European Youth Forum elects a new leadership

More than 250 young delegates participated in the European Youth Forum General Assembly 2010, hosted by the Ukrainian Youth Forum. Elections were held to elect the new leadership for the 2011-2012 mandate. Peter Matjaši? (JEF) was elected President of the platform. Together with the 10 young volunteers appointed by the vote in Kiyv he will take his seat in the Board of the European Youth Forum from January 2011. The European Youth Forum Board 2011-2012 will be formed by: Peter Matjaši?, JEF (President), Katarina Nevedalova, ECOSY and Luca Scarpiello, FNG (Vice-Presidents). Imse Nilsson, LSU; Anemone Birkebæk, DUF; Guoda Lomanaite, LYMEC; Mourad Mahidi, OJV; Falko Mohrs, WOSM; Katrine Korsgaard, EEE-YFU; Lloyd Russell-Moyle, IFM-SEI; Rui Duarte, CNJ (Board Members).

The General Assembly also adopted the European Youth Forum’s Work Plan for the next two years, focusing on Volunteering, Youth Rights and the Building of a Stronger Youth Civil Society. Furthermore, the young delegates discussed and adopted two Policy Papers on Global Governance and on Poverty and Young People as well as a Position Paper on Youth in Action 2.0, describing their views on the new Youth in Action cycle after 2014.

Finally, there was a European Youth Dialogue debate between young people and political representatives focusing on the role of youth in democratic development and the promotion of human rights in Europe. The Minister of Youth of Ukraine, Ambassador Janez Lenar?i?, Director of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and Ms. Elvira Kovacs, Member of the PACE participated in the debate.

Maribor (Slovenia) will be the next European Youth Capital 2013. The award ceremony took place in Kiev (Ukraine) during the European Youth Forum General Assembly. The city of Maribor stands out for an innovative bottom-up approach in which young people are involved in every step of the planning of activities and policies.

Amongst the four cities shortlisted (Goes/NL, Derry-Londonderry/UK, Karlstad/S), Maribor especially caught the jury’s attention for its cooperation with and strong support of stakeholders from the local to the European level and a very diverse programme including a variety of activities addressing challenges that young people all over Europe face. The application presented the most detailed breakdown of budget provisions, the clearest team and governing structures.

The European Youth Capital 2013 award is an initiative of the European Youth Forum. The title is granted to a European city for a period of one year, during which it is given the chance to showcase its youth-related cultural, social, political and economic life and development. The current European Youth Capital 2010 is Torino (Italy), and Antwerp (Belgium) will be the European Youth Capital 2011.