AER European Citizens' Forum 2008

AER European Citizens’ Forum took place in Gävle, Gävleborg in Sweden on 12th May 2008. The topic of the meeting was: “An EU day on democracy, developing countries, health, culture meetings, environment, work and studies”.

70 young students from Västerberg Folk High School participated in the European Forum. The idea of this Forum was to have six discussion groups with 10-15 students and politicians with six different themes that engage young people. They had a chance to discuss with the regional and European policymakers. The aim was to raise their knowledge concerning the European important questions such as democracy, European external relations, health, migration environment and climate, European free movement.

Among the invited guests, the student met members of the European Parliament: Mr Jens Holm, Mr Olle Schmidt, Mrs Inger Schörling (former MEP), as well as national and local policy makers: Mrs Ulrika Karlsson, Mrs Bodil Ceballos (Members of Swedish Parliament), Mr Sten-Erik Nilsson (County Council of Gävleborg), There will be also Mrs Gun Lundberg and Mrs Malin Johansson from the Europe Direct Gävleborg.

On 12th June 2008, the citizens from Dolnoslaskie Region got to know more about the Treaty of Lisbon during the Citizens' Forum. The topic of the meeting was: „What does the Treaty of Lisbon change for citizens?”. 30 citizens met academic experts on Europe as well as some policymakers from AER member regions. Together they discuss why does Europe need the Lisbon Treaty and if this Treaty would change the daily life of European citizens.

European Citizen’s Forum in Banjaluka offered the possibility to discuss and think about the Europe and the benefits the membership in the European Union brings. The idea was to bring together the citizens, young people, politicians and professionals from the EU and from the region, who are experts for the European issues. The first part of the Forum had a form of a lecture about the advantages the membership and preparations for the membership would bring to the Republika Srpska and BiH (which nowadays is the EU potential candidate country). The second part of the Forum was envisaged as a debate and discussion between the guest speakers and participants because the aim of the European Citizen’s Forum is to engage the citizens, local decision makers and young politicians into the discussion about the future of Europe and place of Republika Srpska in it, with the representatives of the EU and the local experts on the European matters. The aim of Forum was not propaganda but to gave the citizens a genuine possibility to listen and to ask their own politicians about developments on the way to the EU and other questions that will help them understand better the role of the EU for the region they live in.  

The Forum in Banjaluka was organized by the AER, Unit for the European Integration of the RS Prime Minister‘s Office and Committee for the European Integration of the RS National Assembly.

The County Council of Heves organised the AER Citizens' Forum in Eger on 2nd October 2008. The topic of the meeting was "How does Europe invest in the Young People?" and young people expressed what Europe means for them. They had an opportunity to exchange their views with regional policymakers, European representatives such as the Head of the Representation of European Commission from Hungary and Member of the European Parliament as well as with the representatives of European associations: AER, Regional Centre of Mobilitas National Agency.

AER together with the Region Ile-de-France organised the Citizens’ Forum on the topic: Challenges linked to the European elections 2009. The objective of the Forum was to discuss the importance of the coming European elections for youth and to present the elections to the young people who would have a chance to discuss with European representatives.

The AER Citizens´ Forum in Västra Götaland took place on November 28th. The topic of the meeting was “The future of Europe” and participants discussed the topics such as environment, the EU and democracy, the EU as a global actor, the EU in Sweden and Europe for youth. The Region used the model  of dialogue called “demokratitorg" which means democracy market. They have engaged the organisation promoting the "Democracy Markets" concept and the association of local authorities of the Göteborg area, "GR". The idea of this market was to get a true dialogue between pupils, the citizens, and the politicians - and to avoid "one way communication". All young participants and guests were divided into 5 discussion groups in order to have a direct access to European experts who could answer to all questions and listen to the opinion of young people.

The Region invited regional politicians that were engaged in European politics, MEPs, national EU-minister, and Swidish commissioner Margot Wallström. There were 170 youths from entire Region, half of them came for a full day event in a lycée in Mölndal, a neighbouring town of Göteborg.