CfA: European Constitution debate: Youth 2002 summer event

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Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2002 13:33:17 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: CfA: European Constitution debate: Youth 2002 summer event 

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: John Petersen <[email protected]>

CfA: European Constitution debate: Youth 2002 summer event 


Brief description
Youth 2002


The contents frame

Youth 2002 is a European event for young people, which is established
to create an objective debate concerning a possible European
Constitution. It will be held in connection with Denmark taking over
the EU presidency in July 2002. A thousand young people from all over
Europe will gather at 13 Danish folk high schools to discuss a
possible future European Constitution in the light of the challenges
and possibilities, which the EU and the globalisation pose.

The purpose of Youth 2002 is to:
 
� Start a long, broad and thorough debate concerning the future EU
especially with regard to the IGC 2004 and thus contribute to the
strengthening of a common European public and permanent debate.

� Emphasise the suitability in discussing the future EU in the light
of the challenges and possibilities, which the EU and globalisation
pose.

� Show the perspectives in modern information technology in relation
to life long and life wide learning, eLearning, eContent and the
Internet as such. 

� Celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the European Parliament by
creating a Virtual European Parliament on the Internet.

� Bring the significance of the European Youth Programmes as a lever
for political debate based on knowledge and objectivity, which is the
foundation for a true democracy, into focus. 

� Underline the vital importance of people meeting and living together
across linguistic, cultural, national, social and religious
differences in order to establish a common European public and
permanent debate.

� Employ the concept of "unity in plurality" as the folk high schools'
special choreography and educational theory and practice are used
within a European framework.

The time frame

The 1000 participants of the Youth 2002 are going to meet in
Copenhagen for an opening ceremony. The Danish Youth Council together
with city authorities of Copenhagen is going to prepare a one or two
day's event as an introduction to the city and as a beginning of the
Danish EU-presidency. After arriving on Sunday June 30th participants
will be invited to the city hall of Copenhagen, where they will be
welcomed to the city and to the country. More spectacular programme
points are at the agenda. One of them is a visit in the famous and
historical amusement park "The TIVOLI Gardens" another is a visit to
the Danish Parliament.

13 folk high school schools are going to house the participants in the
next 12-13 days. It means that participants are divided and allocated
on 13 destinations in Denmark. The concept of living and learning
together is a very important part of this part of the Youth 2002
event. We expect that the informal atmosphere of the schools together
with the synergetic effect of gathering young people from all over
Europe to a common learning and project activity, in itself will be
the guarantee of success.

Even though the participants are divided into the 13 schools, they
will be able to keep in touch through the internet as well as through
framed facilities, which are going to be uploaded to the internet - at
the address www.youth2002.org within a short time.

The internet is also the guarantee for coordinated efforts done during
the folk high school stays. The aim of the debate uniting all 13
groups is to draft a proposal for a prospective future European
constitution. Thorough introductions to the political, the historical
and the ideological contexts of this project are going to be given by
invited lecturers as well as by the staffs of the schools. The
introducing sessions are going to be delivered during the first days
of the stay, which then become more and more defined by the work of
the participants themselves. Workshops, social activities,
presentations by participants as well as by staff and invited
personnel are going to characterize the stays. Each school is going to
have its own project in the project emphasising certain debates in
particular. This is why cooperation through the internet is an
important part of the schedule.

The plan is to compile the contributions of the 13 groups/schools by
the end of the event. A crystallization of the compilation is expected
to become the prospective constitution proposal of the young citizens
of Europe. We expect the proposal to be handed over to the
EU-presidency as finalizing the event -probably on July 12th.

The participants will leave Denmark on July 13th -very tired.

The exact schedules of the individual schools are not available yet.
Please follow the development of the Youth 2002 at the
www.youth2002.org

The projects in the project

The schools housing the 1000 young Europeans during the Youth 2002 all
have their own project in the project. Participants handing in their
applications are asked to choose and make priorities between the
following headlines of the 13 schools:

A Europe of Regions and Minorities
EU and the Challenge of Globalisation
EU and the Social Agenda
Europe after the Nation-state?
EU's Enlargement towards the East.
Global Ethics and the EU-integration.
Relations between the EU and the USA in a cultural and political
context.
The EU, Freedom of Speech and Core Democratic Values
The European Charter and the EU Citizenship
The Regions -Diversity and Equality in Europe
Unity and Diversity: The Regions of Europe - Europe of Regions.
Visions for the European House
Visions of a Europe for People with disabilities

The school presenting the last mentioned course is a school dedicated
in particular to the sake of disabled. Naturally, they have the
facilities for disabled persons involved in Youth 2002.

Please find the links of the schools as well as the other cooperation
partners at  www.youth2002.org In general Danish Folk High Schools are
very well placed in beautiful surroundings, with sports and other
recreational facilities at hand.

The Folk High Schools

There is about 100 Folk High Schools spread right across Denmark, most
of them in rural areas or smaller towns. Some are quite old, others
more recent. Some are large and can accommodate several hundred
students, while others have room for only 30 or so. The most important
thing about a Folk High School is not its appearance but the
atmosphere. A Folk High School is nothing in itself -neither as an
institution nor as a complex of buildings. It only acquires real
meaning when it is filled with life -in other words with students,
teachers and all the other staff. The task of the Folk High School, as
one teacher once said, is to create "a climate where culture is a
reality". Or to put it in another way: a Folk High School is only as
meaningful as the life that unfolds within it. With one single
exception, the cooperating schools in the Youth 2002 define themselves
as Folk High Schools. The exception is the IUC-Europe, which defines
itself as a Europe House, but what has been said about the Folk High
Schools counts for the IUC-Europe as well in the context of the Youth
2002 project (approximate excerpt of The Danish Folkeh�jskole, issued
by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

The folk high schools constitute the ideal framework for a discussion
concerning the future of Europe in general and about the probable
European Constitution in particular. The 1000 young people will
quickly come to feel a bond across national, linguistic, cultural and
religious differences. There is no doubt that it will be mirrored in
these young people's proposals for a European Constitution that they
have actually lived together and not just participated in traditional
instruction and education.

Participants in the Youth 2002 event will be lodged as are students
usually in Folk High Schools: double rooms mostly, which are of
different quality in the different schools. Some schools have bathroom
facilities on corridors others have individual facilities.

Multiplying effect

The Youth 2002 is a project, which will gain significance beyond the
event itself. During their stays, the young people will establish
networks that will come to play a decisive role in their future
European and political work. The extensive use of IT, which is an
important part of Youth 2002, can be used to maintain the networks and
to involve even more people in the long, broad and thorough debate,
which Europe needs.

Sign in procedure / applications

Please go to the website www.youth2002.org
Find the application form, fill it in and remember to submit it.
The deadline of the first selection is January 5th, 2002.

It is necessary to mention, that the language of the event is English.
In the selection procedure, other criteria are taken into
consideration as well. We would like the 1000 young Europeans to
constitute a group as representative for the European integration
reality as possible. This also means, that each group will consist of
participants from East, West, North, South, countryside, urban areas,
coast and continental etc.

If the website functioning doesn't work from your computer or from
your server (could happen), please fill in the enclosed form and send
it to this address:

Youth 2002 Secretariat
Brandbjergvej 12
DK-7300 Jelling


Questions are very welcome


Our very best regards,

John Petersen,
Secretariat
[email protected]
 +45 7020 1425

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