LA PARTICIPACIÓN DE LOS JÓVENES EN EUROPA

  

La participación de los jóvenes en Europa.
El Parlamento Europeo para Jóvenes

por Patricia Trevisi Lannoó (2003)
 

 

El artículo que sigue es relevante a los efectos de descubrir la acción que lleva a cabo la UE sobre sus jóvenes y la respuesta que obtiene.
El "Model European Parliament" es el Parlamento Europeo para jóvenes de 17/18 años de los países miembros de la U.E. Se convocan dos reuniones por año en distintas ciudades de Europa para debatir temas que los afectan en cuanto jóvenes y futuros dirigentes de la UE.

 

Quiénes pueden participar

Todos aquellos alumnos de nivel de bachillerato que estén dispuestos a sortear no menos de tres pruebas de selección en oposición con sus pares y tengan un nivel conversacional de inglés que autorice, básicamente, la comprensión de la lengua y tengan dominio de un tema de los que se proponen en las sucesivas oposiciones.

Corre por cuenta de los institutos de nivel medio (bachillerato) y de los colegios concertados o privados administrar los medios – informarse, seleccionar a aquellos mejor posicionados, etc.- para que sus alumnos compitan.

El acceso a tales niveles de participación es absolutamente gratuito.

Los alumnos españoles se alojan en casas de familias del país organizador del “Model European Parliament”

Lo que sigue es la presentación que me cupo llevar a cabo  por ante el Parlamento en ocasión en que, junto con otros jovenes españoles de mi edad, representamos a España.
 

Presentation

Right. For those of you who don’t know me I´d like to introduce myself. My name is Patricia Trevisi Lannoó from Real Colegio Alfonso XII, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid.
We are here to formulate an appropriate strategy for the present European environment and to present a series of conclusions.
I´ve divided my presentation as it follows.
Firstly, I´d like to look at the factors that have influenced our new Europe.
Secondly, I am going to present my own analysis of the general situation, and thirdly, put forward a number of proposals to meet the needs of our future.

So then, to begin with, I would say we are being influenced by a series of changes that disturb our growth.
We proceed from a world with defined roles; a calm, quiet, moral world.
All of a sudden, a new world opens up before our eyes showing us a vast network of relationships; a dialogical world; a restless world where we have to be reflexive, where investigation is a must; where data are not just to be committed to memory but to be worked out and handled. A world where we must be able to see their “whys” and “what fors” before we store them in our memory.

Thus, secondly, analyzing the situation, in the field of culture, we are not to judge levels of knowledge but wisdom in life. And you acquire wisdom in life when you have been capable of harmonizing your will-power, your affection, your intelligence and your sense of freedom.
A visit to a senior school in the UK showed me that a different world is possible, that there is something else beyond our Spanish boundaries. It set me thinking about what Europe and its youth expect from each other.
Our capacity to think, love, be free and use our will-power makes us the only living creature capable of consciously assuming our lives, capable of changing our own circumstances. Cows, die cows. Man is born an individual, but has got the possibility of dying a person. And he reaches that status when, in dialogue with others, assumes his own creation.
True education is reflection and action of man upon the world in order to change it. Education is authentically humanistic if it helps man´s integration into reality, if it favours a process of search and fosters independence and solidarity; he can get to understand that solidarity is more than giving: it is giving oneself.
Immigration, unemployment, drugs, alcohol, racism, terrorism, war... are menacing us and little do we know about what can be done to counteract their devasting effects.

 

Thirdly, my proposal has man as its starting point and goal; to help him become aware of his capacity to think for himself. We have to develop a favorable attitude towards changes, generate them and build up a society that commits itself in defense of its own values.
We, young Europeans, believe little in our institutions and consequently do not feel involved enough to participate. We are keener on conflicts than on institutions themselves. This means a challenge to us, European youngsters, who must become competent and qualified enough to participate actively in intermediate institutions such as youth councils and students´ centres. Thus, we must learn modern languages in order to be able to communicate with youngsters from other countries and find out the benefits offered to us by such programmes Socrates, Erasmus, Leonardo Da Vinci and the like.
It is the teacher´s responsibility to arouse our interest in the European Community; to stimulate our participation in debates, forums, conferences; to promote students´ exchange programmes; to become acquainted with information technology; to learn foreign languages; to foster parents´ participation in school life.
It is the politicians´ duty to listen to us, to visit our schools and talk with us, to give an answer to our needs and demands.
Our elders must make room for our imagination and work shoulder to shoulder at school.

 

Patricia Trevisi Lannoó