Category: Knowledge

Knowledge is one of these words that mean nothing and everything at the same time. In our case it is simple though. This category teaches you the wonders of the world, and also invites you to discuss how we could actually teach one another.

Unemployment: For How Long Will Europe’s Nightmare Last?

Posted on by Youth Council for the Future
Young girl looking for a job, Spotlight Europe
Young, motivated, still looking for a job, … desperate? Everywhere in Europe this problem is well-known. Obviously it remains Europe´s biggest challenge in 2015. (Flickr:United Nations Development Programme in Europe and CIS/licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

When asked about the biggest threat for Europe, many simply answer “unemployment”.

It is certainly one of the biggest issues Europe is facing.

Especially youth unemployment is determining a big rift in the EU. One fifth of young people in the EU are currently without a job, that means more than 5.5 million people under 25.

For how long will media continue referring to European youth as the lost generation?

Solutions are long overdue. Youth unemployment hit 24 % in 2014. This percentage actually hides big disparities between northern and southern countries, for example Germany has a 7.6 % rate, while Greece is up to 59 %.

A common framework of policies is necessary to wake up from this nightmare or at least try to.

“6 billion euros are going to be invested”

Recently an EU summit was held in Italy on jobs and growth, but the results were not as positive as expected, leaders from Germany, Italy and France left without any deal, they didn’t manage to agree on any point.

Regarding further measures, 6 billion euros are going to be invested by Europe to tackle youth unemployment in 2014 and 2015. The question is will these funds be correctly invested?

Hopefully we will see some results.

People are feeling more and more betrayed.

Let’s analyze the situation in different countries:

Part 1: Austria: Much to do and no results – the Austrian unemployment situation in 2014

Part 2: Italy: A nation on hold losing its youth. The struggles young people have to face to find a job are multiple: a generation struggle, a bureaucracy struggle, and many more, that is why the rate of Italian emigrants keeps growing.

Part 3: Switzerland: Unemployment rates not too bad – youth unemployment rates not too good!

About the authors:

Alessandra, Maximilian and Jeannie come from different European countries and are members of the Youth Council for the Future. They jointly discussed unemployment and what that means in their respective home countries . Together they built up the Council working group “Employment”. Learn more

 

 

 

Youth on Europe

Posted on by Simona Mihalca
Youth Council Panel discussion with MEP Elmar Brok
Simona (3rd from left side) at the Youth Council Panel discussion with MEP Elmar Brok (4th from left side) at the Steigenberger Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany.

2 months ago I received a very special invitation, one to be part of a discussion forum in Frankfurt on 14 November 2014. Known as “Youth on Europe – Regionalisation of the EU”, it was meant to introduce Mr Elmar Brok. He has been a German Member of the European Parliament for almost 35 years and is the current Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.

“We have done our research, read all there was to be, followed closely news and foreign affairs.”

As a member of the YCF I had a chance to meet him, along with 4 of my colleagues and be part of a discussion panel on Regionalisation of the EU. We may not have been experts, but he surely was. We have done our research, read all there was to be, followed closely news and foreign affairs. Lastly, we packed and got on a plane to Frankfurt.

Coming back to this city was something I really looked forward to. It is the perfect mix of a small town and a big town, new and old. It has something for everyone. And, of course, I got to meet with my colleagues and the awesome guys who run the “My Europe” Initiative. After spending some time in the city and meeting for a small teambuilding it was time to head for the event.

The first thing that could tell us this would be a special night was laying eyes on the hotel. The event was held in the fanciest most elegant one I have seen, bar none. We got there early to plan and prepare. Changed the strategy a bit and patiently waited for the distinguished guests to arrive.

Meeting Mr Brok was something much better than expected. While I had a great opinion of his person, I was so pleasantly surprised to see how nice and approachable he was, how eager to discuss with you, how for him each and every one of us and what we had to say mattered. We bonded over some political small talk and then got to our seats.

Now was not the moment to be nervous. We were supposed to debate European policy and try to come up with sensible answers and pertinent solutions, while in the presence of such distinguished members. And let’s not forget, all of it was broadcasted over the internet. That was all, nothing to worry about.

“[T]he more independence a region has, the more independence it wants.”

