Valencia 2019 – 90th International Session of the European Youth Parliament

The Valencia 2019 events bears the theme ‘Sailing towards New Horizons’ which refers to the Horizon 2020 programme, which is one of the largest financial frameworks undertaken by the European Union for research and innovation, aiming at developing further sustainability and inclusivity of the job market and economic growth. Horizon 2020 also strives to ease the cooperation between public and private sectors in delivering innovation. The timing of Valencia 2019 is set one year before the programme’s ending, allowing future participants to monitor and evaluate the programme which will be close to its finishing line. Furthermore, building on Horizon 2020, Valencia 2019 will especially enable participants to reflect on a long-term and continuing strategy for both sustainable innovation and growth. Young volunteers behind the project EYP events are run by young people completely on a voluntary basis. The three project managers for Valencia 2019, Aritz, Carlota and Maria, met in 2014 during the National Selection Conference of EYP Spain in… Valencia! As they describe it: “To us, organising this International Session is a way of giving back to EYP, in the same city where it all started for our engagement.” Their enthusiasm was certainly demonstrated by their strong candidature for hosting the network’s flagship event; moreover, they explain that their motivation doesn’t stem from one source, but many. “Our core team, together with the expectation of reaching out to Europe’s youth, is our driving force.”