Europees Economisch en Sociaal Comité organiseert voor 150 studenten plenaire zitting over werkgelegenheid jongeren (en)

On Friday 6 May, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC i) will host a day-long simulated plenary session for about 150 secondary school students and their teachers from the 27 EU countries. Aided by EESC Members and experts, the students will have the task of debating and agreeing an opinion on "Youth on the move", the European initiative aimed at helping youngsters get their first job. The plenary session will be chaired by Anna Maria Darmanin, EESC Vice-President.

In what is a second edition of the event launched and successfully conducted in 2010, participating schools were selected at random from almost a thousand applications from 27 Member States.

Participants will be welcomed by Ms. Darmanin, EESC Group Presidents and members, by Evelyn Regner i MEP and Mr. Csaba Káncz from the cabinet of Commissioner Andor i, who is responsible for the initiative under discussion at this mock plenary session. Pupils will also meet a number of stakeholders and experts, including Ms. Juliane Bir from the European Trade Union Confederation, Ms. Katarina Nevedalova i, Vice-President of the European Youth Forum and Mr Guillaume Cravero from BusinessEurope.

Reflecting the real structure of the Committee, students will be divided into three groups: employers, workers and various interests. They will argue, discuss, and submit amendments according to their respective groups' priorities.

In the run-up to the event, the participating schools received the EESC draft opinion on "Youth on the Move" to which they were allowed to table amendments. These amendments will be discussed at the plenary session and, if approved, will feed into the final text of the opinion.

Furthermore, in order to prepare for the event, in February and March all participating schools were visited by EESC members, who discussed European affairs with the students, answered their questions and outlined how EESC Plenary Sessions are run.

The students will be in Brussels for three days and their stay will include participation in the open days organised in the EU institutions.