I choose Europe, what about you?
A youth event organised by JEF Europe and JEF France was held in Jambville, France, on 13-17 March 2019, with the European elections, campaigning in them, and youth participation as the main themes.
I hesitated for a long time about applying for the trip, since my English is embarrassingly poor, I hadn’t travelled much, and I didn’t know whether I’d know anyone in the group. With this spring’s European elections in mind, I talked a pro-European friend of mine into coming along, and in the end we got to go on the trip together. Our main aim was to find ideas and tools for the spring elections, but also to seek new viewpoints and perspective. A delegation of 10 people set off from Finland, and it later turned out to be a fantastic group.
The event was held about 50 kilometres from Paris, in Jambville. There were 130 participants, and there was no way to get to know everyone personally in just a few days. That’s why, after the initial shock wore off, I was glad that we’d been scattered into rooms with representatives of different nationalities. We stayed in a medieval castle where the power sockets sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. A few times we had no choice but to play princess, open the old windows, step out onto the balcony, and wave nobly to the other participants.
The whole week involved a lot of reflection on the future of Europe. It was interesting to notice how different our perspectives and mental images were, for example, of entrepreneurship: while entrepreneurship brings to my mind creative innovations and cricket farms, for many others the image that came to mind was of the mining industry. Regardless of home country, many participants shared concerns especially about low voter turnout among young people, the rise of extremist movements, and climate change.
The most thought-provoking discussions arose around the topic of media’s influence on voters and voter turnout. Whereas in Finland Helsingin Sanomat and Yle face criticism over the depth and diversity of their articles, for the North Macedonian participants the main concern was despair over which news they could even believe. The parliamentary party simulation was the week’s most rewarding and fun workshop. My draw landed me in a party whose ideas I hardly share at all. It was challenging and fun to get into the role of someone with completely different views, and to try to convince the others why abandoning the euro is the best decision ever.
The biggest shock we encountered in France was how waste sorting works there. Could a die-hard Finnish recycler imagine a worse everyday environmental crime than plates of food waste and plastic bottles going into combustible waste? As idyllic as the French countryside was, their idea of vegetarian and vegan food came as a surprise: fish and eggs were served. I was also quite amazed at other young people’s enthusiasm for organising festivals, but when we took part in the Quartier Générale festival on Friday, I noticed that their idea of a festival mainly meant a boozed-up student fair, not Ruisrock’s Via Dolorosa.
Still, the trip exceeded my expectations. What delighted me most was discovering that all over Europe there are like-minded people who care about human rights, media freedom, and environmental issues, regardless of the situation in their own home country. Conversations with other young Europeans gave me perspective and made me appreciate Finland – and Finnish queueing culture – in a completely new way. I also gained a lot of courage to use English, and after a bit of immersion it’s slowly starting to come more easily. I can wholeheartedly recommend these JEF Finland trips even to the shyest of travellers!
“JEF Finland is actively involved in organising various international opportunities for its members together with partners such as JEF Europe. If you’re interested in international activities, federalism, and developing your own skills, join the “JEF Finland Activists” Facebook group and subscribe to JEF Finland’s newsletter here to stay up to date on international projects!
Photo JEF Europe, Text Pauliina Tuusa