• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Expedition EUROPE Young people’s views on tomorrow’s Europe. Deze publicatie is ook beschikbaar in het Nederlands. Cette publication est également disponible en français. Diese Veröffentlichung ist auch in Deutsch erhältlich. Contents Preface 4 Introduction 5 Objectives and an account 6 Viewpoints 6 How the European Union works 14 6 Enlargement of the European Union 22 6 Key values within the European model 28 6 The future of Europe 36 Panel that selected the young Belgians 43 The young people and their mentors 44 The Prince Philippe Fund 52 Preface I am both honoured and grateful to be able to present to you, on behalf of the Board of Governors of the Prince Philippe Fund, this report on Expedition Europe. Expedition Europe has been a fascinating experience for the many people who took part in it. Over a peri- Mr Philippe Busquin, European Commissioner, who od of several months, young people debated, devel- were present to introduce and stimulate the debate; oped ideas and gave their creativity free rein. In this and Baron de Schoutheete de Tervarent, Baron and report you can read a polished version of these bright Baroness Snoy, Belgacom, the National Bank of plans for the future. Belgium, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ryckevelde Foundation and the Belgian Armed In response to the call from the heads of state and Forces, who provided the necessary guidance and government at the summit in Nice, a group of 100 logistical support. young Belgians developed a vision of the Europe of tomorrow. They then sent it to the other 14 European Above all, the Board of Governors would like to Member States, where others of the same age dis- express its gratitude to HRH Prince Philippe, who cussed and analysed the texts, amending them where guided the process and was present at all the events. necessary. His interest and his valuable contributions were extremely helpful in bringing about the young peo- For the great event at the end of the project, two ple’s vision of the Europe of tomorrow. young people from each EU Member State came to Brussels for an exchange of ideas with their Belgian Now let us all work together to give Europe the ener- friends. The fruit of all these discussions can also be gy and commitment it deserves, so that we can be found on the following pages. completely free, within a European democracy built on sound values, to continue our work to create the This exciting process was only possible thanks to the prosperity underpinning the happiness of so many commitment and support of many people, including: European citizens. Mr Louis Michel, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr Jean-Luc Dehaene, former Prime Minister; Mr Karel Baron Paul Buysse Van Miert, former European Commissioner; and Chairman of the Prince Philippe Fund 4 Introduction In early 2001, the Prince Philippe Fund launched an awareness-raising campaign with a view to record- ing the expectations and suggestions of young people in Belgium regarding the new Europe. The initiative was dubbed ‘Expedition Europe’ and brought together a hundred young people from Belgium’s three Communities to ponder a number of topics relating to Europe as it is today and as it might look tomorrow. In the presence of HRH Prince Philippe, and under the guidance of a num- ber of senior Belgian politicians with international experience – Karel Van Miert, Jean-Luc Dehaene, Louis Michel and Philippe Busquin – they formulat- ed their viewpoints. In the following months, they then tested these views on young people from the other Member States of the European Union. This publication is a record of the whole project, and represents its concluding element. It will be pre- in the European model, and expectations about the sented by HRH Prince Philippe to the Prime Europe of the future. After each series of view- Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, to bring along with him points, you will also find the conclusions that to the European Council meeting in Laeken on emerged from a discussion held on 13 and 15 December 2001. 14 October 2001 between the young Belgians and young people from other European Member States. In what follows, we first present the objectives of Finally, you will find a presentation of the panel Expedition Europe and give a detailed account of that selected the young Belgians, and the names of the project. This is followed by the young people’s all the participants and those who guided the dis- viewpoints. They are arranged according to the four cussions. topics the young people considered: how Europe works, the enlargement of Europe, the key values 5 Objectives and an account about European society and the roles that young people regard as reserved for themselves and others. How it all began The project has been run in the context of Belgium’s presidency of the European Union from Recent surveys have shown that one in three young 1 July to 31 December 2001. The Belgian presidency’s people regard the European treaties as the basis for programme includes a wide range of initiatives. the Europe of the future, on condition that there is These are connected with the decisions and recom- also daily interaction mendations that have between Europe’s citi- emerged from the past zens and societies. This summits in Lisbon and is why it is crucial that Nice. Among other areas, young people, too, these relate to the active should be given the welfare state in Europe, opportunity to express the enlargement of the their opinions and take Union to include new an active part in the for- Member States, the mation of European workings of the thinking – in other European institutions words, that they should and the future of join in building a new Europe. One of the big and lasting European society. priorities for the years ahead is to develop better communication between those who make the deci- In order to record the expectations and suggestions sions in Europe and the different elements of the of young people in Belgium regarding the new population of Europe. Europe, the Prince Philippe Fund initiated an aware- ness-raising project in spring 2001. The idea behind The task that falls to Belgium during its presidency Expedition Europe was to bring together young thus goes beyond ensuring the smooth running of people from Belgium’s three Communities to pon- affairs within the Union. Our country must help lend der a number of topics relating to Europe as it is substance to a Europe that delivers positive added today and as it might look tomorrow. The ultimate value to its citizens. The people of Belgium, in all goal was to arrive at a synthesis of their thinking their diversity, can act as a catalyst in this process. 6 This approach ties in closely with the role of the Prince Philippe Fund, which is to bring the Communities of Belgium into contact with one another and enable them to discover one another’s individuality. Given that young people are the future of Europe, this specifically young people’s initiative has a special contribution to make, a con- tribution that supplements the other initiatives in Belgium’s programme for its European presidency in important ways. From the very outset of Expedition Europe, it was decided to work around topics that are closely con- nected with the subjects on the agenda for the European Council at Laeken. A number of aspects were selected and grouped under four headings. Each of the young people who applied to take part in Expedition Europe chose one of these topics to work on. The launch The main elements of the campaign consisted Expedition Europe was launched at a well-attended of a colourful logo (shown on the cover of this press conference on Monday, 12 March at the Royal publication), an advertisement, the website Palace in Brussels, attended by high-ranking per- www.expeditioneurope.be and a leaflet in Belgium’s sons including HRH Prince Philippe, Prime Minister three languages which was printed in 22,000 Guy Verhofstadt and Romano Prodi, President of copies. Together with the leaflets, forms were also the European Commission. At the press conference, distributed which young people could use to apply. the project itself was presented, together with the The advertisement was published in two weekend advertising campaign that would be used to editions of a number of national newspapers, and encourage young Belgians to promote their views. called on young people to visit the website. 7 Initially, the website had more or less the same Thursday 12 and Friday 13 April 2001 at the head- contents as the leaflet: the background and pur- quarters of the King Baudouin Foundation. The list pose of Expedition Europe was explained, the four of panel members is given at the back of this pub- topics were presented together with the various lication. The panel’s task was to select a maximum phases the project would go through, and the nec- of 100 young people to participate in Expedition essary explanations were given regarding the appli- Europe on the basis of the interviews. They applied cation and selection procedure. The application the following criteria: motivation and engagement, forms could also be downloaded from the website. knowledge about Europe, interest in the chosen In time, however, the website was to evolve into a topic and knowledge of the languages of the other fully-fledged communication platform for young Communities. An attempt was also made to arrive people, with four separate forums on which they at an evenly balanced group on the basis of gen- could share their opinions and reactions with one der, educational level and representation of another.

Load more

  56

Copy Link