Young Mediterranean Voices celebrates Europe Day in Athens with an intercultural debate on EU’s foreign policy

Athens, 9 May 2019. – Young Mediterranean Voices (YMV) delegates from France, Tunisia and Greece were invited to Athens to celebrate Europe Day with a public debate on EU’s foreign policy. An initiative of the Anna Lindh Foundation, the event was co-organised with Europe Direct Information Centre hosted at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (EDIC – ELIAMEP), the Hellenic Foundation for Culture (the Foundation’s coordinator of civil society organisations in Athens), the School of Law of the University of Athens, and the Representation of the European Commission in Greece.

The YMV Athens Debate followed the model established in other European cities such as Barcelona and Marseille, including intercultural teams of young women and men from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, with a debate motion shaped around a topic with a European angle. On this occasion, debaters offered evidence-based arguments for and against the motion on whether the EU should prioritize stability over democracy in its foreign policy. The activity was presented to an audience of around fifty people including students, youth workers, civil society actors, academic, and representatives of the EU partner organisations.

According to the evaluation carried out with debate attendees, 9 out of 10 people rated the format of the activity as “very good”, and 94.12% admitted the debate helped shape their opinion about the topic being discussed. The audience valued the interactive dialogue with the debaters during the session and the innovative format of the event.

A key point underlined by all debaters was the importance of preparing the arguments with someone from another cultural background, and opening up the experience to civil society at large. Vasileios Christodoulou from Greece stated: “This experience provided us the chance to talk, to ask each other questions about our cultures as we were working together to research on an issue of common concern, and opening up the debate to the public gave us the opportunity to show how powerful this methodology is.”

Sirine Ben Brahim from Tunisia highlighted: “I have been debating in Tunisia since 2013 but this is a new dimension. The process of preparing and exchanging with young people from other cultures and backgrounds made me realise that we are the same, that we have a lot in common. I loved every second of it.” Dimitra Konstandina Sarakanidi from Greece underlined that “through these intercultural debates, we can promote not only ideas but also cultures.”

Speaking at the event, Stefanos Vallianatos, of the Hellenic Foundation of Culture, said: “The first YMV debate in Athens is history. The excitement of the young Greek participants of meeting and communicating with peers from other parts of the Mediterranean was a solid proof of the insightfulness of the YMV as a programme. The debate itself testified the young people’s ability to contribute, effectively and refreshingly, to the public dialogue and therefore the need for more open and secure spaces to engage them in the public arena.”

Through the preparation process for the debate, young delegates from Tunisia and France had the opportunity to immerse in the local community and exchange best practices in the field of intercultural dialogue and inclusion. Meetings and field visits were organised with Athens-based Anna Lindh Foundation network members working with refugees, and involved in intercultural education and active intercultural citizenship. Opportunities to collaborate on youth-led dialogue initiatives such as Young Mediterranean Voices, including through virtual exchange, were identified.

This activity is part of a mapping and outreach exercise to identify debate hubs and local partner institutions in priority European Member States in the framework of the “Young Mediterranean Voices”. As the programme expands north from the Southern Mediterranean countries, it brings a pioneering debate model and methodologies developed through the precursor “Young Arab Voices” since 2011.

Young Mediterranean Voices is the flagship regional youth-led debate programme coordinated by the Anna Lindh Foundation and co-funded by the European Commission (DG Neighbourhood and Enlargement). It is implemented in partnership with the British Council and a consortium of leading regional organisations specialised in policy advocacy and intercultural dialogue including the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, CMI (Centre for Mediterranean Integration), Friends of Europe, Search for Common Ground/Soliya MEDAC (Mediterranean Academy for Diplomatic Studies), and Global Thinkers Forum.