On the 6th and 7th of June the public debate: ‘Let the young be heard‘ was held in Bistrita, Romania. This debate hosted up to 100 participants, majority of countries that joined the EU after the year 2000.

On the first day, an interesting presentation was held by Mrs. Monica Muresan – General Secretary of the Chamber of Trade and Industry of Bistrita – Nasaud county. She showed the audience Romania before and after joining the EU and clearly pointed out how the EU brought many benefits to life in Romania.

After that, the most interesting part of the event happened, the debate ‘Let your voice be heard’ that was moderated by PhD Professor Mr. Mircea Maniu. After an introduction into the theme, the audience split into 2 groups: Pro-Europeans and Eurosceptics. The question which was debated on is: ‘European Union – a people’s community?’.

With over half an hour of discussion, the audience spoke about EU’s good and bad sides, things to improve and general ideas. We were able to somehow conclude how it is necessary for every person to be both: eurosceptic and pro-euro. If we want to change things for better, we have to be proactive in finding mistakes and standing up for solution. On the other side, it is important to be positive and believe that things will be better.

As the great debate went over, a round table was held with closing thoughts and conclusions. In the afternoon, visits were organized to the city’s EU funding objectives. First is the Youth Community Center that organizes various activities for the young. They get to study, paint, dance, play…and it is all provided for free. The center is very big (you can look it up in our photogallery). The National Center for Tourist Information and Promotion has a special map of the city and projector that focuses light to outline parts of the town. Accompanied by a history presentation of the city on the screen, this tool is a significant asset for Bistrita’s tourism.

On the second day good practices and examples in the field of youth were presented. Many young people came to present their NGO’s and activities they do. Adults were highly impressed by the amount of initiative these youngsters are taking.

The event finished with short interviews for media release and a special section where the young asked adults questions and filmed them. This videos will be published on the project’s social channels.

The project consortium had a very productive meeting regarding the following events, networking and dissemination.