Youth all over Europe is going to participate to the elections, next May. Among young people there is the largest share of non-voters, although they will be the leader of the future. So, it is mostly on this part of population, and on those that will vote for the first time, that it is important to work.  

The Young Europe Youth Summit, this May in Copenhagen, will give the opportunity to analyse, discuss ideas and deepen knowledge with other 200 young Europeans. The main topics will be: culture, identity, migration, climate, international relationships and youth.

How can the Young Europe Youth Summit help European youngsters? It will collect young people and strengthen the voice of youth.

A full week in Denmark

The Young Europe Youth Summit will take place from May 6^th to May 12^th and will be divided in two parts.

Stay at a Danish Folk High School

During the first 4 days, participants will be in a folk high school,  a non-formal residential school with approximately 60-100 young people. In groups of 20 people, they will make activities and workshops on the topic they chose. The method will be based both on the presence of experts and the experience of participants. The aim is to choose the visions and messages to communicate to the European Parliament.

Stay at the Youth Island in Copenhagen

During the last 3 days, activities will move on Youth Island in the Copenhagen Harbour, with other 200 young people. In these days, the main focus will be communication, with training during which participants will learn how to communicate visions and how to make their voice heard in the public debate. The idea is also to give young people the means to inspire other young people. During the press conference of Sunday, May 12^th, the messages and the visions will be communicated.

Who can apply?

The 200 participants will be:

• 100 young people from all over Europe;
• 100 Danish folk high school students.

The eligibility criteria are:

• Applicants must be between 18-25 years old at the time of applying;
• Applicants must be citizens of one of the 28 European Union member States;
• Danish citizens cannot apply

Deadline: Sunday, February 17th.

Do you want to apply? On the website of the International People’s College website, it is possible to find some more information and submit the application. .  

You could also be interested in:

“Youth4Europe” project, that will take place during 2019 and 2020, involving more than 150 young people into 7 youth exchanges. You could have the possibility to create a proposal related to the EU policies on media, environment and employment. Follow our website and our pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to be always updated on this and much more projects.

L'articolo Strengthen your voice: Youth Summit in Denmark proviene da Youth Networks.

Did you know? Few days ago, on January 28^th, it was the World Data Protection Day. Launched in 2006, it is an important day for the Eu. It wants, in fact, to celebrate the policies on the topics of data protection and privacy, expecially those of  last years.

“We are proud to have the strongest and most modern data protection rules in the world, which are becoming a global standard”.

So, in a joint statement from the European Commission, the First Vice-President Timmermans, Vice-President Ansip, Commissioners Jourová and Gabriel.

“The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica case and recent data breaches have shown that we are doing the right thing. What is at stake is not only the protection of our privacy, but also the protection of our democracies and ensuring the sustainability of our data-driven economies”. They continued.

Just last May 25^th, 2018, in fact, General Data Protection Regulation entered into application. A point on which, the European Commission puts a lot of emphasis: why?

The challenge of privacy

Nowadays, our lives are, for a great deal, online. This can be a problem for our privacy, since we leave a big amount of personal data, ignoring the way they will be used. It can be challenging, also because it is a new problem and often law is not ready to face it.

In 2012 a new regulation, updating the the 1995 Data Protection Directive, was proposed. The 1995 Directive, in fact, was unable to face the new challenges, coming from the internet in particular. In 2016, both the European Parliament and Council adopted the new regulation. Finally on May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation was implemented.

We should not forget that 2018 was also the year of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica case, violently showing the need of new rules to protect personal data.

GDPR: what’s new?

Very shortly: the General Data Protection Regulation aims to “harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens’ data privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy”. In particular it refers to companies, public and private bodies in the EU, but even to non-EU companies using personal data of EU citizens. In the case of non-EU companies, they must appoint an EU representative.

Basically, when it comes to personal data: terms and conditions must be in an understandable language; retracting consent must be as easy as giving consent; and when you have given consent previously for one purpose, you must give it again if the company wants to use the data for a new purpose.

Even the definition of personal data was updated, in order to face the new situation.

