'EU - To Be or Not To Be': The Big Question We Tried to Find an Answer To During an Erasmus+ Youth Exchange in Syke, Germany

'Global Village at Bremen's Central Station'
© NaturKultur e.V.

My most favourite summer activity is to attend interesting events, especially those with a strong international flair. For that matter, I had the honour to be the Dutch group leader at an international youth exchange 'EU - To Be or Not To Be' organized by NaturKultur (and thanks to Erasmus+ financial support) that took place in Syke (Bremen area), Germany from 12th to 21st June (2017). The youth exchange gathered together around 40 young people from 7 countries, namely Italy, Greece, Hungary, Romania, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Germany (plus unofficially Croatia  and Montenegro - since the project coordinator and the main facilitator Slobodan was (and still is) originally from Montenegro and the two volunteers that cooked amazing food the whole week were (and still are) Croatian. I'm not even mentioning 1 Russian, 3 Turkish and 2 Latvians (that includes me) among the participants that just majorly serves as a living proof of 'free movement in Europe' in its full action). Important to notice, the choice of participating countries for this international youth exchange was not made randomly, as the event tried to gather countries that represent both extremes - EU supporters and skeptics. So what did we learn and discuss this week? Is there a common European future? Read on to learn more...

Creatively Revising Our Knowledge about History of the EU and Discussing Different Joint EU Tasks and Challenges...

It seems there's something sweet about the 1990s...
[Visualisation of Schengen Agreement] © Marta Podniece

The youth exchange provided a chance to not only revise our knowledge about the EU, e.g. in regard to its history, joint challenges, Brexit, EU Budget etc. by using different creative tools and methods of expression, but also provided a space to actively discuss hot topics, defend and obtain different perspectives on various EU matters, exchange opinions, as well as ask direct and maybe sometimes unpleasant questions that required collective attention and response, e.g. solutions regarding current refugee crisis.

Our journey through EU topics started with an information-rich yet fun activity called 'EU Train'. Participants in mixed cultural groups were given a task to present a particular decade of the EU history to other groups in a simple and creative way using all the tools and materials available at the venue. In this concise and creative way, we went through EU history from the moment of its creation (that originated from European Coal and Steel Community and European Economic Community), continuing our journey through hippie times, oil crisis in 1970s... Schengen Agreement, Maastricht Treaty, enlargment of the EU in 2004 and in the years that followed, and arrived at the present refugee crisis.

The Beginnings of the EU explained...
© Marta Podniece

Another pretty interesting yet challenging task that I recall was a simulation, where participants were divided in three groups and had to create and propose the EU Budget and reach an agreement. Each group represented a particular EU institution and fulfilled a particular task regarding EU Budget taking into account its' primary functions, as well as their official mights and rights. The represented insitutions were European Commission (that represents interests of the EU and proposes the budget), Council of Ministers (that represents interests of Member States) and European Parliament (represents interests of EU citizens). This exercise was not only challenging, but also eye-opening, especially at the end, when we were shown a short movie that revealed, how the EU Budget is proposed, for what purposes the tax payer money is actually spent, and how far or close to reality we were in certain [important] issues related to the EU Budget.

Another, and actually one of my favorite activities [maybe due to the success of its implementation] was the assignment that required us in mixed cultural groups review specific topics of the EU, e.g. education, tourism, EU borders etc., and discuss whether they should be EU-regulated or best left in the competence of the member states. Afterwards, the results of the discussion had to be presented by using different creative expression forms, e.g. poetry, video, body language, painting etc. My group had an assignment of discussing whether education should be regulated on the EU level using a video as the form of creative expression. What we did at first, we discussed the ways the education functions in our countries and what are the main challenges, which we in turn made into a talk show that presented the opinions of the group members as education experts of each country... and made the audience realize themselves that education due to its large differences in approaches is not a suitable sphere to be EU-regulated.

Among other activities, we also were asked to present and defend our individual position regarding internal borders in the EU and whether they should be renewed by standing either on one or the other side of a field, or in between [in that way indicating an agreement or disagreement to the various triggering statements proposed by the workshop facilitator], and participating in the discussions that ensued. Beside that, our minds were frequently refreshed with occassional presentations of most common myths and truths about the EU performed by the Czech group leader Alexandra.

Brexit: The Exclusive Lesson from the Present?

'EU representative' arguing with 'British grandpa'
© NaturKultur e.V.

A separate subject that was widely reviewed and discussed in several workshops was Brexit... and I guess there was a great reason for that... since it is the first country in the EU history that rather unexpectedly voted for leaving the EU. To obtain a wider perspective about the implications of Brexit, participants took part in simulations and tasks that required them to look at Brexit from different viewpoints, as well as assess and analyze the consequences it entails. For example, one of the activities required participants to impersonate real life figures, i.e. a 23-year old person from Scotland going on EVS in Romania, a retired British grandpa, David Cameron, Theresa May and the EU representative, and present their opinions in a simulated discussion highlighting the possible effects of Brexit on their lives or interests of the electorate they represent. Another activity pursued in order to create a better understanding of Brexit and the consequences of it was showcasing a BBC documentary 'After Brexit: The Battle for Europe'. The movie portrayed not only the on-going confusion of the population of the United Kingdom, but also addressed issues of rising nationalism/populism in other member states, as well as presented a closer look on the ways the member states deal with one of the biggest joint EU challenges, i.e. refugee crisis. Overall, to me the movie seemed presenting a pretty narrow and exaggerated view on problems, and made me question, why mostly only opinions of 'old' Europe were reviewed [more relevant in the context of Brexit?!]? Nonetheless, the movie did its job, as the questioning continued...

