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1,000,000 Young European Service volunteers – imagine that!

1,000,000 Young European Service volunteers – imagine that!

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This petition has been created by Peter O. and may not represent the views of the Avaaz community.
Peter O.
started this petition to
The European Parliament; The European Commission; The Council of the EU
Recent events at home and abroad have revealed the strain on the ties that bind together the European Union. We are reminded that, though much has been done in the EU to foster a common market, a common currency and such, we must also focus on encouraging the common folk to feel they actually have something in common with one another, and that they too have a share in the commonwealth of Europe. The European Union will not survive if it is simply an institution of comfortable bureaucrats, ideologues and experts dedicated to harmonizing rules, compiling statistics and deciding when and to whom various subsidies and loans are to be dispensed.

Sometimes relatively simple ideas yield considerable benefits. One such idea is to establish a method and structure whereby young Europeans can dedicate themselves, their time and their energy to their society through an official, unified European service. We can call this idea the Young European Service corps (YEScorps) – for instance – and give it the mission of providing an opportunity for young adults to participate in the essential, street-level weaving together of a common European Union.

With one go, several desirable goals can be achieved. For YEScorps’ primary mission – of assisting in the construction of a pleasant, just and good European society for all of its citizens – will simultaneously and necessarily serve other noble purposes, as well. First, individual Volunteers reap the vocational, experiential, cultural and personal developmental benefits of their service. Second, the sites at which the Volunteers are placed benefit directly from an influx of assistance. Third, those organizations/sites receiving Volunteer assistance are provided with tangible evidence of inclusion in the EU and proof of an EU commitment to their community and to specific projects within it. Fourth, the Volunteer’s country of origin gains an increase in youth skill levels and working life experience. And all the while, Volunteers are deepening their own emotional investment in Europe, and spreading the seeds of European community.

The Young European Service corps appropriates and radically expands the concept of national service . Many fine national and international service organisations already exist. But YEScorps is unique in defining the nation in question as the European Union, thus uniquely combining the notions of both national and international service. Within this new definition of nationhood – of Europe-as-nation – YEScorps provides the structure for young ‘everyman’ and ‘everywoman’ Europeans to serve Europe.

The mission of YEScorps is to strengthen a common European identity through youth service. YEScorps serves as the official European-national service organization and, as such, YEScorps is also intentionally part of – and a concrete contribution to – the broader, ongoing movement to strengthen the European Union through augmenting and improving the European institutional framework. It is also a firm commitment to the next phase of development in the European Social Model, as well as providing a European-national civilian alternative to national military service (for those countries having some form of conscription as well as an alternative opt-out from it).

Youth unemployment in many EU countries has reached catastrophic levels. But even previous to the present crisis, the marginalisation of many groups of young people was unacceptably high. Given these factors, and the other pressures creating tension within the EU, YEScorps is initially established and funded at the level with 500,000 new Volunteers per year, rising or falling to a permanent level equal to 10% of the EU youth unemployment level. That’s ambitious. But are there any other plans in circulation, especially with such potential for multi-sector impact and inspiration?

Investing in youth is desirable for ethical, economic, humanistic and strategic reasons, and investing in youth who themselves are investing in the European Union can only generate a ripple effect of benefits for all Europeans. The YEScorps furthers the advancement of the European Union as union, by providing an attractive opportunity to reduce youth unemployment, delivering training, skills and experience to young people, by improving social integration, and by promoting the ideal and practice of service.

The Young European Service corps makes economic sense , by simply and elegantly addressing a number of pressing issues with one simple program. And while the only truly unique aspect of YEScorps is to regard the EU as one nation, in the current context this uniqueness reverberates with potential. The continuing and mutating nature of the global financial/economic crisis means that youth unemployment in many Member-states has risen to alarming levels. In addition, the crisis has also exposed and exacerbated intra-Union tensions, added fuel to the fire of political extremism and posed a threat to a continuing common future. Simply put, YEScorps offers a new model for socializing – growing – Europeans.

Posted (Updated )