(Strasbourg) “With your good ideas and your determination to have a better Europe, you have inundated this Parliament with life, colour, enthusiasm and hope. You have been and you are a breath of fresh air for European democracy”, Ramón Valcárcel, deputy president of the European Parliament, stated on the official closing of the third European Youth Event (Eye), the meeting that saw the Strasbourg HQ of the European Parliament inhabited by 8 thousand boys and girls from all over Europe. The meetings, debates, workshops and all sorts of exchanges that took place on June 1^st and 2^nd produced a myriad ideas: the best 100 ones will be submitted to the MEPs in a report; 50 MEPs were proactively involved in the Eye, by meeting and talking with these young people.

Deputy President Valcárcel promised that the MEPs will “work hard for your ideas to come true and to have a real impact on European politics”, but, in return for that, he asked these young people “just one thing: go to the polls. Vote for whoever you like but do vote, because European democracy needs you to survive”. On their side, the young asked for “more young nominees on the lists for the forthcoming European election” and “more consideration for their demands”. Parliament has already opened a website, (thistimeimvoting.eu), for the people who attended the Eye and anyone else, to keep discussing and keep in touch in the run-up to May 2019.