Project Events from Oct. 2018 – Marc. 2020

8 events events have been carried out within this project:

Event 1: Kickoff meeting – ALTEA (Spain)

Participation: The event involved  71 citizens, including  50  participants fromthe city ofAltea (Spain), 31 participants from the city of Warsaw (Poland), 3 participants from the city of Noto(Italy), 3 participants from the city of Athienou (Cyprus), 3 participants from the city of  Brussels (Belgium), 3 participants from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia), 3 participants from the city of Sofia (Bulgaria) and 3 participants from the city of Elassonas (Greece).

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Location / Dates: The event took place in Altea (Spain), from  29/10/2018  to 30/10/2018
Short description:  The rise of Euroscepticism”

“The rise of Euroscepticism”

The Yourope international meeting organized in Altea (“The rise of Euroscepticism”), has been developed as follows:

1. Monday, October 29, opening with the Mayor’s welcome speech.

Subsequently, the Councilor for Finance made a presentation of the municipality of Altea and the person responsible for the European Projects Office presented the Office and the projects and programs in which Altea is participating.

2. Next, the rest of European partners (Slovenia, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Bulgaria and Italy), made up of both City Councils and Foundations, made a presentation (PPT) of their respective regions.

3. The second part of the morning event was based on the presentation of Europe Direct in the Valencian Community, by Ana Alonso as head of the Europe Direct Valencian Community Office where participants discussed about European Policies and European Diffusion.

4. Next participants had the honor of having as guests Mr. Enric Nomdedeu iBiosca, General Director for Valencian Employment Service, and Mrs. DaríaTerradezSalom, General Director for Relations with the European Union and the State. With the presence of these authorities, the debate was focused on, “Comundad Valenciana in Europe”, where participants were able to know about  the recent socio-economic history of the Comunidad Valenciana in the European context, the current socioeconomic situation, youth unemployment, economic data , etc., as well as the Comunidad Valenciana in the Europe of the Regions, and the use of European funds for the period 2014-2020, the policies that have been carried out in relation to European funds, European opportunities for young people and the promotion and enhancement of European citizenship.

5. We close the morning session and start the afternoon session with a cultural exchange between the different Altea associations and the YOUROPE project partners. In this exchange workshop participants discussed 4 different themes, youth, cultural related to traditions and festivals, music and foreigners in Altea.

6. The second day was made up of two parts, a first part that covered the entire morning of Tuesday, October 30, where it was focused on project coordination so that members were able to work on agendas, calendars, budgets, obligations, how we want to work together, the creation of our alliance, communication tasks between partners, communication, dissemination and impact of the project, and logos, following the guidelines of the Europe for Citizens program and strengthening the YOUROPE team.

7. The afternoon had a very interesting topic, the Intergenerational Debate, which was focus on “Euroscepticism: the importance of the EU”. The idea was that this main topic was subdivided in turn into 4 debate subtopics. With this dynamic, we intended to analyse the problem of Euroscepticism and how to face this challenge.

Event 2: WARSAW (Poland)

Participation: The event involved  46citizens, including  3  participants fromthe city ofAltea (Spain), 31 participants from the city of Warsaw (Poland), 2 participants from the city of Noto(Italy), 2 participants from the city of Athienou (Cyprus), 2 participants from the city of  Brussels (Belgium), 2 participants from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia), 2 participants from the city of Sofia (Bulgaria) and 2 participants from the city of Elassona (Greece).

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Location/ Dates: The event took place inWarsaw (Poland), from  21/02/2019  to 22/02/2019
Short description:  Euroscepticism between truth and lie”

Day 1st: 21st

February 2019

During the workshops, young people from, among others, Bulgaria, Italy, Cyprus and Spain discussed how Euroscepticism manifests in their homelands. Their task was to focus mainly on whether the national media in general focus on the problems of the European Union and how they describe them. The participants worked in mixed groups, thanks to which everyone could get acquainted with the situation of a state in a completely different part of Europe.

The conclusions were very similar, and among the problems mentioned was weak interest and ignorance of citizens about the function and structure of the European Union, blaming it for crisis in such countries, prejudices in connection with the conflict. There appeared also the thesis, that in many cases, these negative opinions are the responsibility of the media, which base their message on false and selected information, thus manipulating public opinion.

Day 2nd: 22nd

February 2019

During the workshop “Euroscepticism between truth and a lie”, guests played the role of journalists. They were divided into teams and went on the streets to ask citizens, what they think about the European Union. After the probe was completed, all groups presented their results.