The current definition, indeed, is “any information relating to an individual, whether it relates to his or her private, professional or public life. It can be anything from a name, a home address, a photo, an email address, bank details, posts on social networking websites, medical information, or a computer’s IP address”.

Impact

The Regulation, that as such does not need to be approved by national Parliaments, had a big impact on companies. Despite the almost 2 years given for complying with the new rules, several companies moved just at the last moment. On the one side this created a big flow of emails to users, on the other side it also meant big costs for companies.

This, but also its extraterritorial jurisdiction and concerns about enforceability were the main critics moved to the Regulation.

Other perspectives?

What do you think about the GDPR? Do you think, as some people, that it should be improved? Or, are you happy with this way to protect privacy?

Tell us in a comment! And, if you think to have a great idea to improve the Regulation, why don’t you try to discuss it with MEPs in Brussels?

We can give you the opportunity: apply for our Youth Exchange in Spain, in March, about Media and Web Manipulation. But be fast: application will close in few hours!

APPLY HERE!

L'articolo Privacy: EU celebrates Data Protection Day proviene da Youth Networks.

The European Parliament launched Instagram competition “I am Europe”: share your photo and win a trip in Brussels, to the open day of the European Parliament, on May 4^th.

The idea behind the contest is that Europe is, and will always be, about all of us. A point that, according to the Parliament, is important to remind expecially now, with the European elections (planned for May 23^rd – 26^th) closer and closer.

Every day, in fact, we publish our photos on social media, sharing pieces of our lives, that, from this point of view, are also pieces of the life of Europe.

Who can participate?

To participate “I am Europe” contest you need to be at least 18-year-old, live in one of the EU countries (UK included), own the copyrights of the photo, have a public account on  Instagram.

Rules

The rules are quite simple and consist of 3 steps:

• Share a photo of yourself or someone special to you and tell the story behind it;
• When posting the photo, use the hashtag #iameurope and tag @europeanparliament;
• Subscribe to the European elections platform: thistimeimvoting.eu

Winners

Among all the published photos, there will be only 6 winners.

5 will be chosen by the platform;

1 will be chosen by users: every day, in fact, the Instagram account of the European Parliament will share the best photos. The one that will get more “likes” will be the winner.

The winning photos, and the other best (but not winning) photos, will be part of an exhibition during the Open day of May 4^th.

Deadline

You have time until April 1^st 2019, at 12.00 (time of Brussels)

To know more, download “Citizen’ App”, developed by the European Parliament, on your Smarphone: learn about this and much more opportunities and news.

L'articolo “I am Europe”: share a photo and fly to Brussels proviene da Youth Networks.

Imagine the possibility to have Europe and all what you need to know about it in the palm of your hand. Now it is possible, thanks to “Citizens’ App”, an app for Smartphone that provides you with all you need to know about the EU. You will be always updated about events, initiatives, policies, projects…

The app, developed by the European Parliament, will give you the possibility to monitor EU work, even at a local level. 
As creators declare, it “records the achievements of the European Union, explains our current work, defines our future goals, and describes the European Parliament’s role in them”

The app

It is quite easy to use, has a very intuitive interface and you will have the opportunity to personalize it as you want. In fact you can filter contents according to your location and to your interests, choosing among 20 different topics. It is also possible to search for events directly on an interactive map.

In this way you will get notifications every time something is happening around you or there are relevant news or initiatives related to the topics you are mostly interested in. You can add events to your own personal calendar, bookmark initiatives ad share them on your social media.

In the section “Europe and I”, you can get information about what are opportunities, for your passions, job and family. Furthermore, you can find analysis of the trends that will define the future of the Union.

Lastly, in the app you can even find dossiers about the most relevant topics, like immigration, environment and data protection.

Finally the app is available in all the 24 official European languages.

How to download the app

So, what are you waiting for? Download the app!

It is available both for Apple and for Android.

L'articolo Citizens’App: Europe in your hands proviene da Youth Networks.

European elections of  May 23^rd – 26^th 2019 are closer and closer. Do you want to have an active role in the campaign? Become an Ambassador of the elections!

More and more young people are in mobility abroad. How can they vote? Who will give them useful information? These are the main issues this project is trying to face.