I could not tell you what exactly we have talked about. Of course, regionalisation in general and specific cases of Scotland and Catalonia were the main topics of the evening. It was so interesting to hear what our distinguished guest had to say. We did not have any big breakthroughs on the issues of Europe, but it definitely was a learning experience for me. Mr Brok said that, the more independence a region has, the more independence it wants. When writing a constitution or when redacting laws one must always bear in mind that, in order to respect the nature of a unitary state, all regions should be equal. A parent is never supposed to love one child more, let alone show it.

I will let the video (and respectively us) speak for itself, as you can watch the panel on the “My Europe” website and we urge you to do so. It is always interesting to see people coming together from different countries, different cultures, people who have learned and live different things. You are what Europe is all about: “United in Diversity”. That is one motto we stand by at “My Europe”.

I would like once again to thank Mr Brok, the amazing people from “My Europe” who organized this event and took care of us, our distinguished guests and all of you guys and girls at home who watch us, who read what we write, who are invested in what we do.

Auf Wiedersehen, Frankfurt!

 

Simona, Member of the Youth Council for the future, Spotlight EuropeSimona (19) is member of the Youth Council for the Future.  She joined “My Europe” after the workshop in Bucharest in 2011.

Careers in Today’s Europe

Posted on by Federico Ghizzoni

When you finish school and embark on a career, we expect a better Europe. These days, almost a quarter of young Europeans in the labor market are unable to find a job, according to a European Commission report last year. The same report also found that our unemployment rate in the EU is the highest in world outside of the Middle East and Africa – right now, more than 5.5 million young Europeans do not have jobs.

Of even more concern, the report found that 7.5 million young Europeans between the ages of 15 and 24 years old are not employed, not in school and not in training. Even when the European economy improves, whether you want to have a high-flying career or just a steady job, an education will remain the best way to reach your goal. If you leave school before obtaining any degrees, or if you only receive the lowest possible degree, you will hardly stand out when you look for work.

People quit school for many reasons, and the EU has embarked on structural reforms to help overcome this problem. We now understand that the overriding reason young people are having trouble advancing is that they lack skills relevant to the workplace. That is why we need more robust education-to-employment systems in Europe.

This means that, as a young European who will be looking for work in the coming years, you probably will not get your desired job immediately. Nevertheless, there are some things you can do to set yourself up for your future:

  • take the opportunity to continue to educate yourself
  • balance education with a profession by getting a part-time job while you study
  • be flexible and ready to change, either by switching to a different company or to a different position in the same company
  • believe in your own ideas and be known and appreciated by teachers and colleagues
  • persevere and don’t get discouraged – employers love positive and enthusiastic people

Of course, employers must also make sure that young talent is not wasted. At UniCredit, we are trying to do our part in three different ways:

First, we are promoting studies in economics, finance, law, politics and social sciences. We do this through the UniCredit & Universities Foundation, which supports promising students and researchers, offers grants and awards for scientific publications and promotes numerous initiatives in cooperation with Europe’s main universities.

Second, to help foster the young talent among our more than 147,000 employees at UniCredit, I have also made it a priority to build a workforce based on merit. The quality of a person’s work depends on many factors, including what he or she knows and has experienced, how he or she performs in different scenarios, and how he or she manages relations with colleagues and clients. To hire or promote someone based on those traits is the definition of meritocracy.

Most big companies understand the right attitude and personality are needed to develop a true meritocracy. UniCredit hires people through an impartial process that values the knowledge and skills of the candidate, and whether he or she shares the values of our Integrity Charter: fairness, transparency, respect, freedom to act, trust and reciprocity.

With greater meritocracy in Europe, we will be better equipped to compete at the international level. In the last two decades, productivity per hour has increased by 10 percent in Spain, 20 percent in France and Germany, and 30 percent in the US. In Italy, meanwhile, productivity per hour has not changed. Clearly we must do better.

Third, to enhance the quality of work among our people at UniCredit, I firmly believe in the power of feedback. It is often difficult to hear criticism from others, but accepting constructive feedback is critical to improving yourself – it helps you to better see your strengths and pinpoint where to focus your efforts. An honest assessment is the secret to creating a meritocracy, and it is also how you can better understand what you want out of your future career.