On the same afternoon, the Creative Lab took place on the use of new technologies in the fight against the phenomenon of Euroscepticism and the possibility of promoting proeuropean attitudes in the EU Member States. The participants had the opportunity to become familiar with marketing tactics as well as the possibilities offered by individual social media.

The workshop plan also included a place to discuss the differences between persuasion and propaganda. They were presented on the basis of an internet campaign before the last presidential election in the United States. At the end, participants were given two tasks to develop in two-person groups. The first concerned a campaign on social media, which would strengthen the European community in local communities. The second task was to develop a website layout for YOUrope Project.

Event 3: ATHIENOU (Cyprus),

Participation: The event involved44 citizens, including  3  participants fromthe city ofAltea (Spain), 2 participants from the city of Warsaw (Poland), 2 participants from the city of Noto(Italy), 29 participants from the city of Athienou (Cyprus), 2 participants from the city of  Brussels (Belgium), 2 participants from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia), 2 participants from the city of Sofia (Bulgaria) and 2 participants from the city of Elasona (Greece).

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Location/ Dates: The event took place in Athienou (Cyprus), from  10/04/2019  to 14/04/2019
Short description:  Eu and me

The first day of the meeting, that took place at the Municipal Centre for the Youth of Athienou on the 11 th April, started with the registration of the participants. The Mayor of Athienou Mr Kyriacos Kareklas welcomed all and he outlined the intensive work that would take place the two days of the meeting. He explained that the setup in the meeting venue was such that small group of people, from different cities, to be together and to be able to discuss the various matters that would come up at the meeting.

Then Ms Natalia Hurtado Miralles, on behalf of the Lead partner, Municipality of Altea, outlined various items of the work of the project so far, like the Working Group of each partner and how it should stay mobilised, the Local Actions and the preparation of minutes and other supporting documents. She also spoke about the project implementation so far and the next steps in the project.

Afterwards all the participants visited the nearby Monk Kallinikos house, where volunteers of the Municipality presented the production of dairy products -Cyprus cheese “halloumi” and others and a coffee break was given, with the produced products and others.

Returning to the Venue, all the participants attended the Group Activity “What is the EU doing?”, where experts and participants discussed on the application of EU policies at regional and local level; they also played the game Scavenger Hunt “Where is the EU?”, where participants were divided into groups and after instructions they received, they were asked to find the EU flag on the works of the city. The aim of this game was to realise the importance of the EU funding in the local initiatives.

Then the participants returned to the Venue, where they continued with the Creative Lab “My wishes”. Participants were encouraged to express freely their wishes regarding the European Union by Instagram. After a nice lunch, all gathered in the meeting Venue, where there was a presentation by Dr MichaelangeloAnastasiou, Doctor of Sociology, about “EU Challenges”. The presentation was very interesting and all the participants contributed to the debate with questions and suggestions.

The day closed with a session of questions and answers about the subjects discussed at this first day. At 20.30 a dinner was given at a local restaurant.

The second day of the meeting, that took place at the Kallinikeio Municipal Museum on the 12th April, started with the registration of the participants. Then an interesting presentation was given by Andreas Kettis, Head of the European Parliament Office in Cyprus, about the subject “The European Elections of 23-26 May 2019 and their importance for the Future of Europe”.

MrKettis answered many questions that the participants made. He introduced all participants to the website “This time I’m Voting” and guided them for signing up and joining this campaign.

Then 7 Junior Ambassadors of the lyceum of Agios Georgios, Larnaca, presented their work through power point presentation and showed a film prepared for the campaign “This time I’m Voting”. This was a European Journey, about Benefits, Worries and Euroscepticism. After that a group of other 7 students of the Museum School of Larnaca sang songs relevant to the event.

After the coffee break a presentation of the Transfer Network “Volunteering Cities” and the Good Practice of Volunteerism of Athienou was given, by the Mayor of Athienou Kyriacos Kareklas and then a presentation of the Kallinikeio Municipal Museum, by the Curator Ms Noni Papoui.

The meeting continued with the participation of all the participants, holding the flags of their countries and walking in the streets of Athienou asking locals if they could recognise from which country they came from. Through this a video was produced promoting EU elections and sharing the spirit that ‘‘United we are stronger’’. Returning to the Meeting Venue, an evaluation of the meeting in Athienou, Cyprus took place, with a strategic plan for upcoming steps in the project and the meeting ended with very good results.

At 20.30 a farewell dinner was given at a local restaurant.

