On the 11th June 2020, during GamifyEU month and in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, Youth for Exchange and Understanding hosted an event where over 90 young people from all around Europe and beyond, could talk, exchange and get a first virtual face to face meeting with 3 young members of the European Parliament. The guests were Brando Benifei from the Socialists & Democrats group (Italy), Evin Incir also from the Socialists & Democrats group (Sweden) and Niklas Nienaß from Greens (Germany).
This initiative took the name of “Coffee with MEPs”, giving it an informal setting where everyone was at the same standing point and were able to speak to each other without the protocol you usually see in formal meetings with parliamentarians. This allowed young people to open up easier and ask questions without fear of being irrelevant, as there weren’t any irrelevant questions, and every one of them attached with the MEP’s answer was legitimate to satisfy the participants’ curiosity.
Various important topics were tackled with a more in-depth analysis on behalf of the members of parliament, among those topics we could find climate change, systemic racism and the green transition. These were the main issues young people were interested in given the current events happening on a worldwide scale, events that affect all of us one way or another and leaving us with a political void for discussion that needs to get filled through the participation of young people, among others, in the decision making processes.
Ismael Paez Civico
YEU Projects assistant
