European Youth Meeting
The youth meeting will take place in Berlin from June 24th to 29th, 2007. Three hundred young people aged 18 to 25 from all 27 European Union countries will be invited to contribute to an artistic presentation and workshop discussion of the meeting’s theme: On the road in Europe: opportunities for young people to study, work and live in Europe.
Germany’s presidency of the European Council will be punctuated by a number of events and projects with the common objective of helping citizens to better understand and become more intimate with “Europe”. In particular, this initiative will focus on young people, the “natural allies” for the advancement of Europe, according to Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, because “today’s young people are best positioned with their broad view and life perspective to benefit from Europe’s possibilities”. The European Youth Pact covers a wide range of youth policy objectives, including education, mobility, culture etc.
Messages of greeting
Angela Merkel
Klaus Klaus Wowereit
Ursule von der Leyen
OFAJ/DPJW/IJAB
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Message of greeting
for the programme of the European Youth Meeting
from 25 to 29 June 2007
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May I extend a warm welcome to all the participants of the European Youth Meeting. I am delighted that you were able to take up my invitation to Berlin. The theme of your meeting is "On the road in Europe: opportunities for young people to study, work and live in Europe". For many of you, travelling around Europe has been part of everyday life for many years. |
In the Member States of the European Union, borders are ever less intended to divide us. One or two of you who grew up in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc may remember the restrictive nature of the old borders. You will certainly remember joining the European Union. No generation in history has been able to take advantage of the opportunities which Europe offers to the extent that you can today. So, help to preserve and extend these opportunities for future generations!
There is something particularly attractive about tackling Europe in artistic form. We can truly appreciate the richness and diversity of European culture, which, for its great variety of traditions, also has common roots. Like almost no other medium, art has the power to bind together people of different languages and origins. Music, dance or painting require no interpreter. Sounds, movements, images and colours speak for themselves.
A great deal of work awaits you here in Berlin. But I am sure you will find plenty of enjoyment in doing it, too. Of course, it is always nice to join up with young people from other Member States in the European Union.
I look forward to meeting you at the closing event of the European Youth Meeting on 28 June 2007 in the park of the Federal Chancellery, and to witnessing, together with the other guests, your artistic presentations on Europe.
Enjoy your time in Berlin!
Angela Merkel, Federal Chancellor
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Message
from the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit,
for the European Youth Meeting
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Europe is a continent of great cultural diversity and enormous opportunity for young people. This can be felt everywhere in cosmopolitan Berlin, where people from all over the world have helped to shape the city’s exciting cultural scene. I am delighted that the European Youth Meeting is taking place in Berlin, and I am confident that Berlin’s creative climate will also be a source of inspiration to the young artists tackling the subject of what Europe has to offer. And on that note: welcome to Berlin! |
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Cultural and linguistic diversity, mobility, the capacity to embrace differences and to develop new ideas are not only sources of creativity and the arts but are also the foundations of a dynamic Europe. I am therefore especially happy that young people from all countries of the European Union have come to Berlin at the end of the |
German EU-Presidency who have spent time artistically exploring the theme “On the road in Europe: opportunities for young people to study, work and live in Europe”.
From June 25-29, you will have the opportunity to unite your different languages and to express your experiences and hopes through the medium of art. By languages I mean languages in the proper sense of the word as well as the wealth of different cultural backgrounds and different artistic disciplines: theatre, dance, music, fine arts, word and new media.
The theme “On the road in Europe: opportunities for young people to study, work and live in Europe” has long held a prominent position on the European political agenda. The European Union and the Federal Republic of Germany are committed to facilitating the mobility of young people in Europe. Exchange and encounter are indispensable for getting to know Europe and strengthening European identity. Linguistic, intercultural and social skills are acquired which are useful in professional life as well as for international dialogue and understanding.
In the arts, European and international exchange is especially important. Art has, since ancient Greece, always been something that united Europe and something that radiates beyond its borders. Art enables us to exchange and communicate our visions and thus to give shape to our common Europe.
I sincerely wish that you will continue to contribute to our common Europe with your creativity and that Europe will continue to inspire you and us!
Dr. Ursula von der Leyen
Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
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