Performance evaluations can sometimes frustrate or discourage us, but they are essential for successful development. They help give responsibility to those who deserve it, recognize potential and reward hard work. This type of feedback is so important that at UniCredit, we now conduct annual performance evaluations for both managers and staff.

When you embark on your own careers, it is my hope that you are equipped with the right competencies, hired based on your proven skills and potential, and you are comfortable giving and receiving productive feedback. Given the initiatives being planned or currently underway, I am optimistic that Europe is turning the corner, and that more employment opportunities will become available for new entrants to the job market. Success in this area is essential to ensuring Europe remains a key player on the global stage for years to come.

About the author:

Federico GhizzoniFederico Ghizzoni is Chief Executive Officer of UniCredit S.p.A. with almost 150.000 employees. Since 2012 he supports the “My Europe” Initiative as a Member of the Board of Patrons for European Youth. more…

 

PS: Federico Ghizzoni will gladly answer all questions you might have. However, due to time constraints, he cannot do so regularly. We will collect your questions and comments that have been submitted until and including November 21, 2014, and will pass them on to him. For all questions submitted after that, we cannot guarantee an answer.

The Future of Higher Education

Posted on by Elena Draghici

Davide Cannata is the Deputy Chairman of our Youth Council for the Future and represented us and “My Europe” during the IE University’s International Conference on Reinventing Higher Education as a panelist. I have met with him to talk about his experiences.

 

The IE University has recently organized the 5th edition of their International Conference on Reinventing Higher Education in which you participated. What was this year’s theme of discussion and who were the attendees?

The conference was composed of 4 different panels. I participated in the introductory one, called “Beyond Bologna, targeting new priorities in Higher Education”. The main topics were core-competencies, innovation, employability, international programs, flexible curriculum and evaluation. Four more people were talking in the introductory session: Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin, researcher at the OECD; Thomas Estermann, representative of the European Universities Association; Paul Norris, from UK NARIC and Kurt Deketelaere from the League of European Research Universities.

 

Regarding the Bologna Process and its implementation, were the opinions of the representatives of different professional fields convergent or divergent? Were their opinions different from the insight that you, as a student, have on higher education?

Summing up, I found that common positions were more frequent than the divergences. Most of the people at the conference agreed on the importance of the Bologna Process as well as the consistently insufficient results. The ambition of the process was in fact undermined by the actual implementation in the European framework. For example, countries are still really different in terms of the amount of funds given to higher education.

 

Were there solutions proposed for the discussed issues regarding Bologna or was it only a problem-finding session?

The goal of the conference couldn’t have been a problem solving role. That would have required a discussion of the present laws, the agreement of different representatives and much more time. We can say that it was a problem and opportunities-finding session. The main question was: What can we do to align university with the rapidly changing contemporary world? So it was necessary both to find problems and to present new needs and discoveries.

Davide speaks during the panel “Beyond Bologna, targeting new priorities in Higher Education” (Credit: IE University)
What was the consensus on the liberty students should have on choosing subjects and managing their studies? How much freedom is enough for comfort but complying with the credits system and the established curricula?

It was a hot topic and it mixed two different ideas of student flexibility. Flexibility about the subjects and flexibility about how to confront the subject. Those who saw flexibility mainly as the choice of subjects were mainly apposing too much of it. Although it might be cool studying a bit of political sciences, a bit of economics and a bit of philosophy (just to make an example), the resulting profile could not meet the criteria required to enter the professional world. More positive was the vision of those who considered flexibility especially as concerning a more flexible work of the students inside their classes. It was differentiated between the possibility of being flexible at different levels (bachelor-master-PhD) and the general idea was that flexibility can augment through the education.

 

How are evaluation methods to be changed/improved? How much regulation is enough for an objective comparison of results but not restrictive of the universities’/instructors’ liberty to choose how to grade their exams?

This was another important topic. Here the main problem seems to be the different way of evaluating people across different countries. In Italy, for example, oral sessions are more common, while in Spain most of the evaluation works through multiple choice exams. Furthermore, it’s really different to convert the grades from one nation to another and it is a problem during international exchange. There should be a better understanding of the main goal of grading students: Is it about giving them a score to present to companies (that in most of the cases are not so concerned about it) or giving them a feedback, a confrontation and a further learning moment? Choices of evaluation methods should start from there.

 

Overall, how was your experience at the conference? Have any prospective themes been proposed for next year’s conference?

