Greetings from the bus tour of JEF Europe, JEF Finland’s umbrella organisation. The bus tour goes by the name “I Choose Europe” and is also part of JEF Europe’s European election campaign of the same name. I took part in the second leg of the tour, from Budapest to Thessaloniki. The first leg ran from Frankfurt to Budapest, and the third from Rome to Brussels, meaning the bus tour covered almost the whole of Europe. The tour’s aim is to raise the visibility of the European elections and encourage Europeans to vote. Our group of about 20 people got an interesting window into the EU debate in the Balkans for a few days.
Setting Off from Budapest
We met up as a group in Budapest, from where we headed straight for Slovenia. In Ljubljana, we first campaigned for a morning with JEF Slovenia on the university campus. Encounters with students were often brief, but many were interested in the upcoming elections. Later, however, in the centre of Ljubljana the mood was quite different, and many hadn’t even heard about the elections. Often the conversation turned into an impromptu briefing on the European elections, which at least got a number of young people excited about voting. This raised the question of how many people in Finland fail to vote simply for lack of information.
Long Live Passport-Free Travel
From Ljubljana our journey continued towards Bulgaria. This meant briefly leaving the EU as we sped through Serbia. During this 13-hour bus ride, one really learned to appreciate freedom of movement and EU roaming.
In Sofia we first took part in a panel of EU election candidates. The discussion focused especially on security and immigration. The climate theme that had been prominent elsewhere in Europe was notably absent from this particular discussion, which was somewhat surprising to me at least. It was a reminder that the issues at the top of our agenda are not necessarily at the top of everyone else’s. After that we campaigned for a while in central Sofia, where the reception was positive.
Campaigning In and Outside the EU
Our next stop was, hopefully, a future member state: North Macedonia. In Skopje we took part in an EU-themed event featuring speakers including the French ambassador, and representatives of both the European Commission and a local academy. The discussion offered new perspectives on the accession negotiations likely to come. After that we campaigned in central Skopje. A presidential election was being held in the country the following day, and an election truce prevailed over the weekend, which also affected our campaigning.
The last passport check took place at the Greek border, from where we headed to Thessaloniki for our final event. There we took part in the general assembly of the Erasmus Student Network. We had many conversations about the elections, and many people had already heard about them, so the audience was fairly receptive. Many were also interested in JEF Finland, which was the cherry on top at our last stop.
Photos from the tour, as well as the rest of the “I Choose Europe” campaign, can be followed on JEF Europe’s social media channels and under the hashtag #IChooseEurope.
JEF Finland is Finland’s most international youth organisation and offers numerous opportunities to gain international experience. If you’re interested in international activities, join the “JEF Finland Activists” Facebook group.
Text and photo by Kati Systä