EYE 2023
A Journey in raising awareness on the upcoming European Elections
The European Students’ Union had the honour of being granted by the Directorate General for Communication of the European Parliament for the action entitled “Be an MEP for one day” with one year duration in 2023.
The main activity took place during the European Youth Event organised by the European Parliament in the EYE Village in Strasbourg in June 2023.
ESU wanted to raise awareness among young people about the elections, their role as European citizens, and to boost consciousness about the functioning of the European Parliament, its importance, and why their voices in the election matter. To that end, “Be an MEP for one day” was an interactive activity that aimed to raise awareness among young people about the functioning and importance of the European Parliament, as well as to familiarise them with the upcoming European elections in 2024.
The concept behind the activity was to increase young people’s understanding of the European Parliament, its significance, and the relevance of their participation in elections. Likewise, it was about delivering information about European elections and the responsibilities of elected representatives through the insights of multiple MEPs.
To achieve this goal, we encouraged our participants to give their first insights into the democratic debate of our simulation of the plenary session of the European Parliament. During this learning process, we ensured young people worked in groups and shared intercultural communication by grouping them into political groups to reflect together on the ideology and different narratives of the political parties, to then build their own speech.
During the EUE2023, our activity was covered by the influencers Karim Hallal Peche (@elviejoccontinente) and Madelaina Kay (@madelainakay), to whom we thank very much for their professional work. See some of their work here: Karim Hallal and Madaleina Kay.
But.. was it all? No!
After our successful workshop in June, we gave the opportunity to four youngsters to develop their own awareness campaign on the upcoming European Elections.
Nina Palermo organised the Festival of youth participation in the European elections, a small workshop on the European Elections, jazz concert on the anthem of the European Union, and painting the first bench of Livorno with the flag of the European Union in Livorno (Italy). Check the event here.
Samuel Vallade organised Students’ Perspectives on European Society, in order to raise students’ voices and promote their interest towards the European Parliament elections of 2024 in four Finnish Universities. A multi-event structure in four local student assemblies in four Finnish higher education institutions were to be followed by a shared moment to merge the conclusions of each event in a single, a final resolution.
Lucian Cismaru organised YOUth Vote ‘24, to raise awareness amongst students about the role of these institutions in our daily lives, how we can influence policy, and why youth needs to go out and vote, expressing their opinions in Bucharest (Romania). A first training of trainers was addressed to the representatives of the County Student’s Councils all around Romania, followed by a big conference.
João Bras organised Equality Here Now to raise awareness of the lack of non-formal education(NFE) at schools, developing citizenship competencies, and talking about the EU. He and his team taught around 500 youngsters in rural areas in Portugal in partnership with Europe Direct AML.
We can only say thank you to all participants, to our grantees, and to the European Parliament for making this possible.