 

Event 4: NOTO (Italy)

Participation: The event involved  46citizens, including  3  participants fromthe city ofAltea (Spain), 2 participants from the city of Warsaw (Poland), 31 participants from the city of Noto(Italy), 2 participants from the city of Athienou (Cyprus), 2 participants from the city of  Brussels (Belgium), 2 participants from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia), 2 participants from the city of Sofia (Bulgaria) and 2 participants from the city  Agia (Greece).

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Location / Dates: The event took place in Noto (Italy), from  11/06/2019  to 12/06/2019
Short description:  Facing the Eu Challenges

11 th JUNE

The first day was divided in two moments. The morning was partly dedicated to discussing the project development by reviewing the Project dissemination outputs and comparing ideas and suggestions coming from each representative, included the new partner from Greece, Municipality of Agia. Following this, all the project members took place to the Creative Lab “My wishes”, consisting on expressing wishes about positive solutions to the EU challenges and choosing the most suitable for a future declaration through voting. On the other hand, unfortunately, serious family reasons did not allow Dr. Sergio Campanella to hold the scheduled workshop on “How are Local Communities facing the EU challenges”.

In the afternoon, all the Yourope members attended the conference on “How is Europe facing the EU challenges?” held by Dr. Davide C. Crimi, independent researcher and past Europe Direct Catania manager. Emanuele Scieri, representative of Municipality of Noto as a project animator, and Alberto Lorente, representative of Municipality of Altea and main coordinator of the Project, were the conference moderators. Four major theme were discussed: 1) the threat of Nationalism, 2) Political and Economic inequality, 3) Democratic deficit, 4) Immigration and refugees. The discussion was actively participated by the attendants through questions from the audience.

12 th JUNE

In the morning of the second day the participants held an approximately two-hour debate on the results of the EU elections and future EU challenges (Agenda 2030). This was followed by another two-hour discussion aiming to laying the foundation for an official Project declaration. The necessary steps were clearly explained to the project members by the main coordinator of the Project Alberto Lorente. Following this, important suggestions about how to proceed in the declaration realisation were added by Juan Manuel Revuelta, Director General of Finnova Foundation and representative of Bruxells. Among the point of the declaration, the wished concerning positive solutions to solve the EU problems were taken into account.

The afternoon was spent by all the project members in going sightseeing around Noto city centre though a guided tour of the city. The last activity was the air creative work “Yourope by salt”, which involved all the participants in the realisation of a salt drawing of the Project Logo for a public exposition.

Conclusions and evaluations about the meeting in Noto and suggestions on how to move forward in the project implementation also took part at the end of the meeting.

Event 5: AGIA (Greece)

Participation: The event involved  47citizens, including  3  participants fromthe city ofAltea (Spain), 2 participants from the city of Warsaw (Poland), 2 participants from the city of Noto(Italy), 2 participants from the city of Athienou (Cyprus), 2 participants from the city of  Brussels (Belgium), 2 participants from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia), 2 participants from the city of Sofia (Bulgaria) and 32 participants from the city  Agia (Greece).

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Location / Dates: The event took place in Agia (Greece), from  2/09/2019  to 5/09/2019
Short description:  Me, around EU

On the first day of the meeting the project partners visited the Cultural Center “Chrysallida” in Agia, where they were welcomed by the Deputy Mayor Mr Petros Barberis, who is in charge for Youth and Equality Matters. MrBarberis expressed the great pleasure of the Mayor of AgiaMrAntonisGkountaras to host the project YOUROPE in the Municipality of Agia and also the will for contribution and active participation for the successful implementation of the project.

Mr Alberto Lorente Saiz, on behalf of the Municipality of Altea, which is the Lead partner, presented a review of the Project dissemination outputs, discussed with the participants in detail about ideas and suggestions on the implementation of the project and also referred to the way that the Project implementation should be monitored at local level in each partner country.

A very important and interesting discussion about the project declaration was the next part of the meeting. Mr Alberto Lorente Saiz presented the draft of the declaration first and all of the partners commented on it and made their proposals on the final text. All of the issues that are mentioned in it were discussed in detail as a result of the effort of the partners.

Afterwards the representatives of Finnova presented the final meeting in Brussels and their proposals about it. They explained their idea of organizing a meeting that will include the participation of every country’s European Parliament Members and also the participation of a larger number of representatives from each country.

A short while later the workshop “Hi, my name is Europe!” took place. And everybody had the opportunity to talk about the engagement of young people in activities involving the values and ideas of the E.U. in their place.

