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At the end of the European Year of Youth and in the context of the Czech EU Presidency, Make.org, together with the Open Society Initiative and eKairos, launched an online consultation. This initiative involved young people in the border regions between Germany and the Czech Republic in discussions about cross-border cooperation for a sustainable Europe.
From 14 December 2022 to 12 March 2023, young citizens (aged 15 to 27) from the border regions of the Czech Republic (Karlovy Vary, Pilsen, South Bohemia) and Germany (Bavaria) were invited to express their priorities for a stronger and more sustainable Europe. They also shared ideas about the role that cross-border projects can play in strengthening Europe. The online participation project engaged almost 15,000 participants who submitted 593 proposals and over 170,000 votes.
On 3 May, together with the three organisations that initiated the project, young citizens from both countries were invited to present their proposals and the results of the consultation at the EU Regional Representation in Munich.
These results highlighted 8 shared priorities of the participants for a sustainable and strong Europe, on 5 main themes: energy and environment, education, digital transformation, transport, and culture and shared values.
Several ideas directly mentioned the topic or the need of Czech-Bavarian cooperation, especially in the areas of education, culture and mobility. Citizens from both countries also shared popular ideas for building a stronger Europe, especially on the main topics of energy, environment, education and health, and common positive values such as tolerance and solidarity. Some of the most popular suggestions included promoting closer cultural exchanges between Germany and the Czech Republic and cooperation on environmental and energy issues.
"Strengthening European cooperation to achieve resource independence in Europe was a very popular proposal in both countries." said Sarah Delahaye, Managing Director of Make.org Germany.
The importance of international exchange programmes for young people was also emphasised by Sabrina, a participant from Bavaria. "Such experiences have helped me to be more creative and attentive in solving problems." Sabrina explained.
A participant from the Czech Republic, Ondřej, suggested strengthening partnerships between primary and secondary schools. He also supports better German language teaching to promote cultural and linguistic exchange among young people. "I would say that if our first German teacher arouses antipathy towards the language, it can consequently create antipathy towards the country." Ondřej stressed.
Based on the results, youth dialogues will be held in autumn 2023: In that context, young people from Bavaria and the Czech Republic will have the opportunity to develop concrete recommendations for action and project ideas based on the results of the consultation.
We would like to thank the Initiative Offene Gesellschaft, eKairos, the Bavarian State Ministry for Family Affairs, Labour and Social Affairs, the EU Regional Office in Munich as well as all participants and guests who were involved in realising this important consultation.
This project took place under the umbrella of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Year of Youth, and was funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for Family Affairs, Labour and Social Affairs through the Bavarian Youth Ring and is part of the Bavarian Youth Action Plan.