Schools and universities are key players in building a feeling of belonging
to the democratic processes and in strengthening democracy in the European
Union.
The academic world plays a crucial role in educating and forming future
decision-makers, as well as generating the knowledge on which to build
inclusive and cohesive societies. In this context, and to deepen the
foundation for future cooperation with the European academic world, the
CoR-Universities Exchange “What Future(s) for European Democracy” event
held on January 28, aimed at creating a deeper link between the
Conference of the Future of Europe (COFE) and the Future of European
democracy.
Representing the CoR, its President and Governor of Central Macedonia,
Apostolos Tzitzikostas, stressed that
“European universities have a central role to play in fostering
inclusiveness, promoting Europe's common values and transnational
debate, supporting respect, evidence-based decision making and
critical thinking”,
and cited the example of the region of Central Macedonia, where five
major universities and 150.000 students and academics made a crucial
contribution to building resilience from the bottom up.
“European democracy is democracy at EU, national and sub-national
levels, and should be analysed through both its inputs and outputs:
the inputs being related to how people participate in decision
making, the outputs being the results of EU policies”, said
Herman van Rompuy, President emeritus of the European Council and chair of the CoR
High-Level Group on European Democracy, during the CoR-Universities
exchange that also allowed building connections between the CoR
High-Level Group on European Democracy and Aurora, the European
University Association, the European University Institute, and UNA Europa – an alliance of nine European universities.
But students and future generations cannot take part in European
democracy if there is no inclusion in the Future of Europe. A workshop
prepared by students at the UNA Europa university network was a clear
example of how younger generations can be part of decision making by
collecting their proposals and ideas for the Conference on the Future
of Europe (COFE). The
‘Students’ input for the Future of Europe’
workshop held on February 18, was an occasion to share not only the
input from the several student groups of the UNA Europa network, but it
was also an occasion to exchange ideas with the CoR Young Elected Politicians (YEP’s). This virtual workshop helped the students prepare
the 2-pages document
‘A better Europe for the youth’
with their proposals submitted to the
9th European Summit of Regions and Cities
held in Marseille last week on 3-4 March.
During the Summit, the
Marseille Manifesto of local and regional leaders
was also adopted and states that
“to win back citizens’ trust we need to renew the functioning of
democracy and European values through education and citizenship, in
particular within young people and in cross-border regions while
promoting the respect of equal opportunities”. The Manifesto also aims at ensuring that citizens receive feedback on
their ideas and concerns, especially involving young people in the
impact and outreach of the Conference on the Future of Europe (COFE).
Finally, it is essential to continue a joint work between the CoR and
the academic world to enhance the voice of younger generations in
building a democratic Europe. The future of Europe’s regions and cities
cannot be a fair and bright one without youth participation, and events
like these show a clear image that more voices – young voices – want
and need to be heard. Their future is directly linked to active and
inclusive participation where all ideas are considered to contribute to
a better Europe.
Background
UNA Europa is an alliance of nine
European research universities
which aim at creating a truly European inter-university environment, a
University of the Future.
Every two years, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) holds the
European Summit of Regions and Cities. These summits bring elected
representatives from regional and local authorities together to discuss the
main challenges facing the European Union. The 9th European Summit of
Regions and Cities was held in Marseille on March 3rd and 4th, as part of
the French Presidency of the EU. This time, the Summit aimed at increasing
the impact and outreach of the Conference on the Future of Europe. It
invited citizens and their elected representatives to help design a more
resilient, cohesive, and democratic European Union.