Founded 1987 Type Educational Charity Location Berlin, Germany | Founder Bettina Carr-Allinson Focus Internationalism Origins Fontainebleau, France | |
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The European Youth Parliament is a politically unbound non-profit organisation, which encourages European youth to actively engage in citizenship and cultural understanding. It involves 40,000 youngsters from all around Europe in its events and has around 5,000 active members in the different countries. It was established in 1987 in Fontainebleau, France.
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History
The European Youth Parliament was founded by Bettina Carr-Allinson, initially as a school project at the Lycée François-Ier in Fontainebleau, to the south of Paris. It is there that three of the first four International Sessions were held, starting in 1988, about a year after the idea took place.
It then developed steadily for a few years until it moved to Witney, Oxfordshire, in 1991, and was legally recognised as the European Youth Parliament International Ltd., a subsidiary of a charity created in 1992 for this purpose, the Fontainebleau Youth Foundation. The organisation experienced an enduring growth for the next ten years, its network counting an increasing number of National Committees and its activities becoming both larger and more numerous. The National Committees stretch beyond the scope of countries within the European Union and try to encompass all European countries.
In the years 2001 to 2004, the EYP encountered various problems of financial nature. On November 4, 2004, however, the European Youth Parliament was reborn due to a mutual agreement between representatives of EYP's Board of National Committees, alumni and the Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation. The EYP's status since then has been a programme of the Schwarzkopf-Stiftung Junges Europa, and is hosted in Berlin, Germany.
The actual activities of the EYP never faltered during this period.
Since 2004, the EYP has introduced several reforms to introduce more transparency in its institutions and further enlarged its activities.
Management
At the international level, the EYP is governed by an international board, the Governing Body. The Governing Body has six members elected by the National Committees and by the alumni of past sessions. A representative of the Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation is also a member. The board is largely responsible for the quality assurance of the International Sessions but also takes responsibility for the overall direction of the organisation and the long-term sustainability and protection of the organisation. The day-to-day business of the organisation is administered by a hired manager at the International Office in Berlin. Philipp J. Scharff was the manager from 2004 until 2008, Jan Phillip Beck (DE) from 2008 until 2011 and Ville Vasaramäki (FI) from 2011 until 2013. Krista Lagus (FI) has been the Executive Director of the EYP since 2013. Since 30 January 2017, Krista Lagus is on maternity leave. Lukas Fendel (DE) is taking on the role of Executive Director for the time of her leave.
At the national level, the National Committees are free to choose how to manage themselves, though the form of management must comply with basic democratic principles. It is the responsibility of the National Committees to organise and fund their own national sessions (more about them below). International Sessions can receive limited funding from EYP at the international level but are largely responsible for their economy as well. Sessions are usually funded through sponsorship from various organisations or corporations. Each session must be economically independent.
National Committees
National Committees (NC) of EYP can be found in:
Sessions
EYP organises three international nine-day sessions each year. They are organised in different countries and all European countries are invited to join, not just members of the EU. Each country's national committee selects a delegation to participate in each session, the size of the delegation depends on the country and how long time its National Committee has been part of EYP. The delegations are then spread out in different committees, each committee with a particular topic. This ensures a maximised cultural diversity in the committee and serves as a strong incentive to socialise and make friends with people from the committee.
Each international session starts with of a two-day Teambuilding part, in which delegates get acquainted with each other and start improving the group dynamics of the committee. The delegates play different games which are meant to bring the delegates from an initial shyness stage to a comfortable, open atmosphere optimal for efficient Committee work.
This is followed by four or five days for Committee Work. During this time the delegates discuss a problematic topic on current European political matters and write a resolution on how to deal with the issue. A member of the European Parliament or some alternative expert will generally visit once to answer questions and quickly discuss the topic with the Committee.
The sessions end with a General Assembly, in which the committee resolutions are looked through, altered and approved (or if the resolution is found unacceptable, not approved). If a resolution is approved it is sent on to the European Parliament, for the consideration of MEPs. General Assembly is usually held in some honorary or prestigious location, such as the host country's Houses of Parliament or the main hall of the City Council.
Additionally National Committees of EYP organise several national and regional sessions every year. National sessions are to select a delegation for one of the upcoming international sessions. These sessions are shorter, lasting normally three days and do not invite a member of the European Parliament to the committees. Regional sessions are of varying length, from 3 to 7 or 8 days, and in essence imitate international sessions. They have, however, a more constrained budget and tend to be less formal than international sessions. For both national and regional sessions, resolutions are not sent on to the European Parliament.
As of Spring 2017, 83 international EYP sessions have taken place:
Future sessions will include: