On August 11, 2017, young people from the European Union, the Balkans and the countries of the Black Sea region will gather in Ratnieki, Ligatne district, to participate in the first European Youth Parliament (ERYP). There will be representatives from Denmark, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Great Britain, Latvia, Armenia and Albania. The results of ERYP will be included in the European Rural Parliament, which will take place this October in the city of Vernhost, Netherlands.
During the ERYP young people from Europe rural areas will address the challenges of the 21st century rural youth in an interactive way. The focus of ERYP will be on both young people who are currently living in the rural area and those who have left rural areas for various reasons. How to create conditions that would allow young people to successfully develop business ideas, to ensure their personal fulfillment by still living in rural areas? As urban dwellers also people living in rural areas should be able to access the social and economic benefits of global urbanization, where digitalisation plays an important role.
The space of European Rural area is different. The Southern European countries, which are currently experiencing the crisis of asylum seekers, the Balkan countries and Armenia with the rural population’s challenges in mountainous areas, but the whole rural area experiencing an overall reduction of population, which results with an increase of urbanization level.
At the event there will be a chance to learn about the significant differences in the working session “The Europe Spirit”, to hear introduction of various countries and their attempts to see the common between them in work sessions “Rural Village in Europe” and “Youth Voice”, and get inspired about the solutions offered by young people together with European and Latvian rural development experts in the section “Rural youth opportunities in Europe”.
The ERYP is organized by the association “Latvian Rural Forum”, “Latvian 4H” and Village Action Association of Finland and it is organized to prepare for the European Rural Parliament in October this year, which is a civil society movement of rural regions, and is intended to bring the attention of European politicians and policy makers to rural civil society voice. The European Rural Youth Parliament is the start of uniting rural youth voice to a promising rural future in Europe. ERYP working language will be English.
For possible membership in the European Youth Parliament we invite you to contact the organizers.
CONTACTS
Āris Ādlers, Latvian Rural Forum
E-mail: aris.adlers@gmail.com, Tel: 26468620
MORE ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS
Association “Latvian Rural Forum”: https://old.laukuforums.lv/lv/
“Latvian 4H”: http://www.mazpulki.lv/
