The European Youth Parliament - An Overview
The European Youth Parliament (EYP), which was founded in 1987 as the project of a school in Fontainebleau (France), is a unique forum designed to actively engage young people in the molding of their future society.
The EYP represents a non-partisan and independent educational project, which is tailored entirely to the needs of the young European citizen. The EYP encourages independent thinking and socio-political initiative in young people and facilitates the learning of crucial social and profes-sional skills. Since its inauguration, many tens of thousands of young people have taken part in regional, national and international sessions, formed friendships and made international contacts across and beyond frontiers. It has thus made a vital contribution towards the uniting of Europe.
Today the EYP is one of the largest European platforms for political debate, intercultural en-counters, political educational work and the exchange of ideas among young people in Europe. The EYP consists of a network of 32 European associations and organizations in which thou-sands of young people are active in an honorary capacity. The international umbrella organization of the EYP is the Heinz Schwarzkopf Foundation.
Aims of the European Youth Parliament
The aims of the European Youth Parliament are to:
- Raise awareness of European issues, encourage active European citizenship and moti-vate students to get engaged in European politics.
- Promote international understanding, intercultural dialogue and diversity of ideas and practices.
- Contribute to the personal skills development of European youth.
- Provide a forum in which young people of Europe can express their own opinions, with-out reverting to role-play.
The Work of the European Youth Parliament
At the over 50 regional, national and international events a year in the 32 national organizations, the EYP reaches well over 20,000 young people. Three major International Sessions also take place every year. On each of these occasions the European Youth Parliament brings together 300 young people from 32 countries for 10 days in alternating European capitals.
- Procedures of International Sessions
- Division into 15 internationally compiled committees and communication training/team building.
- Preparation of a joint resolution on a current European policy topic in committee work.
- Debate on the resolutions in the Plenary Session following the model of the European Parliament in both English and French.
- Rich cultural fringe events with, for instance, presentations and culinary treats from the participating countries and many exciting social events.
The accompanying teachers go through a special teacher’s program that allows
the development of new competences as well as the establishment of pan-European
networks. Those networks often serve to establish new exchange and learning
projects.
The European Youth Parliament Switzerland
Since 1995, Swiss delegations have attended sessions of the European Youth Parliament. As the National EYP Committee in Switzerland, we are promoting the ideas and aims of the European Youth Parliament, through the organization of national events and the selection of the delegations that represent Switzerland at the International EYP Sessions and various other national and multi-national conferences within the EYP network. Since our inauguration, we have organized numer-ous national conferences and social events, as well as 2 International Sessions in Bern(2000) and Basel(2005).
Take Part and Join in
Once a year we hold a 3-day National Conference with many international guests and delegations following the program of an International Session. Swiss students have the possibility to get to know the EYP atmosphere and are selected to attend an international EYP event in the future.
A delegation, taking part at the conference, consists of 7 students and an accompanying teacher. Similar to an International Session the delegates are allocated to different committees and spend most parts of the conference with their fellow committee members. The committees elaborate a resolution to a given topic about current political, social and economic issues of a global, Euro-pean and/or national scale.
To take part in a national conference and to spend an exciting weekend, we recommend meeting the following requirements:
- You like to meet new people and share ideas and visions for the future
- You have an open-minded and creative approach to a topic and to other peoples views
- You are able to work in a team
- You are enthusiastic about European issues
- You can communicate in English and French
- You should be between 16 and 22 years old
Attending an EYP Session is a fantastic and unique experience. Besides making many good friends, you will learn a lot about the people living in Europe as well as about your home country and yourself. Reach for this opportunity and join in!
Information and Contact
If you want to sing up as a delegation for the National Confernce 2007. Please refer to:
National Conference Responsible
Nadine Pfiffner
Email nadine.pfiffner@eyp.ch
Tel.: 071 648 2077
Web www.eyp.ch info@eyp.ch