Y Vote 2009 - European Youth Choice
Y Vote 2009 - European Youth Choice is Europe’s largest youth platform calling for young people to take stands on the most important social issues of Europe, youth participation in electoral process and representative democracy.
AEGEE‐Europe’s campaign encourages and empowers young Europeans to make informed choices at the European Parliament Elections 2009.
Project activities of the 8-month campaign will include a series of small and large-scale actions, in the 27 member states of the European Union. These actions will be implemented in diverse formats and through diverse media, with local, regional, national and European dimensions. The campaign is designed to challenge political ignorance and disinterest among young Europeans by providing them with information, competences and motivation to become informed voters and – beyond that – active citizens in the political discourse of their communities and at the European scale.
Target group
• European Youth aged 18–22
Aims
Y Vote 2009 is a large scale campaign centered on youth participation in electoral process and representative democracy.
It is designed to:
- result in high turn out of young people in EP elections in 2009,
- create space for young leaders to reflect why they are involved in youth activities and what benefits it brings for the shaping of the future of Europe
- debate most important issues on the European political and social agenda,
- foster dialogue among youth activists on most important issues on the European political and social agenda and equip them to proactively and efficiently shape their own opinions and positions and influence those of decision-makers,
- introduce best practices in youth participation in democratic life and decision making processes in different environments and on different levels of democratic governance in Europe.
Tematic pillars
The project is founded on four tematic pillars:
- Youth participation in democratic governance
- Young voters and electoral politics
- Youth approach to European policies
- Representative democracy and young people in the EU.
The policy fields that were chosen for the campaign are in the spotlight of attention for young people all over Europe but also bear a strong local dimension:
- Citizenship,
- Creativity,
- Education,
- Employment,
- EU and the World,
- EU Social Model,
- Migration,
- Mobility,
- Multiculturalism,
- Regionalism.
Methods
- Conferences, to determine the opinions of the youth in Europe,
- Street Actions, oriented towards general audience,
- Campus Actions, oriented towards students,
- Arena Actions, connecting the message to sports and popular culture,
- Spotlight Actions, spreading the message towards media,
- Voice Actions, facilitating dialogue with politicians.
Patrons and supporters
European Movement International
Euractiv
46 members of the European parliament:
- Hans-Gert Pöttering, MEP,President of the European parliament
- András Gyürk, MEP
- André Brie, MEP
- Andrew Duff, MEP
- Angelika Beer, MEP
- Brian Simpson, MEP
- Christa Prets, MEP
- Claude Turmes, MEP
- Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, MEP
- Dushana Zdravkova, MEP
- Elisabetta Gardini, MEP
- Emine Bozkurt, MEP
- Eoin Ryan, MEP
- Esther de Lange, MEP
- Fabio Ciani, MEP
- Filip Kaczmarek, MEP
- Fiona Hall, MEP
- Gisela Kallenbach, MEP
- Grażyna Staniszewska, MEP
- Helga Trüpel, MEP
- Holger Krahmer, MEP
- Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, MEP
- Jacek Saryusz Wolski, MEP
- Jan Jerzy Kułakowski, MEP
- Jean Lambert, MEP
- John Attard-Montalto, MEP
- Karin Resetarits, MEP
- Klaus Hänsch, MEP
- Kurt Joachim Lauk, MEP
- Magda Kósáné Kovács, MEP
- Margaritis Schinas, MEP
- Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassitou, MEP
- Markus Ferber, MEP
- Martin Schulz, MEP
- Mathieu Grosch, MEP
- Mechild Rothe, MEP
- Michael Cramer, MEP
- Norbert Glante, MEP
- Ramona Nicole Mănescu, MEP
- Richard Corbett, MEP
- Ruth Hieronymi, MEP
- Silvana Koch-Mehrin, MEP
- Sophie in 't Veld, MEP
- Urszula Gacek, MEP
- Wolfgang Kreissl-Dörfler, MEP
- Zita Gyurmai, MEP
Past activities
- Youth Agenda 2009 Launching ConferenceVienna, September 14-21, 2008
- Y Vote on Citizenship Groningen, December 6 - 13, 2008
- Y Vote on EU and the World Poznan, January 9 - 15, 2009
- Y Vote on Multiculturalism Ljubljana, January 20 - 26, 2009
- Y Vote on Jobs and Mobility Roma, February 7 - 12, 2009
Future activities
- Y Vote on Creativity Munich, February 21 - 27, 2009
- Y Vote on Knowledge and Employment Riga, March 18 - 24, 2009
- Y Vote on Education Budapest, April 6 - 12, 2009
- Y Vote on EU Social Model Porto, April 27-May 3, 2009
- Y Vote UK Launching Festival, London, April 26 – 28, 2009
- Y Vote UK Campaign Tour, 26 cities in the UK, April 29 - May 28, 2009
- Y Vote on Migration Cologne, May 10 - 16, 2009
- Y Vote on Regionalism Sofia, May 20 – 26, 2009
- Y Vote UK Final Convention Edinburg, May 29 – June 1, 2009
- Y Vote 2009 - European Youth Choice Final Convention Cagliari, May 28 – June 1, 2009
Y Vote 2009 coordination team
- Ildikó Ferencsik, Project Coordinator and Public Relations Manager
AEGEE-Budapest
- Cezary Szczepaniuk, Financial and Administrative Manager
AEGEE-Lublin
- Veronika Braun, Communications Manager
AEGEE-Passau
- Thijs de Wolff, Formats Manager
AEGEE -Utrecht
- Dragan Stojanovski, Project Founder
AEGEE-Europe
Y Vote documents and links
Youth Agenda 2009
The document, was created based on the results of the work of the four working groups of the Viennese convention. It serves as a guideline for all upcoming Y Vote 2009 conventions, contains the opinions of young Europeans considering different important topics as well as their common values and best practice examples of youth involvement in Europe.