Getting your ideas off the ground!

During the Conference on the Future of Europe’s youth consultations in 2021, over 1 500 proposals from young people were collected at youthideas.eu, and even more have been shared on futureu.europa.eu. The European Youth Event 2021, which took place in Strasbourg in October, marked an important milestone in this process of collecting ideas. It was organised as part of the Conference on the Future of Europe, and its result was the Youth Ideas Report. This report contains the 20 most impactful ideas developed by young people at the event and puts them in front of decision-makers. There’s no doubt that Europe’s younger generation is eager to shape the future!

So, we’d collected the ideas. But what happened next?

• Right after the EYE, the Youth Ideas Report was presented to the Conference Plenary and discussed with Members of the European Parliament (check out EYE Online).
• The ideas were then discussed in more in detail in the European Parliament, with debates on topics like democracy and values, education, multilingualism and the economy.
• And we didn’t stop there. These ideas have been highlighted and discussed by other members of the Conference in their debates and have gained traction in the different groups involved/sessions at the Conference.

Still not sure about sharing your ideas for the future of Europe with us? Perhaps some thoughts from the Youth Ideas Report editorial team – young people who have been analysing all the submitted suggestions – will change your mind:

‘Coming up with new ideas, proposals and solutions is step one. We must debate and discuss these ideas with our leaders and politicians at citizens’ panels, debates and consultations. So too must our European leaders be held to account and tasked with delivering these ideas in policy circles. The real work has yet to begin.’ - Niamh, Chief Editor of the Youth Ideas Report

‘Formulating policy ideas for a better future can be quite abstract: therefore, it’s now all the more important that we young people ourselves bring our ideas to policy-makers and discuss with them directly how they can be implemented.’ - Marie, Chief Editor of the Youth Ideas Report

It’s important to have centralised processes to share and follow up on ideas at European level. But don’t underestimate the impact you can have on your community by fighting for what you believe in! You can do a lot in your local area and in your country. The changes that affect your life the most are often those done where you live, in your community.