International meeting in Athens: the conclusion of “The New European Citizens” project
On the 16-18 December 2016 the fourth and last international meeting of the project “The new European citizens” was held in Athens, Greece, with the participation of more than 200 youngsters coming from 8 different European countries.
The aim of the meeting was to define the final youngsters Manifesto composition, after presenting the main points emerged at national level.
During the meeting there was also a focus on the situation of the refugees and asylum seekers in the respective countries by each national group. We went through data and policies adopted by each country in order to face the growing number of arrivals, followed by a debate.
After that we went through the presentation by each group of the main points for the Manifesto emerged at national level: as they were quite similar we gathered together all the common points.
On Sunday the 18th of December the morning started by further discussion on the main points emerged: each group was assigned one point and stimulated to think about more specific and practical ideas to be included in the Manifesto.
After lunch all delegations presented the group and their organisations and everyone was given the participation certificate.
The final Manifesto contains the instances presented and discussed by youngsters coming from 9 European countries: it is an important document, coming from youngsters but addressed to all citizens as well as the European Institutions.
Although the project ended with the meeting in Athens, our work doesn’t stop: on March 22 we will be in Brussels to present the Manifesto to the European Institutions. We want the decision makers to hear our voices, in order to create a European Union close to youngsters.
