Around 80 of the 120 participants at the ERB Youth Conference 20 April 2007 in Elblag were young people from the Danish, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Swedish regions in Euroregion Baltic (ERB). They were welcomed by Deputy Mayor Mr Artur Zielinski from City of Elblag, where the Conference took place in the restored Old Library. Marshal, Mr Jacek Protas welcomed on behalf of the Warmia-Mazury Region. ERB President Bernt Johnson introduced the ERB Executive Board and some of the national representatives, followed up by Mr Jan Marek Ziolkowski from the EU Representation in Warsaw, who introduced the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008.
The Active Youth and Lifelong Learning programmes 2007-2013 were presented, before the participants got a nice Polish lunch and then divided themselves into the three workshops focusing on 1) Environment, 2) Intercultural dialogue and 3) Democratic participation.
After three hours of hard work and a short closing session, the programme included a great evening dinner, music, dance etc.
Lot of aspects were discussed during the conference and especially in the workshops. The ERB Executive Board will now follow up at the next Board meeting to take place in Vilnius 2 June 2007. Vice President Per Ole Petersen in his closing speech indicated that a Youth Board will be established later this year, and will get a full mandate within the ERB Board and Council. A Youth weblog, representation in the 8 current ERB networks and lot of other ideas will now be discussed and concluded in the process to follow.
Photos from Eva-Lisa Ahnström, Europa Direkt Blekinge: Photos