The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas and the Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emile Boc exchanged views with citizens in the aftermath of the Conference on the future of Europe.
The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Apostolos Tzitzikostas, and the Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc, exchanged views today with young people in Cluj-Napoca on Europe's future and on the role youth can play in the democratic process at EU, national and regional/local level.
The local dialogue
"
Europe unfolds in Transylvania: Building on democracy, education and youth – What's next after the CoFE " took place as a follow up to the Conference on the Future of Europe and is the 4th EU-local dialogue hosted in Cluj-Napoca.
Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă
said: "
The future of European Union is written today, in Cluj-Napoca, by
creative and enthusiastic young people and by the strong pro-European
spirit of the Romanians. I am honored to participate in the debate on
the future of Europe with young Romanians, the President of the CoR
Apostolos Tzitzikostas and the Mayor of Cluj-Napoca Emil Boc. In these
difficult times, the involvement of the young generation is essential
for the functioning of democracy and the identification of answers that
concern education, future of technology and jobs".
Apostolos Tzitzikostas
, President of the CoR and Governor of the Greek region of Central
Macedonia, said: "
I thank Prime Minister Ciucă and Mayor Boc for the warm welcome I
received in Romania and applaud the people I met at today's local
dialogue with young people in Cluj-Napoca for their participation and
enthusiasm. It is crucial that we continue the debate on the future of
Europe beyond the Conference. Thanks to our Committee, the COFE
conclusions include very concrete initiatives, like the EU Youth
Councils, the EU local Councilors and the EU Houses of democracy, that
can help bringing Europe closer to people. We must work for their swift
implementation.''
Mayor of Cluj-Napoca Emil Boc commented:
"Beyond our official qualities, we are here today among friends, in
Cluj-Napoca and we are in a privileged context to be able to debate, in
a climate of peace and quietness on the importance of democracy,
education and youth. Let's not forget that 400 km from us arms are
being fired and people are dying. We are talking about democracy, about
young people, about education, all topics dear to us, here, in Cluj."
Earlier in the day, President Tzitzikostas, Mayor Boc and Mariya Gabriel,
European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and
Youth, met with key regional actors from politics, the innovation sector
and academia to pay tribute to the Transylvania region and its "Cluj Way",
Cluj-Napoca being highly regarded as a city that combines knowledge economy
and citizens' participation. They opened the
InnoWave Summit
Cluj, one of the most important high-tech and innovation focused
conferences in Southeast Europe. Further events took place in the
Regional Center for Creative Industries. They launched the conference
"Youth friendly city:
Europe goes local
"– a European cooperation project on youth work and the establishment of a
Network of former European Youth Capitals. In the framework of the CoR
initiative
''EU Green Deal going local''
and as a follow up to the EU's promise to plant 3 billion trees they
planted trees in the Education Park.
The local dialogue "
Europe unfolds in Transylvania: Building on democracy, education and
youth – What's next after the CoFE
" took place as a follow up to the Conference on the Future of Europe and
can be watched
here.
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Contact:
PresseCdR@cor.europa.eu