From Ms J. Bugeja
The European Union is 50 years old. It was back in March 1957, when the European continent was still recovering politically, economically and psychologically from the scars left by the Second World War, that an ambitious initiative was undertaken by six countries – Germany, France Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg – to create and foster a dream that would eventually make it impossible for European countries to ever endure again the socio-economic suffering caused by two world wars.
Today, 50 years on, that dream not only came true but it has grown and developed substantially into a concrete political and economic project bringing together no less than 27 countries, all working and cooperating and striving to protect the same common values, notwithstanding the cultural diversity that underpins modern European societies.
The European Green Movement vaunts an enviable and excellent track record in the fostering and support of the European integration process not least by putting on the European political agenda cutting-edge issues such as climate change, environmental protection, energy-efficiency and a better energy production mix consonant with today’s concerns with depleting fossil fuel resources. ADZ-Green Youth is fully supportive of the European Green Party’s stance on these issues and acts as the local youth platform for sustaining a “greener” EU with regular activities in the EU’s smallest member State.
It is not enough to just look at these past 50 years and consider the achievements and economic growth reached. Indeed, we must look ahead, at tomorrow’s Europe, and this cannot be undertaken unless proper consideration is taken of Europe’s major asset – today’s young people!
This is the reason why it was deemed appropriate that today, 50 years since the original ceremony, more than 200 young people from all over Europe will gather in Rome at the Campidoglio, exactly where the original Treaty of Rome was signed. It is here that European youths will make their voice heard by expressing their opinions and providing input about the kind of Europe they want in the future.
I am also proud of the fact that I will be participating in this event with the Maltese delegation on behalf of ADZ-Green Youth and I will certainly contribute to the debates that will take place at the Rome Youth Summit.
Europe’s youths are the core human capital of the European Union. This is clearly shown in the way more and more investment is channelled into this sector of society, defined well-deservedly as the beating pulse at the core of the European family of nations.
Policies and measures adopted in the Lisbon Strategy paved the way for the European Council to adopt the European Youth Pact two years ago. The European Youth Pact has motivated governments of the member States to take action and improve young people’s lives in the areas of employment through residential mobility, life-long learning education, self-development, and social integration, while also helping them to be better able to reconcile working and family lives.
The European Youth Pact is also meant to create active citizenship among young people and, due to the challenges faced by today’s youths, such as globalisation, insecurity at the work place and climate change with its various impacts to name just a few, there is a whole range of fields in which young people can actively participate and consequently contribute in a constructive manner in order to further the common dream our forefathers conceived 50 years ago.
Joanna Bugeja
ADZ-Green Youth