Your Europe, Your Say! - Related Events

On 13-14 March 2025, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will bring together nearly 100 young participants from youth organisations, national youth councils and secondary schools as well as 37 teachers from EU Member States, candidate countries and the UK for its annual Your Europe, Your Say! (YEYS) event. This year, YEYS will focus on the role of young people in collectively shaping a resilient future. It aims to equip them to engage in civic action and continue to contribute to participatory democracy activities in their communities and beyond.

Your Europe, Your Say! (YEYS) will take place on Wednesday 6 March 2024 as part of the EESC's Civil Society Week. With the 2024 edition of YEYS taking place in the run up to the European elections, the one day event will seek to inspire its young participants to exercise their democratic right to vote and actively encourage others to do so too.

Every year, schools from all European Union Member States and candidate countries are invited to apply to take part and one school from each country is then selected at random. The selected schools each choose three pupils and one accompanying teacher to come to Brussels for two days, to work together, debate and draw up resolutions addressed to the EU institutions. All secondary schools in Europe can apply and this year, it could be your school!

The event is planned to take place in person at the EESC's headquarters, on 23 and 24 March 2023. The discussions will focus on youth and democracy, on how active citizenship fosters participatory democracy and the role of youth voices and initiatives in achieving this.

The EESC, as the voice of civil society, wants to ensure that the ideas of Europe's younger generation are heard.

Stay tuned for the launch of the event, expected later this month!

"Your Europe, Your Say!" is the EESC's annual event for young people. Schools from all of the 27 EU Member States, the 5 EU candidate countries and a Brussels-based European school are invited to apply to take part and one school from each country is then selected by drawing lots. 

This year, the discussions will focus on disinformation and fake news. The goal of the event will be to raise awareness of the dangers of disinformation and to encourage the participants to become more active in the fight against fake news. 

Now more than ever, climate change is on everyone's mind, and young people all around the globe have been taking action to save the planet. The EESC is joining the movement and wants to ask the young participants about the best ways to protect our planet for the future. The 2021 edition will model an international climate-change conference.

2019 will be an election year and the new European Parliament will have very important decisions to make, at a time when everything from the economy to communication and from politics to social trends are being revolutionised on a daily basis.

How do you, as a young person, view these changes, and the opportunities and potential risks they bring, and what future solutions might you have to offer?

If you want to discuss these issues with other students from 33 countries, why not take part in YEYS 2019 by sharing your vision and celebrating with us the 10^th anniversary of this event?

2018 will be the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH), and the European Economic and Social Committee will invite pupils from all over Europe to Brussels in order to get their opinion on the best way to engage European youth in the protection and promotion of our common cultural heritage. The Committee is also interested in the pupils’ fresh views on the relationship between culture, democracy and peace.

The EESC, as the voice of civil society, is eager to ensure that the ideas of Europe’s younger generation are heard.

2017 is a very important year for Europe, as it marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union.

Young people represent Europe’s future, and they will decide the direction of the EU in the years to come. The EESC, as the "voice" of civil society, is eager to ensure that the views, experiences and ideas of Europe’s younger generation are heard.