The European Youth Parliament

year 2000:
32nd session: 6th-16th April, Athens
33th session: 14th-23th July, Bern
34th session: 2th-12th November, Dublin

Objectives: The main objective of the EYP is to promote the European dimension in education and to give students in the 16-22 age group the opportunity to participate in a practical, positive learning experience.The EYP aims to provide an educational project which is suited to the special needs of future European citizens who have to be aware of the thoughts and characteristics of other nations, respect their differences, learn to work together, master two or three languages and understand the causes of international conflict.

The EYP constitutes a forum in which the young people of Europe can express their own opinions, without any political connotations and without reverting to role play. Students are encouraged to take an interest in current affairs and the democratic process, practise independent thinking and take personal initiatives.

Sessions: The EYP organises 2 or 3 international 9-day sessions a year, which are held each time in a different European country and involve the EU-member states as well as a minimum of 4 observer-countries, bringing 250-300 pupils/students and teachers/tutors from different nationalities.

Programme: The session programme is divided in two parts :
Teambuilding : one or two days of communication exercises with qualified instructors from 9 different countries to allow progressive constitution of a homogenous group.
Parliamentary session : three days discussion in committees, respecting parliamentary procedure, to reach a consensus opinion on one resolution. The resulting resolutions are debated and voted on during a two-day General Assembly. Adopted resolutions are presented to the European Parliament.

Conditions for participation: The EYP is open to all secondary schools in the European Community. Headmasters have to agree to provide a delegation of 12 students from the last 2 years of secondary education accompanied by a teacher and allow the teacher time to prepare the delegation on 12 different European topics (politics, education, human rights, economy, agriculture, etc...). Working languages are English and French.

Delegations are selected during a national EYP event where students show their knowledge of the issue they have studied, their motivation, open-mindness, communication skills, ability to co-operate and language attainment. A national jury decides every year on the two teams which will represent the country at the international EYP sessions.

For additional information refer to the conference web-site, where you can also fill in the on-line application form.
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