Times of Change, Times of Opportunity: The EU Budget-Readiness to Invest Reflects Level of Political Ambition

Prologue

With this blog, I wish to engage in a dialogue with you on how the voice of young people can be strengthened in Europe and the world in the next years. This is, after all, the main reason for why I have dedicated a big part of my life to volunteering and work for youth organizations at local, national and European level, and why I have accepted the nomination for running for the position of President of the European Youth Forum.

My first engagement with youth work started at the age of nine, when I joined my local scout group. After that, I have been engaged in a variety of different organizations like the youth organization of my political party, The Nordic Association of People Hard of Hearing, the Young European Federalists in Finland and of course, the Finnish National Youth Council Allianssi, through which I ended up in the YFJ:s Council of Europe Affairs Commission, the Advisory Council of the Council of Europe and finally two years ago in the European Youth Forum Board.

When youth work permits, I dedicate my time to studying political science, reading, walking and fishing in the beautiful archipelago of my home country and spending time with my family and friends. Having lived in Italy, I also have a keen interest in Italian history, culture and language – and use every possible opportunity to visit the country.

I believe fundamentally, that our generation has a big responsibility meeting the challenges facing our planet today, and I know that the European Youth Movement has the opportunity to bring forth real change. We should work for this change together and remember to enjoy, be inspired and motivated while doing it.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The EU Budget-Readiness to Invest Reflects Level of Political Ambition

Political ambitions must be matched with a corresponding budget. Therefor, it is no surprise that the Economist newspapers antifederalist columnist “Charlemange” and the traditionally EU-cautious Swedish Government(through an article by the EU-Minister Cecilia Malmström in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper yesterday) have both hammered the message that the EU budget should not grow. Ms. Malmström even explained that the budget should decrease. Charlemange compared the Eurocrats and MEP's to a teenager who wants more pocket money though the family economy is under pressure. What shall we say to this? And why does it matter for young people?

The first thing to remember, is that the financial problems of present must be taken seriously, and second, that a rethinking of the budget needs to be made for it to make sense. Of course, an increase should not be made just for the sake of it, and of course, countries struggling with deficits have a hard time motivating investment in the EU budget. There are many aspects to this question, and one could write about the need to invest in research and foreign policy, for example. Here, I focus more on the youth civil society aspect of it.

The Youth on the Move initiative forms a part of the recently adopted Europe 2020 strategy. The good news is that for the first time, youth is mentioned at this level in the EU context. This is due to the fact that in the light of the financial crisis, the structural problems young people are facing are becoming obvious. The high unemployment numbers and the the gaps in the social security systems are not helping the EU to build sustainable growth and well being.

Youth organizations play an important role for the future of the EU. Participation of young people is key to achieve the goals in the new strategy. A strong European civil society is also a fundamental cornerstone in the European project. Two of the reasons the unification of Europe has proved to be successful in preventing war and creating well being has been the removal of barriers and the construction of a strong social contract in the sates. For the EU to move forward, it is simply not enough to see the union mostly as a cooperation between member states-you need a European political dimension to the political process. This means you need a European civil society that brings together different actors to shape the visions for the future and that can bridge the gap between the national and European level. Mobility of individuals also naturally increases the feeling of citizenship. Now, these dimensions must be strengthened for the EU to face its current challenges. This requires that European youth organizations have a stronger financial backing-if you are every day struggling for your existence, it is difficult to be visionary or do activities. It also requires investment in youth mobility programs that reach out to more young people. It is here that youth organizations have a big role to play-youth organizations have the means to reach out and support young people from all backgrounds to be mobile. The EU budget needs to reflect these political ambitions. Currently, the €130 billion budget represents about 2.5% of all public spending in the Union. A slight increase to this, in particular with a focus on young people, would be a small price to pay for continuing the successful European project. On this, Charlemange would most certainly agree.

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About Me

"That punctual servant of all work, the sun, had just risen, and begun to strike a light on the morning of the thirteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, when Mr. Samuel Pickwick burst like another sun from his slumbers, threw open his chamber window, and looked out upon the world beneath. Goswell Street was at his feet, Goswell Street was on his right hand—as far as the eye could reach, Goswell Street extended on his left; and the opposite side of Goswell Street was over the way. 'Such,' thought Mr. Pickwick, 'are the narrow views of those philosophers who, content with examining the things that lie before them, look not to the truths which are hidden beyond"
-Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

This quotation by Dickens has inspired me since I read the Pickwick Papers when I was around 15 years old. Reading has always been important to me, both as a recreational activity and as a way of developing politically. Authors and thinkers such as Aristoteles, Plato, John Stuart Mill, George Orwell, Nelson Mandela and Antonio Gramsci to name a few, have all played an important part when I have been trying to make sense of the world. On the other hand, being an active person, I have had a strong urge to do things practically as well. When in my teens, playing handball, painting graffiti and doing scout activities kept me quite busy-in fact so busy that my school performances were quite dreadful until my late teens.

Thankfully, I had, at the age of seventeen, the opportunity to embark for Italy for a year, to live together with a family in a small village called Conselve, in the province of Padua. This change was quite big for many reasons. First, a family with two parents and a brother of my own age was something I was not used to-at home I had lived most of my life with my mother, and a sister many years younger than I. Secondly, though the town of Turku(Åbo in my other native language, Swedish) was not the biggest metropolis on earth, the change to a very traditional village in Italy was notable. I remember the first thing I did with my new family was to collect grapes at the family vineyard at the vendemmia, the grandmother preparing lunch for us while I was supposed to learn how to drive a tractor(!) The year proved to be great, and later on I returned to Italy and worked, among other things, in a Parmesan cheese factory-so I did not have cheese for a couple of months after that, I can assure you.

Back from Italy, I took school quite seriously and started, for the first time in my life enjoying it, also taking up the responsibility to edit the school paper. I also engaged in various political activities, and became more active in my scout group, of which I soon became leader. My first political engagement was to fight for the local youth club to survive when it was under threat to be closed. I also took a keen interest in international politics, and started to work on making the youth of my party-The centrist Swedish Speaking Peoples Party- sensitive to the Israel/Palestine conflict by visiting the synagogue in Turku and Helsinki, meeting refugees from Palestine, reading books and writing articles. From there on, my interests have largely lied in international affairs, something that has also later on been reflected in my studies and, of course work and volunteering life.

The latest news from my part is that I recently got married and started exploring a new, wonderful city, Stockholm, in which I divide my time between Helsinki and quite extensive traveling.