At noon the participants had lunch in Metaxohori where they had the opportunity to meet the members of the Social Cooperative Enterprise “Agieus” which is an entity that promotes a different approach of helping unemployed people reenter the labour market.

In the afternoon the project partners took part at a guided tour at the Castle of Velika, one of the most important archaeological sites in our region, whose history starts in Ancient Greece and keeps on to the period of the Byzantine Empire.

In the evening all of the participants visited the concert at the “Apple Feast” in Agia and had the opportunity to enjoy the feast together with the locals.

The second day of the meeting started with the gamification workshop “Reflecting about European Principles”. A game, where participants were divided into groups and answered to the questions that were found on links supported by the E.U. After that and after the instructions they received, they were asked to play a role game named “Me on a Gullivert map”. The aim of this game was to realise the things that bring us all together and that make the E.U. important to each one of us. There were three different groups that worked on each one of the maps and that presented their ideas about the E.U. This was the start of the Social Network Marathon as every team published photos of its map and its teamwork.

After a nice lunch by the beach, the participants visited the Church Museum where they had the opportunity to see icons and other exhibits from the 13th century and additionally they visited St Anthony’s church, who is the patron saint of Agia.

Then started the preparations for the Workshop at the Apple Feast – Reflecting the ideas and values of YOUROPE to the local community. All gathered at the main square in Agia where the Exhibition for the Apple Feast was and prepared the ingredients for making traditional sweets with apples together with the locals. For three hours the cooperation, the contribution, the support and the team work of people from so many different countries where a wonderful example of the real meaning of the living together in the E.U. More than 300 people supported this event with their presence. Local member associations and pastry chefs were involved and the result was happiness, joy and a very much bigger YOUROPE family.

At 21.00 a farewell dinner was given at a local restaurant. A wonderful project meeting had come to an end but a much more wonderful friendship among the participants of YOUROPE was there awaiting the next meeting!

 

Event 6: PLOVDIV (Bulgaria)

Participation: The event involved  47citizens, including  3  participants fromthe city ofAltea (Spain), 2 participants from the city of Warsaw (Poland), 2 participants from the city of Noto(Italy), 2 participants from the city of Athienou (Cyprus), 2 participants from the city of  Brussels (Belgium), 2 participants from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia), 32 participants from the city of Sofia (Bulgaria) and 2 participants from the city  Agia (Greece).

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Location / Dates: The event took place in Plovdiv (Bulgaria), from  13/10/2019  to 16/10/2019
Short description:  Me, inside EU

6 th International Meeting Report

On the first day of the meeting the project partners had the opportunity to start the day with a professional tour guide and to explore the ancient city of Plovdiv (European Capital of Culture 2019). They’ve visited all the important landmarks of the city, which makes it so unique and diverse, that’s it’s a symbol for tolerance and inclusion of different races and religions through the history dating back 8000 years. After the exploration, the participants took a little rest and time for self preparation before the official opening.

They were welcomed by Mr Kristiyan Andreev – President of Bulgarian Youth Association, who is the host and in charge of the Bulgarian partnership of the project, together with Ms Paloma Verdu as representative of the LEAD partner, they’ve expressed their gratitude to the rest of the representatives for the great work from the previous meetings and wished everyone an active and successful contribution to the implementation of the project, as the final meeting of the Construction Phase.

Mr Kristiyan Andreev opened the sessions with firstly presenting the initiatives done by Bulgarian Youth Association since it’s foundation in 2014 and as well videos/presentations of Plovdiv and Bulgaria in order to break the ice.

Later Ms Paloma Verdu took lead in the Project General Implementation “Where are we now so far?”, where we’ve discussed about what happened so far, what local actions and disseminations have been done and how is generally the project implemented with an active discussion and where it’s leading to.

After the overview of the project, the next session “My role in the European society” started with people getting divided in smaller groups with different topics in order to brainstorm on what is the meaning of active citizenship and our role in civic life in Europe. Each group had limited time to brainstorm and later they were going clockwise to the next paper question. Eventually each group had the opportunity to present the final ideas they had (with a discussion held by all the groups).

The final activity of the day was also the most fruitful one. The topic was “Our Euro- space. Through different methods and brainstorming, the groups engaged in a deep conversation and discussion about the European youth needs, where many points and views were carried out. A lot was learned.

The evening finished with a traditional Bulgarian dinner in order to experience the local culture.

