Right after the winter holidays, Sofía LÓPEZ, Senior Academic Assistant in the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies, gave an interactive lecture on the European Union to a large group of high school students and their teachers in Alicante, Spain. The presentation kicked off with a short electronic survey that included questions like ‘do you think the EU takes you into account?’ (26% felt it did and 33.3% said they did not know) and ‘do you think Spain would be better off if it were not an EU member?’ (almost 90% believe it would not). After the first survey, Sofía explained what the EU is and how it works, focusing on EU citizenship and citizens’ participation at EU level. She then covered some of the most relevant EU-funded programmes for the youth (e.g. Erasmus+, EVS, EU Youth Guarantee, etc.).
The upcoming European Parliament elections, the first in which many in the audience will have the right to vote, were also explained and discussed. Thanks to the support of the European Parliament’s campaign ‘This time I’m voting’ and the Europe Direct office in Alicante, all the participants received a kit with election materials and general EU brochures to deepen their knowledge.
At the very end of the presentation, the opening question ‘do you think the EU takes you into account?’ was reworded into: ‘do you think your voice counts in the EU?’ (same wording used in the European Parliament’s Parlemeter survey) and the percentage of participants who felt it did, more than doubled. Among those who feel it did not, one of the explanations provided by the group had to do with the fact that not all of them will be eligible to vote in May. To the Parlemeter question ‘Which of the following values should the European Parliament defend as a matter of priority?’, the three top responses were: 1) the protection of human rights worldwide, 2) equality between men and women, 3) freedom of speech. Throughout the presentation, students asked many interesting questions ranging from economic policies to EU enlargement and EU mechanisms to deal with member states that violate human rights, among others. It was undoubtedly a very enriching experience for Sofía, one she is very much looking forward to repeating.