“Erasmus Vote Power” and “GaragErasmus Foundation”, in a project co-financed by the European Parliament, are selecting young people who will be trained to get this role.

Who can apply?

If you are in a study or work exchange, if you are in ESC (or EVS) project, if you reside abroad, you can apply to become the Ambassador of your hosting country. Each EU Country will have just one ambassador.  
 

What will be your role?

The idea of garagErasmus is to “engage with the Erasmus Generation to raise awareness on the upcoming elections, especially focusing on how people currently in mobility experiences abroad can cast their vote for the elections from their host countries”.

In fact, voting rules differ from country to country, so many citizens don’t know how to vote while abroad.

You will be asked to organize an informal event, in order to spread what you learned at the training and distribute the material you will get.

The training

The training event, organized by the European Parliament, will take place in Brussels, on February 8^th.The aim is to make of you “the main actors in the most important event for European Democracy”. Therefore, it will:

• – provide you with an overview of the institutional campaign for the elections;
• – give you essential campaign skills, related to communication and advocacy approaches.

The accommodation for the event is free and you will have a travel cap of 100 euro.

  Be fast!

You can apply until January 20^th 2019, so be as fast as possible, in order not to lose such a great opportunity.

To apply visit this page, where you will find more information and the application form.

L'articolo EU elections: become an Ambassador! proviene da Youth Networks.

Nowadays smartphones are an extension of our body: they can do so many things that it looks like impossible to live without them. But, to make smartphones work fully, we need a growing quantity of internet gigabytes.

Nowadays more and more people travel everyday, to work or for holidays and they often are abroad, or have their lives divided between their own country and another one.

Until few years ago, travelling abroad and using gigabytes (at least for a good price), or to call home without paying a fortune, were almost always 2 incompatible things.

Roam like at home

June 15^th 2017 will be probably remembered as an epochal day in the EU history.  As you probably know, that day the European Union, with Roam like at home, abolished the roaming’s costs in the EU countries. As regard calls and sms there are no restrictions, and you can call and send messages, based on your national tariff. There are, instead, still limits for the data traffic.

But 2019 took some important news

Since January 1^st 2019, indeed, the conditions for users became much better. The maximum price per giga, in fact, passed from 6 to 4,5€ (+ VAT tax).

What does it mean?

If you have a limited quantity of giga in your tariff, you will be able to use them abroad and, once finished, to keep on using them, paying a maximum of 4,5€ (+ VAT) per giga.

If you have a pre-payed card, offering you calls, sms and data, it works in this way:

You bought a 20€ prepayed card in your country. You move to another country and you still have 12€ on the card. The minimum quantity of data that your operator can give to you is 12/4.5 = 2.6 gigabytes.

If you have a tariff offering you a limitless quantity of giga, instead, the situation is even more interesting.

The minimum volume of gigabytes, indeed, will be calculated in this way:

volume of giga = 2 x (your tariff/4.5)

while, until 2018 it was calculated as 2 x (your tariff/6).

This means that if, for example you pay 20€ for your tariff, your limit for the data traffic in EU countries passes from at least 6,6 to at least 8,8 gigabytes. If you finish them, you will pay an over-price of, maximum, 4,5€ per giga.

How will the situation evolve?

In the next future, the maximum price per giga is expected to go down and down. In the next 3 years, in fact, it will become 3.5, 3 and finally 2.5€ in 2022.

This means that, with a tariff (with limitless giga) of 20€, at that time you will have the possibility to use at least 16 gigabytes in EU countries!

Limits

These offers are valid only for those who occasionally are out of the Country where they live or have links. To avoid violations, in order to give everybody the possibility to get the service, providers will monitor the use. In general the use of data abroad should always be less than that in your home country. In case of violation, the service provider must contact  you and give you 14 days to clarify your position. It can impose some extra fees, according to maximum decided by the EU.

What do you think…?

What do you think about this policy? Did it give you any advantage? Is there any point that, in your opinion, should be improved?

Tell us in a comment below.

L'articolo Roaming in the EU: more giga abroad proviene da Youth Networks.