BERLIN – Regional Youth Cooperation Office in partnership with Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE), Crossborder Factory and Franco German Youth Office (OFAJ/FGYO) organized a follow-up event of the “Friday, Saturday and Sunday for Future” which previously took part in an online form, from the 21-23rd of January 2022 initiated within the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This first follow-up event took place from the 12-17th of December 2022 in Berlin, Germany, gathering around 20 young people from the Western Balkans, Germany and France with the aim to discuss the green challenges in the EU and Western Balkans region, focusing at the same time on discussions and visits to the successful examples of “local” solutions to the recognised issues.
The welcoming notes were delivered by the side of Ms Aline Palige, Senior program manager at the Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE), Mr Frank Morawietz, representative of the Crossborder Factory and Special Envoy for the South East Europe at Franco-German Youth Office (OFAJ/FGYO) and Ms Bojana Lalatovic, Programme officer in the Regional Youth Cooperation Office.
The meeting was structured around the following main thematic areas:
- Crosscutting nature of Green Agenda
- Differences in the intercultural approach to environmental challenges in Germany, France and the WB6
- The key-challenges in our societies
- What can I do in my daily life / in my context / on my political level?
During discussions, particular emphasis was placed on the different approaches in France, Germany and the Western Balkans. The discussion highlighted the essence of cultural differences in dealing with ecological issues. In addition, the discussions focused on solutions so that young citizens have the opportunity to integrate sustainable development into their daily lives. Besides discussions, the participants conducted the street interviews in order to get the flavour of what is the public opinion on the relevant ongoing efforts towards combating the recognized challenges (e.g. COP27, Green Deal, etc).
On the third day of the event the participants got the chance to visit to the energy self-sustainable village, Feldheim. On the last day the discussions were structure around the concrete activities and expectations for phase III of the project that will take place in Podgorica in 2023.
This project is the result of cooperation between the Franco-German Youth Office (OFAJ/FGYO), the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), the Crossborder Factory and Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE).
