Event in school, combining awareness-raising about CoFoE + gathering students inputs about the future of Europe.
1. Removing the divide between rural and urban areas
Following the discussion among the participants of the assembly, we strongly recommend taking actions to remove the divide between the rural and the urban areas, by supporting Member States to invest in education and technology, and include the periphery in their action plans and activities in order to achieve a more holistic result.
The gap between the urban and rural areas is seen as a significant issue that MS urgently need to address, since it deeply hampers democracy, by disabling lots of people to participate as active citizens, both in the EU and in their national matters.
What is more, it is the lack of political education and its poor quality that make such a divide possible. Consequently, the EU should seriously consider education as a great, first step towards solving the rural/urban gap. In order to support the EU, the people first need to know about it.
Lastly, education comes in various shades. What we learn at school is not the only form of education that needs to be considered; local, youth activities are also part of education and come in with great results. These activities should be largely supported by the EU and its MS, in their attempt to fight against racism, discrimination and other forms of exclusion, and increase support for democracy and fundamental rights.
2. Investing in efficient communication
We recommend increasing the transparency of the EU and investing in a good communication approach, in order to better connect with all the Member States and all their areas, levels of governance and people of different backgrounds. One of the biggest issues of the EU is the inefficient communication: both internal and external. We believe that investing in efficient communication is extremely essential for the EU, and should be solved first. Issues like the democratic crisis cannot be solved by MS individually. They need to be considered in unity! This is why knowing how to communicate with one another is extremely important for the EU’s MS. More important, however, is knowing how to connect to the people living in the EU, who are its basis. Reaching out to those who do not feel included in the decision making process and who consequently see the EU as a bureaucratic and elitist party, is vital.
As such, the EU should encourage and support MS to be more transparent and communicate more with one another and their citizens, as a way to boost support for democracy. As mentioned above, we see investing in a good education with a good civic and culturally diverse curriculum as an extremely essential solution to the problem. Similarly, we also consider collaboration with local and youth organizations as an important step towards achieving this goal.
3. Respecting EU member States’ diversity as a way to remove inequalities and disparities
We recommend putting pressure on the EU and its institutions to respect the Member States’ diversity and remove inequalities and disparities. For instance, treating equally each Member State, as a way to boost support for democracy:
– Through an active mobilization of citizens (protests, assemblies, citizens panels)
– By investing and supporting formal and informal education, as a way to mobilize people to act as true citizens