Exactly one year ago, Radio Bulgaria presented the Bulgarian claimant for the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, Sofia 2021. Today, the team of young people working on it have reached its final phase. The many months of work on the project will culminate in an international conference to take place in Sofia from 9 to 12 June, as a simulation of the legislative process of the EU institutions. Almost 100 young people from Bulgaria and Europe will be able to take part in it, to discuss current European directives and regulations. Discussions will focus on two spheres – cybersecurity and youth policies.

“In the European Year of Youth, 2022, our event gains even greater significance,” says deputy project leader, 23-year old Victoria Ruseva. Applications for participation in the conference, which will be an in-person event, can be submitted until 24 April.

“Any young person aged 18 to 30 from a European country, or elsewhere, is eligible for applying for this project. Applications are submitted online, the application form is available on our official pages, as are all details concerning the project, the conference programme, as well as the roles the participants can choose to play during the conference. The forum will be entirely in English – both the official and the social programme which is to include inter-cultural events presenting Bulgaria to the participants,” Victoria Ruseva said in an interview with Radio Bulgaria.

She believes that, overall, the event has the potential to inspire people of all ages to develop their ideas in the name of a better European future. The team of the “Model European Union, Sofia 2022” will mark Earth Day on 22 April. “Our project is environmentally friendly and has a clear position and a focus on sustainability and minimum waste,” Victoria says and adds:

“Our conference will be entirely paper-free. In our work so far there has not been a single flight connected with the project.”

And talking of Europe and the changes taking place, the big topic now is the war in Ukraine. As a student at the University in Vienna, Victoria Ruseva spends a lot of her time in the Austrian capital, and she believes, that young people do care about what has been happening in Ukraine during the past two months or so. “And that is only natural,” she says.

“Young people are just as sensitive as everyone else, even more so. I myself am studying political science, and we are constantly discussing what is happening there, and not just at the university.  But let me say that our sensibility does not make us feel helpless. I have never felt more inspired to do something, to help someone, to make a difference. Especially in Vienna, everything I see around me gives me the hope that anyone can help. I see solidarity all around, and it is not passive. And I mean even small gestures – people playing ball or cards with Ukrainian children, helping them be children once again. That inspires me with hope every single day,” Victoria says.

It should not be forgotten that the future of Europe, our own country or simply the place where we live is in our own hands. Change comes from our personal decisions and actions, and it is young people who will be the next to take up this message. And maybe they will pass it onto us. That is something we shall find out at the international conference on the “Model European Union, Sofia 2022” project in June.

Photos: private library and Facebook/MEUSofia