Interested in the view of the young on EUSAIR governance?

Begining of this life-changing 2020, the lecture on practical aspects of governance in the case of EUSAIR was held to students of master’s degree in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana, at the subject Developmental disparities in rural areas. Being provided with some interesting insights, we wanted even more and invited them to participate in a short survey. Every opinion matters, when you are designing new future of Europe (check out the posts on open public consultations 1&2) and new activities to involve the youth (new scenarios in final phases of development-soon to be published).

The idea of Macro-regional Strategies (MRSs) is well accepted among youth, however our governance system and complex implementation is a big turn-off. The concept of MRSs being a process is understood, but it is being too slow from their perspective.

Let us start with their clear suggestions on how to improve the governance in 8 different countries and make it less complicate – less words, less paper work & more actions, shorter deadlines to speed up the processes and improve the flexibility, which shall be the positive aspect of MRSs in the future.

Their first impression of MRS/EUSAIR showed the recognition of its added value – encouraging the highly needed cooperation in contemporary world, however they still need persuasion that it is not just another European policy tool far away from the citizens and their needs. It needs to be brought closer to citizens, involve people’s opinions, focus on needs of local people and not trying to make the whole region look attractive for tourists or newcomers. And…as a matter of fact,  isn’t it what we all wish for EUSAIR and MRSs to be? MRS should therefore be simplified and personalised with interesting stories and visual attractive presentations of notable concrete results improving the region. Following the principle: Act macro-regionally to make a difference locally!

They expect their voice to be heard, they expect US to recognise them as co-designers of their future! In this regard they already proposed cooperation through organised summer schools and collaboration in exploring different areas covered within MRS (also with use of virtual channels) and photo or research contest for better advertisement. Help with coordinating different events and stakeholders in order to change people’s life environments for better, was offered as well.

Ever wondered about the youth view on what should be the first priority for the Adriatic-Ionian region? Which main challenges need to be solved immediately? – Having a clear vision! (stay alert, coming very very soon!) and following it through. Reconciling interests of EUSAIR member states and overcoming the lack of cooperation between different countries, as well as among different sectors. EUSAIR should have an evenly balanced path to actually improve quality of life for all people in our Adriatic-Ionian region. The region shall be united into one mind! And how to start this? With evaluation! Overview of the work done so far to acknowledge how far we’ve come and how to improve future implementation of our MRS.