Author: Inês Lopes

Youth for Europe Event – the Hague, the Netherlands, May, 18, 2019

We have gathered at the HYF (The Hague Youth Factory) on the afternoon/evening of May, 18, 2019. It was been a lovely sunny day, and the event involved 30 citizens, from the city of The Hague, the Netherlands. The majority was a young public, with 2/3 being young people till 30 years old and we had represented 9 organizations/companies.

The opening of the event was a lovely talk with 3 young Dutch ladies telling us about their international experience in Estonia, under the programme Erasmus plus. They were very touched by the exchange of cultures and knowledge, with 6 different European countries. This made them understand the richness of different perspectives and expressions within the European Union.

This was followed by a super tasty dinner with a lot of vegetarian and vegan options and a wide selection of drinks. We could then enjoy worldwide music played by two talented Dutch musicians – Jaime Nanoha & Juliana Martina. We could close our eyes and travel the world with our imagination to understand how much beauty there is in the world and that we can only profit by integrating diversity into our music and lives!

After this warm-up, we jumped into the theme of our night – European elections in May 2019! Divided in smaller groups to ensure that everyone can easily express their opinion, we add 3 activities to perform.

The first was the quiz – “Who wants to be European?”. By using a similar visual identity of the known TV programme “Who wants to be a millionaire?”, we created a quiz with 8 questions focusing on the European Parliament elections 2019. The content included facts about the Elections and its process, the role of the UK and consequences if a country leaves the EU, what are the functions of the European Parliament and why we should vote. The end question was intended as an invitation to start a dialogue about the topic. We must say that some participants were skeptic regarding the role and power that voting can have in change the Europe to what they would like. Others were very enthusiastic to defend the duty of voting responsibly in order to convey our message and change Europe in the desirable direction. Despite some different perspectives, it was unanimous that it is important to vote in the elections and all group is committed to do so.

The second activity was an invitation to reflect in the Europe we want to live in, with us being active members in creating this space. We had flip charts, paint, markers and our creativity to express in participatory way the future of Europe. Equality was the main word of the night. The group express the need to be more humane, to redistribute opportunities to all, to create a healthier community. The European desirable portrait is: less discrimination, more acceptance, more respect for our environment/planet, sustainable solutions to deal with problems, a holistic perspective when analyzing the challenges, more gender equality, more solidarity towards migrants and refugees… Our challenge: we are not there yet, and that implies the involvement of all of us!

The last but not the least was to leave a message in our canvas for the future European Parliament. Without any censorship and let the public totally free to express themselves, gathered the following messages: respecting the environment and going green, do not follow populist ideas and politicians as Trump, to unit, promote equality, choose love and inclusion over hate and to be more efficient and coherent!

The evening goes on with the dream of having a better Europe and by listening good DJ’s and enjoying each other´s company… It was a lovely evening!

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2025-11-12
Using stop-motion animation tools to debate Europe’s future – Orvelte, the Netherlands, August, 11, 2019

On the August, 11, 2019, in Orvelte, the Netherlands, a group of 37 people came together to discuss the future of the EU, youth challenges, and express themselves using stop-motion animation tools. The event involved 37 citizens, including 7 participants from the city of Orvelte, The Netherlands, 6 participants from the city of Rome, Italy, 6 participants from the city of Brussels, Belgium, 7 participants from the city of Warsaw, Poland, 6 participants from the city of Bucharest, Romania, 5 participants from the city of Riga, Latvia.

Having as reference points the 5 future scenarios put forward by the European Commission, the discussion was centered on the difference between East and Western Europe in terms of purchase power, economic systems, mindsets and opportunities. The group agreed that something has to be done to reduce the gaps that separate EU member states and after that, countries could work together from a more balanced power status to find the better alternatives to their challenges. Even if for some the last scenario – Doing much more together – was appealing, it seems that some preparatory work on develop the poorer countries from the East side of Europe should be done first.

“we believe that we cannot always solve our issues just by being alone, we need to share…”

Watch the participants’ videos:

2025-11-12
Online workshop – Improve 4 Europe, The Netherlands, September, 19, 2020

The activity took place on September, 19, 2020, online, via Zoom. The event involved 28 citizens, including 25 participants from the city of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1 from the city of Lisbon, Portugal, 1 from the city of Rome, Italy, 1 from the city of Budapest, Hungary. This activity aimed to familiarise the participants with the complexity of decision making at the EU level and to promote the discussion of the type of Europe we would like to see.

The methodology used was in line with non-formal education and the tools used were from Improve Theatre – improv games and role playing. Each participant was given the role of the leader of a random EU country and had to conciliate national interests with the European interests in solving a case study (the event that had happen few weeks ago about the refugees in Moria camp).