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On the last activity day, we’ve made a little timeline exchange in order to fit better  the activities and the group. We’ve started with presentation of MasterPeace Foundation and MasterPeace Bulgaria and spoke about peace, stability, security and sustainability through volunteerism, art and music, as Bulgarian Youth Association was deeply involved in this until 2016. There was also videos and presentation of the International Day of Peace, which is celebrated Worldwide on 21 st of September.

Later we’ve went outside to the local park and all the participants had to make a positive message on paper/emotion through acting and a video about Peace, as this is something, which is important not only for the stability of the European union, but as well, for the world.

Since Plovdiv is European capital of culture, we’ve visited Foundation Plovdiv 2019, which is managing all the events and organization of Plovdiv as such during all the years from a candidate to a full Culture capital. We’ve visited 2 art galleries and started our next task from there.

Again, the representatives were divided in groups and had to think for 2-3 questions on the topic of “What is the EU doing in order to improve my life?” and later, they had to interact/engage with the local people and make interviews with those questions and film it.

The most important part of the day was the conclusion of the Declaration and defining it’s dissemination strategy, led by Mrs Paloma Verdu. After a detailed presentation and the followed discussion with which the final dates of the Brussels meeting were decided as 01-04 February 2020. The Group had to make a message and a promotional video of the declaration itself. First it started with individual groups by nationalities and it ended with one whole group with common objectives in order to raise the awareness of the importance of the declaration. It wen’t really well and professionally done.

The end of the activities finished with the “Open space for suggestions”, for which the Polish representatives took initiative. They presented to us the communication channels where we can promote the declaration, the mass media and how news could be turned into fake news and how to be careful and try to prevent getting misinformed or to misinform others.

The day finished with a general evaluation of the meeting in Plovdiv, where everybody had the chance to express their gratitude to the hosts for the good organization.

The guests didn’t go with empty hands, as they were sent with hugs and gifts from Plovdiv for the way back.  The official night finished at the most traditional Bulgarian restaurant in Plovdiv and with a lot of dances and good emotions and memories which to carry on for the next stages. The unofficial night was an initiated karaoke among the members, people from different cultures and background singing together for the farewell all night and looking optimistic towards a better and united Europe!

 

Event 7: LJUBLJANA (Slovenia)

Participation: The event involved  67 citizens, including  3  participants fromthe city ofAltea (Spain), 3 participants from the city of Warsaw (Poland), 3 participants from the city of Noto(Italy), 3 participants from the city of Athienou (Cyprus), 3 participants from the city of  Brussels (Belgium), 46 participants from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia), 3 participants from the city of Sofia (Bulgaria) and 3 participants from the city  Agia (Greece).

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Location / Dates: The event took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 20/11/2019 to 23/11/2019

Short description:

In Slovenia, Ljubljana the prefinal stage of the project was implemented trough event number 7 where the participants embraced the EU is home stage of the project and preparations were put in place in order to prepare for the final concluding event in Brussels.

On the first day of the meetingprogramethe emphasis was put on the previous tasks completed and further details were forwarded in order to comply with the project management. The internal follow up was concluded with the short workplan for the street action which was aimed to local Slovenian population gathering impressions from pedestrians at the Ljubljana Centre square. The participants engaged, interviewed and recorded their interactions among different age groups to gather the responses of locals on the topic of their perception of EU.  After the street action the participants have expanded the knowledge on cultural heritage of city of Ljubljana trough a guided tour of historical centre of the capital of Slovenia. The lunch was organized in a special place with the aim to showcase a social business enterprise contributing towards migrant integration in the Slovenian society and to ensure the livelihood of migrants. The participants experienced different cuisine from the native countries prepared by migrants living in Slovenia. The rest of the programme was held in a special venue of House of Europe in Slovenia where they were greeted byMr.Zoran StančičHead of the European Commission Representation in Slovenia. The e vent continued withmoderated round table with youth. All international participants were tasked with guidance and support to Slovenian high school pupils during the round table with renown Slovenian politician and ex MEP, Mr. Ivo Vajgl. Round table was excellent opportunity for over 140 pupils of 3 rd grade of Gymnasium for direct interactions,discussing the current issues, forming views and planting foundations among the high school population for furtherdevelopment of interest in EU political agenda. Before the round table The Slovenian pupils have explored the interactive multimedia centre of House of Europe in Ljubljana and got to knowthe opportunities for formal and informal education through EU funded opportunities.

