Wikipedia

European Youth Parliament

Not to be confused with Model European Union Strasbourg or Model European Parliament.

The European Youth Parliament is a politically unbound non-profit organisation, which encourages European youth to actively engage in citizenship and cultural understanding. It annually involves around 25,000 youth[1] from across Europe in its events and has around 6,000 active members in the different countries. It was established in 1987 in Fontainebleau, France.

European Youth Parliament
Founded1987
FounderBettina Carr-Allinson (NL) and Laurent Grégoire (FR)
TypeEducational Charity
FocusInternationalism
Location
OriginsFontainebleau, France
Area served
Europe
Key people
Anya Suprunenko (Executive Director)
Volunteers
50,000+
Websitewww.eyp.org/

History edit

The European Youth Parliament was founded by Laurent Grégoire (FR) and Bettina Carr-Allinson (NL), initially, as a school project at the Lycée François-Ier in Fontainebleau, to the south of Paris.[2] It is there that three of the first four International Sessions were held, starting in 1988, about a year after the idea took place.

It then developed steadily for a few years until it moved to Witney, Oxfordshire, in 1991, and was legally recognised as the European Youth Parliament International Ltd., a subsidiary of a charity created in 1992 for this purpose, the Fontainebleau Youth Foundation. The organisation experienced enduring growth for the next ten years, its network counting an increasing number of National Committees and its activities becoming both larger and more numerous. The National Committees stretch beyond the scope of countries within the European Union and try to encompass all European countries.

In the years 2001 to 2004, the EYP encountered various problems of financial nature. On 4 November 2004, however, the European Youth Parliament was reborn due to a mutual agreement between representatives of EYP's Board of National Committees, alumni and the Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation. The EYP's status since then has been a programme of the Schwarzkopf-Stiftung Junges Europa, and is hosted in Berlin, Germany.

The actual activities of the EYP never faltered during this period.

Since 2004, the EYP has introduced several reforms to introduce more transparency in its institutions and further enlarged its activities.

Management edit

At the international level, the EYP is governed by an international board, the Governing Body. The Governing Body has six members elected by the National Committees and by the alumni of past sessions. A representative of the Schwarzkopf Foundation, as well as the EYP's executive director, are also members[3]. The board is largely responsible for the quality assurance of the International Sessions but also takes responsibility for the overall direction of the organisation and the long-term sustainability and protection of the organisation. The day-to-day business of the organisation is administered by a hired manager at the International Office in Berlin. Philipp J. Scharff was the manager from 2004 until 2008, Jan Phillip Beck (DE) from 2008 until 2011, Ville Vasaramäki (FI) from 2011 until 2013, Krista Lagus (FI) from 2013 until 2017 and Lukas Fendel (DE) from 2017 to 2020. Anya Suprunenko was appointed as Executive Director in 2020. In 2022, Pauline Chetail (FR) was made acting Executive Director as Anya went on temporary leave.

At the national level, the National Committees are free to choose how to manage themselves, provided they comply with basic democratic principles. The National Committees are responsible for organising and funding their own national sessions. International Sessions can receive limited funding from EYP at the international level but are also largely responsible for their economy. Sessions are usually funded through sponsorship from various organisations or corporations.

Sessions edit

EYP organises three international sessions each year. They are organised in different countries and all European countries are invited to join, not just members of the EU. Each country's national committee selects a delegation to participate in each session, the size of which depends on various factors. The delegates are distributed to different committees, each tasked with addressing a particular topic.

Other sessions are organized under the supervision of national boards, including Regional Selection Sessions, National Selection Sessions, International Forums, Small Scale Events and Training Days. National Selection Conferences (sessions) are usually where the selection of the delegations sent to International Sessions takes place. The selection process in most countries (notably excluding France) is taken up by a team of Jurors, led by the Head Of Jury (HoJ), which objectively selects a number of delegates to "pass" on to the next stage.

Each international session starts with a two-day Teambuilding part, in which delegates get acquainted with each other and start improving the group dynamics of the committee. The delegates play different games which are meant to bring the delegates from an initial shyness stage to a comfortable, open atmosphere optimal for efficient Committee work.

This is followed by four or five days for Committee Work. During this time the delegates discuss a problematic topic on current European political matters and write a resolution on how to deal with the issue. A member of the European Parliament or some alternative expert will generally visit once to answer questions and quickly discuss the topic with the Committee.

The sessions end with a General Assembly, in which the committee resolutions are looked through, altered and approved (or if the resolution is found unacceptable, not approved). If a resolution is approved it is sent on to the European Parliament, for the consideration of MEPs. General Assembly is usually held in some honorary or prestigious location, such as the host country's Houses of Parliament or the main hall of the City Council.

Additionally, National Committees of EYP organise several national and regional sessions every year. National sessions are to select a delegation for one of the upcoming international sessions. These sessions are shorter, normally lasting three days and do not invite a member of the European Parliament to the committees. Regional sessions are of varying length, from 3 to 7 or 8 days, and in essence, imitate international sessions. They have, however, a more constrained budget and tend to be less formal than international sessions. For both national and regional sessions, resolutions are not sent to the European Parliament.

As of Spring 2019, 90 (taking into account the Extraordinary International Session of EYP in Lillehammer, Norway, Winter 2010) international EYP sessions have taken place:[4]

 
 
Fontainebleau
 
Thessaloniki
 
Lisbon
 
Kronberg
 
Prague
 
Barcelona
 
Oxford
 
Strasbourg
 
Ghent
 
Bern
 
Budapest
 
Luxembourg
 
Berlin
 
Brussels
 
Holstebro
 
Gothenburg
 
Dublin
 
Milan
 
Helsinki
 
Nicosia
 
Edinburgh
 
Granada
 
Vienna
 
Rome
 
Weimar
 
Hämeenlinna
 
Athens
 
Stockholm
 
Dubrovnik
 
Porto
 
Riga
 
Turin
 
Tallinn
 
Durham
 
Tábor
 
Stavanger
 
Basel
 
Bari
 
Paris
 
Ventspils
 
Kyiv
 
Potsdam
 
Stavanger
 
Białystok
 
Liverpool
 
Rennes
 
Leuven
 
Tromsø
 
Frankfurt
 
Lviv
 
Lillehammer
 
Grenoble
 
Zagreb
 
Istanbul
 
Amsterdam
 
Munich
 
Zürich
 
Tbilisi
 
İzmir
 
Tampere
 
Leipzig
 
Dublin
 
Belfast
 
Rennes
 
Laax
 
Valencia
 
Hamburg
 
Yerevan
 
Rotterdam
 
Vilnius
 
Brno
 
Trondheim
 
Novi Sad
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International sessions

Future sessions will include:

  • 100th International Session in Istanbul, Turkey, Spring 2024
  • 101st International Session in Thessaloniki, Greece, Summer 2024
  • 102nd International Session in The Hague, The Netherlands, Spring 2025
  • 103rd International Session in Málaga, Spain, Autumn 2025

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "European Youth Parliament / European Youth Parliament". European Youth Parliament. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  2. ^ "Introduction | Amsterdam 2012 - European Youth Parliament (EYP)". Amsterdam2012.eu. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  3. ^ "EYP Governing body / European Youth Parliament". European Youth Parliament. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  4. ^ [1] Archived May 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine

External links edit

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