European Commissioner Tibor Navracsics has met with 100 young people at the closing event of the New Narrative for Europe initiative.
The initiative began in 2013, and has sought the views of as many as 62,000 young people through worldwide discussions and debates that have been held over the past two years. The results of this work fed into the conclusions on education, culture and youth policies that the commission published following its Gothenburg Social Summit in Sweden last November.
Following the meeting, Navracsics – who is commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport – said that it was encouraging to see young people participating in politics: “Seeing young people so engaged, and hearing their refreshing ideas fills me with optimism about Europe’s future. I will study the recommendations from the New Narrative for Europe with utmost attention. But this is not the end of the process – young people must be at the heart of the debate on the future of Europe, and that is why I would like these reflections to continue.”
What did the initiative achieve?
The New Narrative for Europe project resulted in the proposal of twelve concrete ideas for Europe’s future. Last September, a Eurobarometer survey consulted around 11,000 citizens aged 15-30 and highlighted those that resonated with the broadest group of people, including:
- Promoting critical thinking to combat fake news;
- Giving easy access to information about living and working abroad; and
- Using environmentally friendly initiative to encourage a change in behaviour.
This Eurobarometer survey also found that more than half of young people think education and skills should be the European Commission’s top priority, followed by environmental protection and combating climate change, employment, and the management of migratory flows and integration of refugees.
The engagement of young people is increasing, with more respondents stating that they have participated in voluntary activities or organisations such as sports clubs or local NGOs than in the previous survey, which was conducted in 2014. Further, 64% of those surveyed said they had voted in a political election in the last three years.
