European Youth Event 2021: Shaping Europe’s future

Under the motto “The future is ours”, the European Youth Event (EYE) 2021 will feature dozens of activities, debates, and workshops, as well as sports events, artistic performances and concerts.

Online activities will start on Monday 4 October. On Friday 8 October and Saturday 9 October, the European Parliament’s building in Strasbourg and the EYE village will take centre stage, with between 3 000 and 4 000 participants expected to attend in person, with an option for others to follow the event on the EYE 2021 platform. This will be the first time that EYE has taken place in this hybrid format, following last year’s pandemic-enforced remote edition.

A green future for Europe

The environment and the fight against climate change, ahead of the COP26 meeting in November 2021, will be a central topic for discussion.

The opening session will take place in Parliament’s hemicycle, on Friday at 10.00. Roundtables will follow, offering participants the chance to discuss with activists, influencers and decision-makers inside the EP, in the EYE village and online. Digital democracy, the fight against discrimination, the future of the job market after COVID-19, the EU Green Deal, social inequalities and the road to COP26 will be discussed with Commissioners, MEPs and other experts.

Foreign affairs, human rights and values will also be high on the agenda at the EYE. Participants will have the opportunity to meet with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarusian democratic opposition and co-laureate of Sakharov Prize 2020 and Oleg Sentsov, Ukrainian filmmaker and 2018 Sakharov Prize Laureate.

The main conclusions of the two-day discussions will be presented at the closing ceremony, on Saturday at 17.00. Find more details on the schedule, speakers and activities (including two open-air concerts on Friday and Saturday evening) in the programme.

Outcome of the discussions

EYE2021 will be the culmination of the European Parliament’s youth consultation process for the Conference on the Future of Europe. Since May 2021, in collaboration with pan-European youth organisations, young people’s ideas on the future of Europe have been collected on the youthideas.eu platform. Participants will explore these in ideation workshops during the event. After a public voting process during EYE2021, the proposals will be consolidated into a report, presented to the Members of the Conference and fed into the political debate of the Conference.

Flash Eurobarometer

According to a Flash Eurobarometer survey carried out in June 2021, Europeans between 16 and 30 years old prioritise “tackling poverty and inequality” (43%), “combatting climate change and environmental issues” (39%) and “combatting unemployment/lack of jobs” (37%). As many as 85% discuss politics with friends and relatives at least occasionally and almost half (46%) voted in the last local, national or European elections.

Taking part, how to follow

The EYE is open to people from 16 to 30 years old, who are at school, university or currently working, members of youth organisations, and can be attended with friends or individually. Events will be accessible via the event platform, where you can also find the online and on-site programmes.

If you are a journalist and want to attend the European Youth Event, you will need to get EP media accreditation or be in possession of an inter-institutional media badge.

In view of the public health situation, precautionary measures will be applied during the event.