“Alternative Europe” within the framework of the Europawerkstatt (EWS) of the Junge Europäische Föderalisten (JEF)
The Junges Europawissenschaftliches Netzwerk (JEN), the youth association of the Europawissenschaftliches Netzwerk Deutschland (END), presented the idea of a pro-European network of science and civil society, which had previously been developed in two separate workshops, at the Europe Workshop of the Junge Europäische Föderalisten (JEF) in Berlin from December 2 to 4, 2016. The event, which was conceived as an unconference, provided sufficient space for participation, brainstorming and project planning and thus offered the opportunity to further develop the envisaged project.
On the second day of the conference, we offered a challenge on the topic of “Brexit”, which was accepted by about twelve young Europe enthusiasts. On the following Sunday morning, we moderated a discussion table that took up the big question of the first two JEN workshops in Berlin and Mannheim: How can we create space for a deeper cooperation of young, Europe-affine activists from science and civil society? Representatives of various organizations considered how this idea could be realized. They discussed which actors could be involved and which topics could be addressed and what the final outcome of such a networking process should look like. After one and a half hours of brainstorming and discussion, a rough roadmap was drawn up and presented to the more than 60 participants of the Unconference.
The following goals were defined:
- To bring science and civil society together
- New/other civil society groups are involved
- European policy agenda-setting is being driven forward
- Communication/advocacy for the dissemination of results is considered from the very beginning
Target Groups:
- Participants: Young scientists from think tanks, universities and research institutions as well as active members of civil society
- Addressees: political decision makers
Format: Series of events in 2017:
- Kick-off event to identify topics and set up working groups
- Topic-specific European workshops, where European political concepts and visions are developed
- Final event for presentation and discussion of the results
- Project monitoring by an advocacy team responsible for the preparation and dissemination of the results
After the presentation of the project concept, all participants and listeners were encouraged to submit their suggestions for topics. The following were mentioned among others: Data protection, social justice, coal phase-out, climate protection, EMU reform, mobility, European army, fisheries policy, equal opportunities, digital Europe, rail networks in Europe, common tax policy, immigration law, democratic Europe, asylum and migration policy, institutional reforms (within the treaties), European networks.
We took the many ideas and suggestions with us into the Christmas break in order to turn it into a large joint project “Alternative Europe!” in 2017. We are looking forward to seeing all participants again soon for the kick-off event and to expanding the circle of active participants!