Expanding Our Horizons and Knowledge: Participating in a Panel Discussion, Taking Part in Global Village at Bremen's Central Station... and Visiting Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology in Bremen!

Panel Discussion in Action...
© Marta Podniece

The EU past and future was once again was brought up and discussed also in a panel discussion with an local politician, the representative of City Council of Syke and a member of Green Party and organization of European Federalists Mr. Gerhard Thiel. The discussion was also joined by the president of NaturKultur e.V. Mr. Darko Mitevski. Both guests answered questions of the presenter and the audience, and provided their opinions on EU-related challenges and some suggestions how we can ensure united future of Europe.

All the knowledge obtained during the youth exchange could not stay behind closed doors and had to be shared. For that reason, on one of the days that followed a Global Village was set up at the Bremen's Central Station (Bremen Hauptbahnhof). The main goal of the activity was to create a discussion with random by-passers and local inhabitants of Bremen on different EU matters. For that purpose, the participants set up stands with flags (and other previously prepared informational materials and/or souvenirs), and prepared quizz questions about the EU and the member state they represented. My overall conclusion about this event was that it was a major success, yet the locals have a pretty mixed knowledge about the EU, although in general terms they are well-informed about the current events in the Union (especially the older generation).

Checking out the Equipment at Max Planck Institute 
© Marta Podniece

Another knowledge-expanding experience was a visit to Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology in Bremen. Not only we learned what kind of research the Institute does and that work of the Institute is on a large part funded by the EU, but also obtained a deeper, more detailed look on the marine microbiology through a presentation by one of the Institute's young researchers that focused her research on exploring symbiotic life forms of a particular type of worms. We also had a chance to see the equipment that is used to perform underwater research and could get a bit jealous of all the grand and exotic locations the marine microbiology researchers travel to to perform their underwater investigations.

... Meanwhile Continuously Learning the Best from Different European Cultures!

During the Preparation of Czech Dinner. 
© Karel Štros

An inevitable, entertaining and tasty part of the youth exchange were National Dinners and National Evenings. For National Dinners the national teams prepared meals typical in their countries (with a great help of those 2 Croatian kitchen guru's mentioned in the introduction). During the national dinners we learned that Czechs are good at making creamy soups, Greeks drink Ouzo before each meal, Hungarians love spicy stuff on their food, Italians know how to create a romantic atmosphere in a room (in terms of table setting and service) and that pizza originally comes from Napoli (as well as the participants of this youth exchange), Dutch 'stroopwafel' tastes so good worth dying for and Romanians spend a great deal of their time cooking (we had a 3-course meal!). Whereas, during National Evenings, we saw numerous variations of 'America First. [Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania] Second.', heard the story about German Barbara that baked Rhubarb cakes and opened a bar which was visited by vikings with beards, learned traditional Italian, Greek and Romanian dance moves, played some Dutch childhood games, tried our chances in country quizzes and tongue twisters prepared by the national teams and tasted typical sweets and snacks from almost all participating countries.

Addressing National Issues in an International Context...

Message Found on the Streets of Bremen...
© Marta Podniece

Slowly, we all became sort of 'experts' in different EU topics due to all the information-rich workshops, however there were also serveral tasks that participants needed to address and perform exclusively in their national teams. As, for example, one of tasks was to review specific events or issues in member states and present one issue to the whole group that was rather difficult, lacked solution or was considered controversial in its nature. The task of other national teams was to provide opinions, solutions or feedback on the presented issue. So, for example, Greek team addressed the refugee crisis and how much co-responsibility should be taken by other member states in dealing with this issue, or the Dutch team, for example, presented a recent widely discussed scandal regarding promotion of Erdogan's party in the Netherlands during election time in Turkey and asked the audience how ethical it was for the Dutch police to forbid the political agitation and escort the representative of the party out of the country.

The last EU-related national level assignment participants got was writing a Letter to A Politician, during which participants in national teams picked an issue or insufficiently addressed need of a particular citizen segment and wrote a letter to a specific politician (or politicians) responsible for or in power to solve or influence a better outcome of this issue/need. For example, Dutch team wrote a letter to Minister of Education Mrs. Bussemaker asking for more promotion of and more opportunities for young people to participate in similar international projects like this youth exchange... or, for example, Romanian team addressed a letter to its' national government asking to be less greedy and less corrupted.

In the End I guess It All Seems Pretty Hopeful for the United Europe...

A part of our International group of Young &
Brave Changemakers exploring Bremen...
© David Bohus

Although the overall atmosphere about the EU was pretty critical in the beginning of the project, it could be observed throughout the course of the youth exchange that the attitude slowly shifted and participants got inspired to do active things in their communities and change the things they do not like in the current way the EU or their national governments function. After all, no matter how complicated the system is, 'a man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones' [Chinese Proverb]...

The success of this particular project could be also observed in the overall impressions of the Dutch team, as, for example, Lauren (19) commented that: 'It was my first Erasmus+ project and I absolutely loved it. It was a perfect mix between learning new things and making new friendships. The location was amazing, lots of space to express ourselves and the kitchen staff served us the most amazing dishes everyday. The thing that stayed with me the most was the comfort of the whole program. Even when we had some critical discussions there was still a lot of respect. It was such an awesome environment to speak freely about the problems we're facing in the EU. I will definitely do more Erasmus projects!'