On the second day of the meeting the programme continued in the venue of the House of Europe where the active citizenship was addressed through the work of Slovenian NGOs dealing with migrant related issues. The representatives of Amnesty

International and SlovenskaFilantropija introduced their organizations and their work in this field which also sparked the debate among the participants on how the situation is dealt with in their countries. After the debate the participants continued with the group work on the final retouch of the project declaration for the public reading and sharing of ideas for dissemination of declaration. The work done in the street action was revised and viewed by all participants.After the group work meeting the programme concluded with the guided tour of Multimedia centre of the house of Europe and lecture with quiz where participants reinforced their knowledge on functioning of EU bodies and their role in decision making process. Also on the second day another round table with mr. Vajgl for 3 different classes of 3^rd grade pupils was held.

All the programme activities where implemented with the great impact from all participants which were also creators of parts of the program, mutual interactions among participants and active involvement was achieved through different work methods such us group work, rotations, quizzes, roleplay- making interviews, implementation of street action: ˝How should the perfect European Union be” (doing videos with locals) and excellent animation of the pupils at the round table.

The project event was officially concluded at the farewell dinner where participants got a little taste of typical local rural cuisine and got insight in the intangible cultural heritage and Slovenian folk traditions.

 

Event 8: BRUSSELS (Belgium)

Participation: The event involved  68citizens, including  3  participants fromthe city ofAltea (Spain), 3 participants from the city of Warsaw (Poland), 3 participants from the city of Noto(Italy), 3participants from the city of Athienou (Cyprus), 47 participants from the city of  Brussels (Belgium), 3 participants from the city of Ljubljana (Slovenia), 3 participants from the city of Sofia (Bulgaria) and 3 participants from the city  Agia (Greece).

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Location / Dates: The event took place in Brussels (Bulgaria), from  1/02/2020  to 4/02/2020
Short description:  I am  the EU

On the first day of the meeting, as each partner was arriving at different times, we decided to only organize dinner at an Italian restaurant in the city centre of Brussels. In this dinner, we had the chance to meet almost everyone, since there had been changes, for instance, Rocío Sánchez started organizing this meeting, but she ended her internship and it was Norbert Munyamasoko who took the lead then.

On the second day, Mr Juan Manuel Revuelta on behalf of the Finnova Foundation, gave a welcome speech and also introduced the agenda of the activities that were to be done. Afterwards, Ms Paloma Verdú, from the European Projects Office of the Municipality of Altea, which is the lead partner, presented the ‘’End of the journey’’. As its name states, this was about putting an end to 18 months of hard work. Furthermore, Paloma introduced the Conclusions of the Project and the Sustainability Agreement.

Our first activity was the ‘’Media action’’ that consisted on recording a short video promoting the fight against the fake news, Euroscepticism, and xenophobia, making people aware of these concepts and proposing ways to fight them. Some of the partners did it together as a sign of cooperation and union.

Later we shared a marvellous lunch at a Belgian restaurant. Then, we had scheduled a visit to the House of European History, where we had the chance to see the temporary exhibition ‘’Restless Youth’’ that tells the story of four generations of young people who came of age at key moments in the last century.

Eventually we had dinner, we joined at Chez Leon the 15 people from Altea that MEP Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero kindly invited to this meeting.

The third day of the meeting started with a guided visit to the European Parliament, where we also discussed about current issues such as Brexit or how do actually things work at the EU. After that we got to enjoy a meal in the very same restaurant of the Parliament.

The icing on the cake this day was the debate at the European Economic and Social Committee that was hosted by Jonathan Hendrickx (responsible for internal organization and contact with Member Organizations within the European Youth Press Executive Board), and the main speakers were: Isabell Wutz (Communication Officer at COFACE Families Europe), Eva Reina (European Youth Information and Counselling Agency) and Cristina Tavío (Institutional Relations at Finnova Foundation); of course our assistants participated with their questions and sharing their points of view and opinions. At this same venue, the second part of this event was the ceremony of the YOUROPE STARTUP EUROPE AWARDS, in which DeAmicitia, Corazón Express and Cruz Roja were awarded, and these awards were given by Diego Zaragozí (Mayor of Altea) and Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero (MEP). Between the debate and the ceremony, we took some time to read our manifest out loud, and a member of each partner country read a fragment.

Last but not least, we enjoyed a farewell dinner at a local restaurant that is usually only available for sommeliers. This dinner was to put the finishing touch to all of these months working together and forging special and genuine bonds. We are really glad to have hosted the last meeting, it has been a pleasure and we wish you the best for the future.