Debaters compete for League of Young Voters European Cup to increase awareness about issues affecting young people in Europe

Young debaters from across Europe are competing in the League of Young Voters: European Cup taking place in the European Parliament in Strasbourg from 9 to 10 May 2014 as part of the European Youth Event.

Students from universities in Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom will debate issues related to Europe as a political, social and economic space ahead of this year’s European Parliament elections.

The debates will test the ability of the students to come up with arguments about seven key European debates within fifteen minutes and will follow the themes of the European Youth Event:

• Youth Unemployment. New perspectives for a blocked generation
• Digital Revolution. The future of the internet
• The Future of the European Union. Europe in transition
• Sustainability and the new European lifestyle
• European Values: Global player, fair player?

The event will encourage audience participation in question and answer sessions led by experienced debaters that will discuss the topic, as well as debating as an activity and will be accompanied by background guides to help audiences navigate the speakers’ arguments.

The European Cup is the showcase event in a series of public debates by university students from the 28 European Member States for a project called Debate, Engage, Vote! organised by the League of Young Voters in Europe and the International Debate Education Association (IDEA).

In preparation for the Strasbourg event university debating societies have hosted a series of events on the European Union, raising their student body’s awareness of European issues in time for the elections:

…continues

• In Turku, Finland, the debating society prepared a presentation on EU institutions before students debated whether the Union has done more harm or good.
• In Sofia, Bulgaria, the debating association put together a tournament that selected the team that will represent the country in the European Cup over a series of six debates that examined topics such as direct democracy, the position of religion in secular societies and the balance of security and liberty.
• Public debates on European issues as part of this project have also taken place in London, Budapest, Lund, Coimbra, Bielefeld, Riga and Warsaw, and will take place in the coming weeks in Zagreb, Athens, Tartu and Glasgow.

The European Cup will be streamed online at lyv.idebate.org

//ENDS

Notes to Editors

About Debate, Engage, Vote!

In a 2013 study*, 12,927 young people aged 15 to 30 across Europe were asked about their intended participation in this year’s European elections and the reasons behind their decision to vote.

Three out of every five respondents (61%) felt that they were not sufficiently informed to vote while over half (56%) said that they won’t vote due to their belief that the European Parliament does not sufficiently deal with problems that concern them.

The Debate, Engage, Vote! project has been set up by the League of Young Voters in partnership with university societies and national debating bodies to help overcome these barriers to participation in the elections by:

• Using debate as a tool to explore and critically examine themes and topics that are relevant to young people in the run up to this year’s European Elections.
• Providing information and enabling young people to explore the stances and policies of the various political parties in the elections and the functions of the European Parliament.
• Providing an international arena to meet and discuss shared experience and challenges with other young people, politicians and commentators from across Europe.

*Statistics about voting intention from European Commission report - EUROPEAN YOUTH: PARTICIPATION IN DEMOCRATIC LIFE. Publication: May 2013 - http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_375_en.pdf

League of Young Voters in Europe

The League of Young Voters (LYV) in Europe is a politically neutral initiative that aims to amplify young people's concerns and expectations in the run-up to European elections. The purpose of the League is to address the ever-decreasing participation of young people in European elections.

The League exists both at the European level, engaging with European political parties and campaigns in Brussels, and also nationally and locally, supported by the European Youth Forum’s network of youth organisations.

The League of Young Voters in Europe pools the skills of its three founding organisations: the European Youth Forum; VoteWatch Europe; the International Debate Education Association and its partners that together are concerned with youth issues and political representation.

www.youngvoters.eu