Gaining insight into youth politics at the Summer University of the Council of Europe

by Marisa Vögele

I felt honoured to get the opportunity representing YMCA Europe at the Summer University organised by the Council of Europe (which is different from the European Union). On request of the other representative Ger­ard Tos­serams (YMCA Europe) two persons of the YMCA could take part in the conference.

This opportunity gave me the chance to meet representatives of different European youth organisations, as well as representatives of different ministries responsible for youth from the respective European countries.

The programme consisted of a great variety of activities. At the first day I got an induction into the work of the Council of Europe. The other days we learnt about Georgia and its policy regarding youth and Europe, while we visited different ministries and NGOs. In addition, we discussed the upcoming conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth (23.-25.09) in St.Petersburg. I found it especially interesting when we touched upon the new Combating Hate Speech online campaign and started collecting ideas.

All in all the most important thing I took away from the summer university is the impression and understanding how important it is that NGOs, like the YMCA, are represented on political level. Many of the people that take decisions directly affecting young people's lives have never engaged with youth work, nor do they have access to the reality of young people.

So people of the YMCA - interfere and get involved!