Our Activities

What Makes an EYP Session

To participate in EYP activities means to acquire unique experience and to understand democracy, its functional structure, decision-making processes and debate culture. EYP sessions offer excellent opportunities for young people to share opinions and establish friendly relationships, which trespass all borders, nationalities and religions. Thus, EYP promotes the development of the common European identity and encourages youth to develop their vision of the European future.

The first word to be associated with EYP is 'sessions', which refers to EYP meetings. So, the Parliament meets for sessions. Sessions are always organised in the following way:

During the session the participants form international groups based on criteria helping to ensure maximum diversity of age, gender and nationality, to work on pertinent political, social or cultural issues. During Team-Building, all the participants get to know each other better through certain methodology of interactive games. The main idea behind team-building is to create a team of people who would then be able to reach consensus on issues that are being discussed, feel comfortable in diverse group settings during the committee work. The result of the Committee Work is a resolution formatted according to the European Parliament standards in English, which includes the ideas and decisions discussed and accepted by the group. This resolution is then presented, debated and voted on at a General Assembly of all committees. Those resolutions, which are approved at the General Assembly, are sent to European Parliament as an initiative of the European youth.

There is no role play – all participants must make their own personal voting decision based on personal views on the content of the resolution and the GA debate. The resolution document is, in effect, a policy document. Such exercises provide an understanding and experience of research and informed policy making, writing of manifestos, voter decision making, as well as public speaking and open debate participation.

Except for the committee work, the participants are able to present their national culture at Euro-Concert and Euro-Village. Euro-Village is not only a performance, but also a really unique celebration of cultural and geographic variety of Europe.

The future of Europe depends on nurturing and increasing the comprehension of values, which are decisive for existence of the mankind. It demands understanding of how Europe lives, how the European social, political and economic structures work and how they can benefit from mutual cooperation and partnership. In EYP young generation plays the most important role, as it is preparing to shape the future of Europe. The importance of European Youth Parliament lies in its ability to engage young people in the discussion of the complex issues pertaining to the European enlargement and to trigger young people’s interest in European issues in general.

The International Sessions of the European Youth Parliament regularly enjoy the presence of European Commissioners, European parliamentarians, representatives of the Council of Europe and senior representatives of national governments. In the past, the following dignitaries, among others, have attended International Sessions of the European Youth Parliament and engaged in discussions with the young people: Josep Borrell Fontelles, President of the European Parliament, Jacques Barrot, Vice President of the European Commission, Jan Figel, Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism, Laszlo Kovacs, Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Dr. Ralf-Rene Weingaertner, Director for Youth and Sport at the Council of Europe, and many more.