Proposals and Topics

· Education
· European Youth issues
· Culture and exchanges
· Sport

Education: integrated, future-proof and equal: The Plenary proposes to coordinate EU education programmes, while respecting the national and local contents. Equivalence of diplomas, and recognition of professional degrees, non-formal learning and learning periods abroad must be ensured, including through certified minimum standards in core subjects. Citizens must be educated about EU democracy, values and history via a common civic education module. A dedicated EU organization must coordinate media literacy and critical thinking classes to tackle fake news. School curricula must include "soft skills", such as listening and dialogue, resilience, self-study, result-orientation.

Everyone should learn about environmental sustainability and its connection to health, while making biodiversity a mandatory subject. There should be support for teacher training in creative and state-of-the-art teaching methods. Access to hardware and broadband connectivity must be prioritized, to meet the educational needs of all children. Joint EU teaching materials should be introduced, e.g. in areas of climate change, sustainability and digitisation.

Youth: support in working life and social protection and "youth test" of the EU legislation: Young people should be more involved in decision-making, e.g. through citizens' panels with children of 10 to 16 years. European representatives could meet schoolchildren in their schools while an EU "Youth Test" should be applied to all new EU legislation and policies. Voting at European Parliament elections could be considered from age of 16 and national parties should put younger candidates on European election lists. Pupils (starting at 12 years of age) must be able to participate in observatory visits in profit and non-profit organisations, as part of their formal education. More EU financing under NextGenerationEU should be devoted to European Youth Guarantee. Young people's internships and jobs must include fair remuneration, putting end to youth minimum wages and banning unpaid internships outside formal education.

Young people's access to social protection and affordable housing should be ensured, and "brain drain" must be prevented with the help of EU funding. Detailed youth plans for crises (e.g. health crisis or war) should minimise the impact on young peoples' studies, work and mental wellbeing.

Culture: fostering EU identity and strengthening diversity: The culture of exchange, European identity and European diversity should be strengthened. travel and professional mobility should be extended to local representatives, and exchange possibilities should be accessible to all. New elements in existing EU exchange and mobility programmes (such as civic service within the European Solidarity Corps, and cultural passes within DiscoverEU) should be considered. Stronger focus must be placed on multilingualism from an early age, and minority and regional languages should be better protected through a designated EU institution to promote language diversity. There should be a mandatory competence in another EU language starting from elementary school, teaching a language of the neighbouring EU country in cross border areas, as well as a certifiable standard in English.

Europe Day (9 May) should become an EU-wide public holiday, initiatives should be put in place to protect and celebrate European cultural heritage, and professionals, particularly in any future crises, should be protected through EU law.

Sports: ensure healthy living, promote diversity, strengthen European identity: Sports in the EU should contribute to defending EU values (gender equality, fairness and inclusiveness), to healthy lifestyle and healthy ageing, as well as to celebrating European diversity. There should be more attention and support for local and traditional sport and non-professional sports. It also suggests to use sports as a tool for showcasing European identity, by organising more inter-EU sports events, creating EU sports teams and displaying EU symbols at sporting events.