Youth for European unity

Twelve youth members from Connecting European Youth Malta (CEY-Malta) recently left for Slovakia on a European exchange, which has surely left an imprint on them, since the project was an insight into the beauty of European integration.

CEY-Malta is a locally-based non-profit youth organisation which seeks to instil within its members a greater sense of European identity and citizenship while at the same time promoting Maltese culture. All this is envisaged in different activities that CEY-Malta organises, such as youth exchanges and seminars, cultural and fund-raising activities, street actions and more.

"Youth for European Unity", a nine-day multilateral youth ex-change in Sabinov, Slovakia, involved five EU member states - Slovakia, Slovenia, Scotland (UK), Poland and Malta.

The main themes of this exchange were youth involvement and European awareness. This meant that our stay in Slovakia was characterised by fruitful discussions on the need for greater participation by European youth in shaping their future within the Union.

We debated various topical issues which centred around how, as the future leading players of Europe, youth can exploit the opportunities available to them - to pave the way to a responsible generation of European citizens who realise the importance of ever promoting a European identity together with European integration among current and prospective member states.

This is one of the main challenges Europe is facing today and this is what further motivates me to organise such projects to instil within the youth of Swieqi the European dream and the hard work involved in turning it into a reality.

Another highly beneficial aspect which was highlighted during our stay was how five cultures, unknown to the other groups, managed to live together and work towards one aim despite the differences in traditions, norms and ways of life.

I was personally invited as councillor, along with my Maltese delegation, for a meeting with the mayor of Sabinov, who greeted us warmly and expressed his satisfaction at seeing young people show such interest and involvement in European projects.

We also discussed possible future relations between our local respective councils.

To ensure that no opportunity goes to waste, I delegated with the mayor in turn managed to land CEY-Malta two projects under the Grundtvig II framework - highly constructive and educational plans for participants with themes focusing on local arts as well as youth and the economy.

We were fascinated and im-pressed by how the council of Sabinov works and is determined to develop and use funds which the EU offers. I discussed this in detail with the mayor. The mayor also invited me to lead a delegation to Slovakia for further constructive debate about "Youth and Europe" in Presov, the third largest city in Slovakia, in June.

The Slovak group planned an interesting excursion programme for us. We visited Mount Tetras, the highest point in Slovakia, where we indulged in various skiing activities and enjoyed the remarkable scenery. Another interesting visit was to Bethlehem, a wooden crib representing Slovakia as a country within the setting of the night on which Christ was born.

I look back on such an experience with a sense of joy and fulfillment. Through participation in such projects, we manage to build a bond among European youth, which serves to unify future generations within the Union, thus promising a bright future.

Those interested in participating in such activities can contact CEY-Malta by e-mailing ceymalta@ gmail.com.