My experience was really satisfying. My voice was recognized and it flattered me. Moreover, I learnt many things from different people talking about the future of European Education. What was underlined by many was that in the process of forming competitive professionals, it is always important to focus on the core competencies of the students. Internships were also viewed as an important way to contribute to the professional growth of a student. There wasn’t a proposal to set up next year’s agenda. I hope that what has been discussed at the RHE conference will be material for political discussions in the coming years.

 

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I would just like to thank you for the interview and wish you the best.

 

Thank you, Davide!

 

About the interviewer:

Picture Elena DraghiciElena (20) is a member of the Youth Council for the Future. She is involved in “My Europe” since the workshop in Bucharest in 2011.

“New Anti-Semitism”

Posted on by Anissa Asli

As a young adult in Germany, the acts of cruelty of World War II were present in the education and socialization of each of us. At primary school we experienced through the Diary of Anne Frank how a girl of the same age suffered under the hateful ideology of National Socialists. Followed by additional trips to different meeting points, to Holocaust- memorials, also to concentration camps, I have never lost the feeling, I was educated in the “feelings of guilt”, which I have never felt. Till this day I do not feel so.

Every human born guilty? – The great difference between a collective guilt and a collective responsibility

The European concept of what it means to be human is based on the idea that everyone should become an authentic person discovering his/her own liberty through the use of reason. Taking into account this understanding of humanity, it is important to make a distinction: There is a big difference between a collective guilt and a collective responsibility. I am innocent of the crimes of Nazism. Neither the German legal system nor the European know a transmissible guilt. Every single individual has to assume responsibility for his/her own action. My generation is born a half a century after the Second World War. How could we be guilty then? Exactly this is where the collective responsibility becomes important. I am consciously talking about a collective one. Therefore it is not just a German or Austrian, it is a global – a human responsibility. This responsibility includes two obligations for each of us: Firstly to recognize the abomination of any anti-Semitic ideology. The cruelty of anti-Semitism should not be called into question. The second obligation goes further: It means the responsibility to combat and to respond to every expression of anti-Semitism.

Wrong education of young Europeans?

Nowadays there is a dangerous trend: Specific groups of the population, mostly minorities, are increasingly discriminated. Especially the mass media stir up new prejudices. It is a fatal mistake to impose different roles on children: Jewish children and adolescents should not take the passive “role of the victim”, as well others should not be educated in “feelings of guilt”. We should free ourselves from historical roles and understand that only self-confident adolescents can reflect the failures of the past, learn from them and avoid them in the future. In a society characterized by diversity, every part of society should “show its face”. But “Showing face” assumes that all of us have the possibility to approach the past without any impartiality.

Focusing on that point, I think it would be better to teach young Europeans not just the historical facts and horror, but rather how to deal with history. A good historical education should put methods and tools into the hands of the next generation to help them to develop constant principles and maxim.

“European values”: universal rights or privilege?

The European Union is a community based on values, such as the rule of law, human rights or protection of minorities. Even if these are often declared as “European values“, they are nevertheless values of humanity. Maybe the emphasis of “European values“ seems necessary, because they have been violated in such a brutal manner during the first part of the 20th century. It is an appeal to all human beings, to all politicians and decision-makers to make sure that we remain innocent.

human rights
Human rights and European values need to be universally applied (Flickr:Catching.Light/licensed under CC BY 2.0)

However, a lot has been said in media about a “New Anti- Semitism”. In essence, it means the same sickening ideology and vision of the world declaring Judaism as “the evil”. The only new thing about this anti-Semitism may be the criminal groups. Also and especially in view of the conflict in the Middle East the term of “Anti-Semitism” runs through the Western reporting. In my opinion too careless and sometimes not reflected upon at all. Actually there are a lot of anti-Semitic statements hidden behind the freedom of opinion, which a democracy provides for citizens. Anti-Semitism starts, where Israel is regarded as “the representative of the Jewish faith”, where a construct of a categorical “good” and “evil” is established. But it is a fatal error to declare every criticism directed towards Israel as a state or Israeli policy trends as anti-Semitic. A “club” of a categorical anti-Semitism suspicion damages the democratic culture of debate. This culture teaches us to adopt a well-considered stance- The respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are non-negotiable. Everything else is- at least in the context of the democratic culture of debate. In Europe there exists no legal vacuum: In the 21st century there is a consensus of humanity teaching us the equal treatment of each human being. Resulting from this fact, everyone should apply the same yardstick across the political spectrum. So how seriously do we take our “Europeans values”, our “democratic culture” if their applicability is for disposal?

