cities will be coming to Constance, to set the organizational and contextual frame of the European Council. Back in their cities, they will introduce the project and form teams of about 20 young people. In the month to come, the teams will be working on their preparations for the meeting in November.

The current status

The last milestone, the pre-council in Konstanz (May 5th – 7th) was a great success. We welcomed two ambassadors from each twin town and set the contextual and organisational frame for November. Back in their hometowns, the ambassadors are now forming their team with 18 other members and prepare the European Youth Council. Here in Konstanz, the content of the meeting and the new twinning activities are further specified. 

More information can be found here or on facebook: www.facebook.com/europakonzil2017