The EU Delegation to Serbia has organised a six-day study visit to Brussels for 10 Serbian youth activists who took part in the initiative MLADI SU ZAKON implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and supported by the EU Delegation.
From 3-6 June youth activists had a chance of meeting representatives of the EU and the EC as well as youth organisations, with whom they talked about employment opportunities in Europe along with volunteering and its impact on individuals’ personal and professional development.
Among other things, Serbian youth activists discussed youth participation in policy-making process, educational possibilities, in particular the Erasmus+ programme. Apart from others, their hosts in Brussels were Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission and European Parliament.
“Meeting that left the biggest impression on me was the one with European Youth Forum’s representatives. I like that the EYF encourage young people to take part in policy making, whose significance, I would say, is not well-recognised among the youth,“ said Olga Boškov, an activist of the Informal Group “Femix Forum” from Belgrade.
“It was rather inspiring to learn the ways in which an organisation cooperates with EU institutions as it tries to enhance possibilities for the young in various aspects of life, while at the same time making young people the agents of change,“ she adds.
Boškov said that she had particularly enjoyed the chance to see how the EU apparatus works “from inside“, its complexity and comprehensiveness:
“Perhaps the most valuable cognition was the very picture of complexity and constant movement, change. To me, it shows that the problems are really being solved and that everyone is included. It seems to me that most of Serbian citizens perceive the EU as a single-minded ‘Other’, but we have had an opportunity to see the other side of the coin.”
Apart from Olga Boškov, Brussels has also welcomed Srecko Zdravkovic of Association “Alternative Bor” from Bor, Nenad Trajic of Informal Group “Say it Freely” from Pozarevac, Jelena Pavlovic of Association “Ub Youth Club” from Ub, Olga Petrovic of Board of European Students of Technology – BEST from Nis, Jovana Nikolic of Informal Group “EkoTon” from Pirot, Jasmina Arsic of Association “Centre for Tolerance and Integration of Southern Serbia” from Bujanovac, Adrian Nadjivan, activist of the Informal Group “Student’s Parliament of Chemical and Food-Processing School” from Coka, Marjan Radosevic of Informal Group “Scooter Drivers” from Sremska Mitrovica and Dragan Raskovic of Informal Group “Whirlwind”.
