COVID-19 coordination and dialogue with European youth: Michal Roth chairs virtual meeting of ministers for European affairs - Main contents
The future in focus: under the auspices of the German Presidency of the Council of the EU i, young “ambassadors” will present their vision of the EU in ten to 15 years. The fight against COVID-19 is also on the agenda.
The informal meeting of the General Affairs Council was supposed to take place in the city of Wiesbaden and at the Eberbach Monastery (pictured), the home region of German Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth. Instead of this though, his EU colleagues will now experience a short virtual tour at their informal meeting. Once every Council Presidency - that is, every six months - the ministers for European affairs meet to discuss urgent current matters as well as long-running topics of interest.
German Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth © Thomas Trutschel
Tomorrow Minister of State Roth wants to focus on the future of Europe. That is why, together with the Schwarzkopf Foundation and the European Youth Parliament, he has invited 27 young European ambassadors from 24 different countries to take part in a discussion. The participants are all under 30 and will present their theses on topics like environmental protection, energy, the politics of asylum and digitalisation, that they have previously prepared.
Also taking part in this discussion will be Maros Sefcovic, European Commission Vice-President responsible for interinstitutional relations and foresight, and Dubravka Suica, European Commission Vice-President responsible for democracy and demography.
The exchange with the younger generation is particularly important to Minister of State Roth. It promises to be a taste of what is to come at the Conference on the Future of Europe. The ministers for European affairs will be updated on preparations for this. Member states and EU institutions want to use this process of dialogue, over the next year and a half, to ask citizens how they would like to see Europe develop in the long term.