What was the project about?
With Europe at a crossroads at the end of the Conference on the Future of Europe and in the middle of the implementation of the Green Deal and the digitalisation agenda, active European citizens must be at the forefront. In the period before the upcoming European elections, the MEET project offered space for diverse groups of European citizens to bring Europe to local level through a diverse set of activities encouraging continuous activism and interaction with European politicians. The project was led by the European Youth Forum (YFJ), and AER participated as a partner.
MEET meaningfully contributed to a depolarised and less-tense democratic space. This allowed more participation, and more respect and understanding of others’ positions, ultimately helping revive the flagging belief in democracy as a system.
The MEET- project aimed to:
- Provide young activists with the tools and training they need to become more active in their democratic participation.
- Create spaces where citizens from different backgrounds can connect with and learn from each other, acquire civic skills and learn more about the European Union and its role in their everyday lives.
- Create opportunities for young people to enter in a dialogue with politicians ahead of the European elections.
Who was the project for?
The MEET beneficiaries are young and older European citizens living in all the 27 EU member states. The activities apply the dual approach of intersectionality and the intergenerational lenses. The 3 different pillars outreached and directly involved more than 10,000 people who served as multipliers of the project outputs. The project reached out to more than 4,000 people physically and more than 7,000 people offline through the large consortium of partners.
Indirectly, the project’s outputs were planned to reach more than 50,000 people: this will ensure that the project results will stay alive outside of the project timeline.
The lasting impact of the project would be that young and older participants and their families have an increased feeling of connectedness to each other and the European project, which can lead them to become (more) active European citizens.
What did AER organise as part of this project?
The project was divided in 3 different pillars, and AER worked on Pillar 1: Debating Europe. The first pillar of the MEET project was all about training for staff, focusing on disadvantaged youth inclusion, and empowering citizens with debating skills and critical thinking.
Stemming from the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), various regional debates were organised focusing on the upcoming 2024 EU elections. Election related topics such as digitalisation, bridging generational gaps in voting, and promoting diversity in politics have been vigorously debated. More information about the other parts of the project can be found on the website of the European Youth Forum.
As a part of the MEET project, AER and regions carried out 13 intergenerational debates across Europe. More information on some debates can be found here:
- 8 November 2023: São Miguel Island, Azores
- 10 November 2023: Krapina-Zagorska, Croatia
- 30 November 2023: Lower Austria, Austria
- 6 March 2024: Brussels, Belgium
- 15 March 2024: Sălaj County, Romania
- 20 March 2024: Brussels, Belgium
- 22 March 2024: Letterkenny, Ireland
- 18 April 2024: Brussels, Belgium
Questions?
If you have any question about the MEET project, please feel free to reach out to our EU Project Manager, Giulia Moretto ([email protected]).
The MEET project is funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) 2021-2027 programme of the European Union.
