Spring into Europe Day

The season of spring always connotes freshness, youth and new beginnings. Our young people are our spring - Europe's spring. Spring Day in Europe is a project which for the past three years has targeted young people in schools.

This year's Spring Day in Europe aims to stimulate interest and discussion about the future of the European Union among our students. The project has taken on a more important dimension because it will contribute to Plan D, the European Commission's exercise of general consultation with its citizens, initiated by Margot Wallström, vice-president of the European Commission and Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy.

"Spring Day in Europe is part of this much-needed debate on the future of Europe since it concerns those who will be in charge of the Union in a few years' time. They need to know that their voices are being heard," said Commissioner Wallström.

"Plan D is about debate, dialogue and listening. Faced with the challenges of globalisation, people are asking tough questions about job security and pensions, about migration and living standards. Europe must renew so it is part of the solution to those challenges. Plan D aims to inject more democracy into the Union, to stimulate a wide public debate and build a new consensus on the future direction of the European Union. Now member states must bring this process alive. My appeal today is for national governments to seize this opportunity, to kick-start the debates and to act as a motor for European change."

The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights gives everyone the right to freedom of expression. Our children are European citizens with a voice too, and they must be given the opportunity to take an active, participatory role in the European Commission's consultation process by engaging in structured dialogue with European institutions. Between March 21 and May 9 activities are being organised in schools in the European member states and acceding countries to engage young people in the discussion about the future of the European Union, as well as to empower them to exercise their universal right to freedom of speech within a democratic framework.

Of course, all rights come with responsibilities, and therefore schoolchildren are being encouraged to learn more about the EU institutions and how they work in order to make more informed and responsible choices in the future. They are also being made aware of their responsibility to show due respect to the rights and opinions of others.

In the words of Ján Figel, Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism: "Access by young people to greater information on Europe and participation in the debates on its future are essential training in citizenship."

Spring Day in Europe is an opportunity for young people to enrich their sense of belonging and to make their European citizenship more concrete by personally experiencing what European citizenship means in practice. To date, there are over 7,122 schools in Europe registered on the Spring Day website. Twenty-six of these schools are in Malta and Gozo. Maltese schools are joining thousands of schools all over Europe to discuss their vision for the future of Europe and to make their voices heard at the highest levels of the European Union.

Spring Day in Malta was officially launched by Frans Borg, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Education, Youth and Employment, and Joanna Drake, head of the European Commission Representation, at St Theresa Junior Lyceum Mriehel, on March 21, the first day of spring. On this occasion, the students were given an overview of the project and its main aims and were invited to express some of their concerns about their future in the European Union.

Schools have been urged to develop educational initiatives relating to European affairs. Through various strategies, students are being empowered to show what they are thinking about Europe, to discuss the benefits and the shortcomings of the EU and to say what kind of Europe they envisage for their future as adult decision-makers in the EU.

The Spring Day portal - www.springday2006.org - provides basic information about the project, school registration, contacts with all countries and interactive activities in the 20 official languages of the EU. Through this website, young Europeans have the opportunity to chat with Commissioners and other high-level decision-makers, including Margot Wallström and Ján Figel. Ministers for Education, representations of the European Commission, members of the European Parliament and all members of the Committee of the Regions were contacted and invited to visit schools and contribute via online tools like chats, weblogs and podcast interviews.

The importance of this project can also be evidenced by the fact that the EU Commission's website has a direct link to the Spring Day in Europe portal, and the Spring Day in Europe website has a direct link to Margot Wallström's weblog. Maltese children have joined thousands of children all over Europe in contributing lines to the Together In The World Peace Poem, which serves to remind our students of one of the fundamental principals of the EU, that of solidarity and peace in Europe.

Our students are also posting some of their proposals for Europe on this website, as well as asking questions to be answered by EU officials in Brussels.

To encourage young people to learn more about European institutions, the International Relations branch within the Department for Student Services and International Relations, Education Division, organised visits to the European Commission Representation in Ta' Xbiex and the European Parliament Information Office in Valletta. During these visits students were given information and had the opportunity to discuss issues that they have been researching in schools. Dr Drake and Saviour Grech, acting head of the EU Parliament Information Office, hosted the students and answered questions about topics such as genetically modified foods, the euro, jobs, children's rights, the environment and other issues that show that our students have been thinking seriously about their future as European citizens.

Apart from these visits, students are also engaging in school-based discussions with EU officials, such as MEPs, officials from Forum Malta in Europe, the head of the European Commission Representation and even Austrian Ambassador Elisabeth Kehrer. Dr Drake is also today visiting Gozo to listen to the voices of Gozitan schoolchildren.

The climax of this project will be a national activity on May 9, Europe Day, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. On this occasion schools taking part in the Spring Day in Europe project will present their proposals for the future of Europe, which will then be reported to the project coordinator in Brussels during a meeting on May 12-13 in Paris. The proposals from all European countries will then be integrated into the European Commission's Plan D.

The Minister for Education, Youth and Employment, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Permanent Secretaries from both ministries, Shadow Ministers, MEPs and other EU officials, the Austrian Ambassador, and other important dignitaries will be present to listen to the children.

After this activity, Spring Day schools will be joining in the Europe Day celebrations taking place in Republic Street and Palace Square, Valletta. During these celebrations students will be involved in reading the Schuman Declaration and raising the flags of all the EU countries.

All these activities are being coordinated by the Education Division, Forum Malta in Europe, the EU Commission Representation, the EU Parliament Information Office and the Austrian Embassy. These entities are working together to ensure that young people in Malta contribute to Plan D.

In the light of recent violent scenes all over the world, which demonstrate the serious risks posed by disagreements and conflicts, it is vitally important to educate our students in the principles of social cohesion, peaceful coexistence, combating exclusion and marginalisation and respect for diversity both within and outside the EU, by promoting a culture of dialogue, peace and non-violence, while at the same time enriching them with skills that enable them to exercise their democratic right to freedom of expression.

An appeal to the members of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, and the European Economic and Social Committee, signed by Commissioner Wallström, Alejo Vidal-Quasras Roca, Ján Figel, Nikolaos Sifunakis, Anne-Marie Sigmund and Peter Straub, urges all the entities and institutions to "help us make Europe a reality for young people! By taking part in these events and sharing your experience of Europe and its diversity you can, from March 21 to May 9, be the face of a dynamic Europe which is in touch with its youth."

"To try and get a grip of the different meanings of Europe we should stop talking and start listening," Commissioner Wallström said. "Listening is the basic requirement we need to understand each other. Europe is listening."

And our students are preparing to make their Spring Day proposals heard - on Europe Day.

Ms Cutajar Davis is education officer for international relations at the Education Division and National Liaison Officer for Spring Day in Europe. e-mail: louise.cutajar-davis@gov.mt