The programme of this workshop session included:

1 – Welcoming & Ice-breaking exercise

2 – Small groups games to start to enter the character

3 – Plenary discussions and exchange of experiences

4 – Case study presentation and the 5 scenarios explained

5 – Same small groups get together to discuss what to do with Moria situation – each group had to act has one of the possible scenarios for the Future of Europe

6 – Big group discussion and exchange of opinions about the best scenario

7 – Voting

8 – Informal discussion

9 – Closure

We had a few people leading each small group that were training in Improv, and the rest of the participants were young adults from different backgrounds.

For the ones that have o previous knowledge of politics and decision making at the EU level the 5 scenarios are concepts difficult to grasp. In the end there were more questions that answers but the groups felt that scenario 3 would be the desirable in order to avoid complex never ending processes and being able to take fast and efficient decisions.

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Italian kick-off event of Eulections´19, Lugo, Italy, June, 3, 2019

This event took place on the June, 3, 2019 in one of the high schools of Lugo and we counted on 72 participants (71 participants from the city of Lugo, Italy, 1 participant from the city of Lisbon, Portugal), mainly students, teachers, and staff of the school interested in the method and to the project. The participants were from two different high school courses: humanistic and technical, and students of the last two years of high school.

This was the first event of the Emilia-Romagna tour and all of us were excited: Flaminia staff, students, teachers, and trainers. The introduction of the workshop was dedicated to the White Paper of the Future of Europe 2025, the methods, and the goals of the project.

Each student had his own bag with his own Lego pieces. Throughout the event, with the help and instructions of the expert trainers, they went through all the points that we wanted. Gradually, the students showed their commitment to the activities, showing to be more and more willing to build “complex” models whit the LEGO, giving a 3D representation to their ideas and points of view.

After the introduction activities, a sort of ice breaking activities aimed at facilitating the student to get into the objective of the workshop, the 5th scenarios were introduced and they started to work on them divided into groups. Each group worked on one single scenario, using the same approach adopted during the introduction activities: own personal thought, 3D representation, and sharing with the rest of the team.

At the end of the project the participants photographed their 3D models, they wrote a brief summary of the experience, complete a questionnaire to collect key messages and suggestions and to assess the impact of the activity.

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“Il Futuro Dell´Europa È Nelle Nostre Mani” – Ravenna, Italy, June, 21, 2019

On 21st June, Fondazione Flaminia organized the second E(u)Lections´19 event held at the Open lab of Ravenna within the Classis Museo.

The event was open to every citizen of Ravenna city and we were able to involve 51 Italian participants, with ages ranging between 20 and 67 years old, in a multi-generational debate about the European Union’s present and future. Thanks to a diverse audience of participants in the Emilia-Romagna events tour, we will have the opportunity to collect diverse suggestions for the future of Europe 2025.

The workshop started with an introduction about of the project aims and the methodology of Lego Serious Play methods provided by the trainers.

Subsequently, we started with games and activities designed to make people more accustomed to Lego pieces and, in some way, light on the creativity in each one, so that it became more simple to pass to concrete concepts to 3D constructions later on. In this part of the introduction to the game of Lego Serious Play, the trainers asked, in first place, participants to close their eyes and think to a wished super power. Than, they asked to create their own super power with LEGO.

After the participants have gained more confidence with the methods we moved on to the E(u)lections ’19 project aims and we used the same approach one of the 5 possible scenarios of the White Paper on the future of Europe. Each group worked on one of the five scenarios, giving a 3D shape to their opinion and suggestions.

At the end of each new construction, each participant had 2 minutes to explain to the group personal thoughts, doubts and suggestions about the scenario. This stage of the 5 scenarios was very curious because the groups were heterogeneous by gender and age, so we collected diverse points of view.

At the end of the activity, they wrote a summary of the experience and completed a questionnaire to collect key messages for the solutions for the main problems identified.

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E(U) Lections’19 Kickoff Meeting – Lisbon, Portugal, January, 24, 2019

The kick-off meeting of EULECTIONS’19 took place at Iscte- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, on January, 24, 2019.

It was the first time that the representatives from the four organizations, CEI-Iscte and EAYE (Portugal), Fondazione Flaminia (Italy) and CAAT Projects (The Netherlands) had the chance to meet in person, discuss general ideas about the project and set common outputs.

This full day preparatory activity involved 8 participants (5 from Portugal, 2 from Italy, 1 from The Netherlands) in brainstorming and planning sessions to prepare the project’s activities, develop the communication strategy, reflect about methods and evaluation.

