9th November 2012, Brussels
by AEGEE-Europe / European Students’ Forum

AEGEE-Europe (European Students’ Forum), represented by President Luis Alvarado Martínez, presented its new project ‘Europe on Track’ during a press conference that took place in the morning on 8th November in the European Parliament. Within the framework of this project, in the months of November and December, six young ambassadors from various countries will travel the European continent in order to capture and document the wishes of young people for the year 2020. As the outcome of the project, these opinions will be compiled to create concrete recommendation for policy makers in the youth field.

Supporting this new initiative of the European Students’ Forum, during their speeches, MEP Eider Gardiazabal and MEP Salvador Sedó pointed out the importance of a project made by youth with the purpose of discovering youth point of views and expectations about issues such as mobility, employment or coexistence inside the European Union. Réka Salamon, Coordinator of ‘Europe on Track’, explained that this venture shows one of the main aims of AEGEE, providing a space for young European citizens to discuss the topic of the future of Europe, so that they can shape the direction where society is going. The six ambassadors will visit several countries and cities, both inside and beyond the European Union, with the mission of reinforcing the European feeling of integration. The main topics that will be tackled through local events like debates and conferences, are youth participation, sustainability and entrepreneurship.

The task of the ambassadors will be to talk, film, shoot and exchange with young locals, in order to increase the amount of information available about the worries and wishes of youth concerning the future. During this month of travels, as Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe Lucille Rieux explained, the ambassadors will be divided in two teams of three members, each focused on channeling the gathered information through the use of social media. In order to promote sustainability, participants will be travelling by train, made possible with the support of AEGEE-Europe’s partner, Interrail.

MEP Amelia Andersdotter, the host of the press conference, MEPs Marian Harkin and Katarina Nevedalova also expressed their support for the initiative, by sending messages and video messages presented at the event.

AEGEE-Europe invites everyone to follow the upcoming events of ‘Europe on track’ on the website (www.aegee.org/europeontrack, Facebook page (www.facebook.com/EuropeOnTrack, and Twitter page (www.twitter.com/EuropeOnTrack) of the project.

 
About AEGEE-Europe

AEGEE was born 27 years ago with the vision of creating a unified Europe, based on democracy and respect for human rights, bringing together students with different cultural backgrounds. Today, AEGEE is Europe’s largest interdisciplinary youth organisation: 40 countries, 200 cities, 13 000 friends. This network provides the ideal platform for young volunteers to work together on cross-border activities such as international conferences, seminars, exchanges, training courses and case study trips. In line with the challenges young people are currently facing in Europe, AEGEE’s work for the period of 2011-2014 is focused on three main areas: Youth Participation, Bridging Europe and Inclusion of Minorities.

 
About ‘Europe on Track’

The ‘Europe on Track’ project was launched to advocate for a better future for European youth, and to capture young people’s vision of the Europe by the end of 2020. The main topic of the project is “The Europe I want for the future”, involving young people around the continent in discussing the current situation and their own prospects. At a time when the idea of European integration is being questioned, and young people’s future prospects have become hazy, AEGEE considers it fundamental to give voice to the young generation, in order to take their opinion, their realities and their wishes into account. In the framework of this initiative, six young Europeans travel the continent by train at the end of 2012, and in the course of one month, gather young people’s opinions on these topics, through photography, videos and interviews.

 
Contact

If you would like more information about AEGEE, or the Europe on Track project, please contact:

Pavel Zborník

European Institutions and Communications Director of AEGEE-Europe

Phone: +32 2 246 0320

Mobile: +32 487 410 060

E-mail: pavel.zbornik@aegee.org

www.aegee.org/press/press-releases