Seven young members of the German ETF affiliate EVG went on a four weeks long “Eurorail Tour” across Europe that started on 21 April 2014. They travelled by train, ferry and bus to visit as many young railway workers as possible to exchange views.
This trip was organised because of a strong believe that young people need to get in contact with each other for helping each other out. They wanted to raise awareness about the challenges young people all over Europe are facing due to the crisis, and share their expectations and hopes as a young worker in the European Union.
During their tour, the young unionists met with trade union officials, union members, railway workers and young activists. To get a better picture of the general expectations of the local people, they also did some street interviews, they had chats with street artists, passengers on trains, tourists and citizens.
Upon their return, the young EVG members took the opportunity to present their road trip experiences to more than 400 union delegates of this year’s assembly of the German Confederation of Trade Unions, held in Berlin.
Their main findings are that the European Union is the youth’s hope in those countries that are mainly affected by the crisis as national politics do not seem to find the proper solutions. They also stated that voting for right wing parties and politicians will not help solving the problems that young people are facing.
“When we vote for the European Parliament, we all have the opportunity to decide on either putting the markets or the people in the centre of European activities and create a better future for them,” the Eurorail team concluded.
The Eurorail team has now invited the young delegates they have met during their trip to EVG’s summer camp in Eze sur Mer, France, in August 2015. It is a perfect occasion to update each other on any developments since their last visit. EVG Youth hopes, together with the ETF Youth as a partner, it will also be an occasion to define interesting future projects in the same spirit as their tour, under the motto “We live in community”.
You can read the Eurorail Tour blog here: www.eurorailtour.de