History can not disqualify one from making moral judgments! On the contrary, the past teaches us to assume more responsibility. If we want to remain innocent, we have to!

About the author:

Picture Anissa AsliAnissa (21) is a member of the Youth Council for the Future. She started being active in the “My Europe” Initiative in 2011.

Unfinished Struggles

Posted on by Tomas Vanheste

I was touched when I recently read the memoires of Paul-Henri Spaak, the Belgium socialist statesman and one of the founding fathers of the European Union. How beautiful to see the passion of the man who in the middle of the fifties headed the group that worked on the Treaty of Rome (1957), the treaty establishing the European Economic Community.

The negotiations between the founding countries were not always easy. Sometimes simple issues like duties on bananas seemed insurmountable obstacles.

‘When I ran out of arguments and patience, I declared that I gave the struggling parties two hours to come to an agreement,’ Spaak writes in his memoires. ‘Otherwise I would invite the press and tell them that it was impossible to build Europe because we could not solve the issue of bananas.’

They made it. When the Treaty was signed on the 25th of March 1957, ‘the clocks of Rome sounded at full strength, to greet the birth of the New Europe,’ Spaak wrote. In his eyes it marked ‘the triumph of the spirit of cooperation and the defeat of egoistic nationalism’.

I work for the Dutch online journalism platform De Correspondent. At De Correspondent we don’t believe in absolutely independent journalism. Of course we strive to be open-minded and not driven by ideology. But we choose to show the parti pris everyone has and that journalists normally feel obliged to hide. I fully confess that I have warm feelings for Spaaks ideals, for the attempt to overcome narrow nationalism and seek common understanding and cooperation on our war-torn continent.

Just like the European Union, De Correspondent is a project of collaboration. We believe the time in which the journalist told “the truth” to the reader and simply sent his message to him, is over. We want to take the readers with us on our journalistic adventure. Under our articles readers have the possibility not to react, but to contribute, and to mention their field of expertise. Often very interesting debates take place on our site. Readers share their ideas with us and give us suggestions for research we have to do and new articles we have to write.

De Correspondent is made possible by our members. We started a year ago after setting a world record in crowd funding for journalism. We proved that it is not true that people do not want to pay for journalism on the internet. Maybe not for news, but our goal is to not to provide news. We want to delve deeper and to write background articles on the reality behind the headlines. On our site we have no advertisements, to avoid flickering banners and give a comfortable reading experience, but also to make sure that advertisers don’t have any influence on what we write.

At the moment about thirty correspondents work for us, each with their own field of expertise. I myself am ‘Correspondent Europe between power and imigination’. As I said, I have strong feelings for the European idea. But that doesn’t make me an uncritical sympathiser of the European Union as it is. On the contrary. My research as a journalist shows that there is a lot wrong with the EU. Lobbies often have too much influence on the making of European laws. Although the European parliament has become more and more powerful, many Europeans do not feel they are represented by it. And the EU wants to be a ‘strong global actor’, but often the member states act on their own in foreign policy.

The memoires that Spaak published in 1969 have the tittle ‘Combats inachevés, Unfinished struggles. The part in which he writes about the EU is titled:  ‘de l’espoir au déceptions’, from hope to deception. In the last chapter Spaak writes about the crisis of 1965, when France stayed away from European meetings, protesting against the plans for a common agricultural policy.

Fifty years later we are maybe in an even deeper crisis. How to overcome the economic malaise we’re suffering from for years already?  How to regain believe in the Europaean project in times of rising euroscepsis? How to find an answer to the chaos and the violence near our borders and really become a strong global actor?

As ‘correspondent’ I want to find out how Europe tries to find answers to these difficult questions and to renew itself. Not only the European Union, De Correspondent is also an ‘unfinished struggle.’ Indeed, in both cases we have just begun.

About the author:

Tomas VanhesteTomas Vanheste is journalist with the innovative online media platform De Correspondent in the Netherlands. more…