There’s nothing like the smell of fresh print!

The 2008-2009 Europa Diary is being printed as we send you this first newsletter.

Over 2.8 million students in all 27 EU countries will soon receive it, for free, in their own language.

As you know, this free publication has been made possible by the support of the European Commission. This year, nine different departments of the European Commission have joined up to inform your students (and you!) about what “Europe” is doing and why.

This has led us to write and design two new chapters, one focused on “Europe and You” (rights that young people have as European citizens), the other on “Europe and the world” (covering international trade, foreign policy and development aid).

Soon, the diaries will set off across Europe - to be delivered in time for the new school year. We enjoyed collecting, researching and writing the material; we hope you and your students will enjoy using it throughout the school year.

Catie Thorburn,
President, Generation Europe Foundation

In this issue:

• There’s nothing like the smell of fresh print!
• The 2008-2009 Europa Diary in figures
• Have your students won a prize? -
• Cover Design Competition for students
• Search for Volunteer Reviewers
• Our European Commission partners this year
• Generation Europe and the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue
• About us

Have your students won a prize? -

In addition to the Foundation’s Europa Diary, Generation Europe runs online surveys and events. Your students are welcome to participate. They can register for free and perhaps win a prize!

Our current survey is about attitudes to consumer and environmental issues. It takes a few minutes to complete and it’s quite thought provoking so there is an educational angle as well.

We hope to gain insight into young people’s habits and opinions relating to online and mobile phone purchases, consumer habits, science and research, alcohol and soft drinks, the environment and what they think about the European Union.

Students can either just take the survey, or can register to participate in a prize draw - we’re giving away thousands of USB keys, bags, T-shirts, clapbands and gadget packs!

The survey will remain online until June 2008 so we’d be grateful if you could suggest that your students participate actively.

Winners’ names are regularly published on our site and you’ll notice that some countries are more active then others!

Cover Design Competition for students

This year, we decided to give our designers a break and let young Europeans do the work for us.

We advertised the competition for the cover page of the 2008-2009 diary and got received a fabulous response!

More than six hundred designs came in. We were truly amazed at the range of ideas, concepts and the huge amount of time and creative energy that had gone into these design proposals.

The jury - made up of EU officials and PR specialists - finally decided for the ‘hands concept’ of Mattia Bergamini, a 27 year old Italian graphical artist from Modigliano.

It takes some people a while to recognise Mattia’s clever design - but if you look carefully at the blue parts, you can discern the words “Europe Diary”.

This competition was such as success that we have decided to run it again for the 2009/2010 edition of the Diary. The winner receives a prize of 1,000€, and any citizen of the European Union can participate. Maybe next year, one of your students could be the winner of the competition! If your students are interested, ask them to keep an eye on our website generation-europe.org; the new competition will run from August to mid-November 2008.

Search for Volunteer Reviewers

Generation Europe is looking for teachers who might like to review the 2009/2010 edition of the Teachers’ Guide. This is a 32-page publication, and the review work would need to be done in December 2008/January 2009. Our aim is to make this publication even more suited to the national teaching context.

If you would like to contribute your skills & knowledge, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us on , providing your name, your contact details at school, as well as the age group and subject matter you teach. If you’ve already written or reviewed teaching resources, we’d love to know about that too.

Our European Commission partners this year

There’s no disputing it; if the success of a project is measured by the increasing demand, the 2008-2009 edition of the Europa Diary is a real success! More schools have ordered this year but this means that more funding was needed. Generation Europe Foundation produces the diary funded by the European Commission. Nine Directorates General (DGs) of the European Commission participate in funding. Contributions from the nine DGs have not only helped supply the demand but have also widened the range of themes covered in the Europa Diary.

The forthcoming diary is a mine of information on an even wider range of European issues; rights and responsibilities as a consumer and a European citizen, Internet use and online shopping, scam protection, human rights, scientific discoveries, humanitarian aid, health, consumer protection, world trade, enlargement, security, environment and climate change.

Here is a short overview of the material covered by each participating “DG”.

• “DG Consumer Protection” has been our lead partner and has funded the Europa Diary for the past 5 years. Almost all editorial content has a consumer rights and responsibilities angle. Topics covered include understanding how to be a discerning consumer, decrypting labels, buying online, where and how to complain, air travel passenger rights, product safety, health and lifestyle issues and much else…
• “DG Justice, freedom and security” is, as its name suggests, responsible for the charter of human rights. Content covers fundamental rights, discrimination, human trafficking, children’s rights, hooliganism and cybercrime.
• “DG External relations” provides information about Europe’s security and covers issues including terrorism, world trade and the role of Europe in the world.
• “DG Research” covers fascinating issues of interest to young Europeans considering a career in research, science or innovation and explains the Young Scientist competition.
• “DG Trade” discusses globalisation and European commercial policy, market access and commercial aid to developing countries.
• “DG Enlargement”, participating for the first time in the Europa Diary, explains the successive enlargements of the European Union and where we stand today.
• “DG Development” outlines the EU’s role in the fight against world poverty and as a humanitarian aid donor.
• “DG Communication” encourages young people to understand how the EU functions and how they can participate in the debate on the future of Europe.
• “DG Environment”, for the third consecutive year, tackles the topical issues of climate change, biodiversity, water and other environmental themes in a 10-page section.

Generation Europe and the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue

It is with great enthusiasm that Generation Europe joined forces with European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) to launch a project for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue: the Alter Ego competition!

The Alter Ego competition invites 14 to 18 year olds to create the portrait of the person they could have been, if they had been born in another country or context, within a different culture. This encourages young people to explore the varied cultural identities co-existing in their local communities. To draw their “alter ego” portrait, participants in the competition can use videos, photos, texts, music, or any other artistic way to express identity.

Two finalists in each country will be invited to a 5-day Intercultural Workshop. Coached by European artists from minority/migrant communities, the young finalists will not only learn about migration and minorities in Europe, but most importantly they will become Ambassadors of intercultural dialogue in schools, cultural and community centres and also in their political and government institutions.

What an ambitious project! In a year from now, the works selected from the competition will be part of an exhibition travelling across Europe through the EUNIC network and available through the website as well as on DVD.

Further information on www.alterego-europe.eu.

About us

Generation Europe was created in 1995 as a non-political non-commercial Foundation to provide information for young people and their teachers on issues relating to their future as European citizens. Our aim has been to create a two-way communication platform enabling the public and private sectors to hear young peoples’ views.

We are a small, highly motivated, expert, multilingual team. We’d like to hear from you so feel free to contact us with ideas, suggestions or requests:

GENERATION EUROPE FOUNDATION asbl

Tel: +
generation-europe.org -

Update: 6/06/2008