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E(u)lections´19 presentation – Academy ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal, April, 9, 2019

On April, 9, 2019, an initiative for high school students took place at ISCTE-IUL. The Academy ISCTE-IUL opens the doors of the University to the students and gives them the opportunity to live and experience the university and the job market.

This was a great opportunity to present the EULECTIONS’19 project, through a quiz with questions about the European Union and a debate, to students who will vote for the first time in the forthcoming elections for the European Parliament.

E(u)lections´19: Think, Decide, Change! was represented by its project manager, and was also a great opportunity to collect inputs from young people in the preparation of the project’s activities.

2025-11-12
Second public presentation of the project, Academy ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal, April, 17, 2019

The second edition of Academy ISCTE-IUL happened on the 17^th April and it was an opportunity to present the project to high school students and collect inputs from young citizens regarding the project’s activities. Through the “Who wants to be Euromillionaire” quiz and a debate, they had an opportunity to know more about European Union and about the objectives of E(u)lections´19 project, which was represented by the project coordinator and project manager.

The students were also invited to participate on the first event of the project which will take place on 10^th May at ISCTE-IUL.

2025-11-12
E(U)Lections: Think, Decide, Change – Lisbon, Portugal, May, 10, 2019

The first EULECTIONS’19 event in Portugal took place on May, 10, 2019, at Iscte- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa. This full event involved 92 citizens from the city of Lisbon, Portugal, mostly university students, for a full day dedicated to the European elections and the future of the EU.

This event aimed to bring awareness to the importance of youth participation at the 2019 elections for the European Parliament, question populist and extremist views and promote an informed and open debate about the current and future challenges of the European project and ways forward.

The event included various activities and methods (brainstorming, quizzes debates, workshops) and involved students, teachers, researchers, media, government officials and youth activists.

The day started with the participants’ welcome and registration at the event desk where everyone received a bag with promotional gifts, workshop materials and a brochure with information about the project. Then, in the first activity of the day, we invited participants to think and express their views about a very important topic for the 2019 European elections: the rise of populism. The “Tree of Europe” was built from the perspectives on the topic and showed youth’s perspectives about populist ideas and the elections.

Considering the central role of information in questioning populist and extremist views, and also in promoting electoral participation, we invited participants to gather in groups and play the “Who wants to be an European Expert” quiz. This question and answer activity aimed to improve participants’ understanding of the importance and presence of the European Union in our daily lives and engage young people in the debate about Europe and the 2019 elections.

After the “warm up” activities, participants had the opportunity to discuss with academics, the rise of populism and its threats to the European Union, in a round-table entitled “Populism and democracy: what´s at stake?”. The debate aimed to give a broader view, based on research, of the challenges to the European democracies brought by populist and extremist movements and explore how citizens and governments at the national and European level can respond to these trends. The debate was moderated by the Executive Editor in Chief of the Portuguese newspaper “Diário de Notícias”, Catarina Carvalho.

Following the debate with academics and the media, we welcomed the Portuguese Secretary of State of European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias.
In this activity, entitled “The citizens meet… Ana Paula Zacarias”, participants had the opportunity to learn more about the work done within this State Secretariat and to present questions about the European neighbourhood policy and the future of the European Union. This conversation was hosted by the project coordinator, Ana Isabel Xavier.

This activity aimed to promote a closer interaction between young citizens and government representatives in charge of European affairs and contribute to a better understanding of how European institutions work, the EU current challenges and ways forward.

The last part of the event was the training session “May the vote be with EU: workshop on future scenarios”. It started with a “EU dating” in which participants had to share with each other their answers to questions like “What does it mean to be an European Union citizen” and “Why will I vote for the future European Parliament elections?”.

Afterwards, divided in small groups, each group had to discuss the pros and cons of each scenario reflected in the “White Paper on the Future of Europe: Reﬂections and scenarios for the EU27 by 2025” of the European Commission and present it to the whole group. In the end of this activity, each group created what they considered to be an “ideal scenario” for the future of European Union, with their recommendations and opinions.

This event ended with the presentation of the web-course “ChangEU Multipliers” and with each participant showing a card to the actual European Commission, where Green meant that they feel European Commission aligns with their interests and opinions, Yellow meaning that they somehow feel connected with the European Commission work, but they feel some lack of representation and Red signalizing that they don´t feel represented at all by the work done by the European Commission.

During this event, some of the young participants also shared with us their expectations regarding European Union and the European Parliament.

Watch the videos from participants testimonies:

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#changeEU – What do young people think of the European Union?

E(u)lections´19: Think, Decide, Change intends to hear what young people have to say about the European Union.

In this video series, you can watch what some of our participants have answered to the questions about what they expect from European Parliament and what Europe represents to them.

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