Tampere 2015 – 79th International Session of the European Youth Parliament

2015 Tampere 2015 – 79th International Session of the European Youth Parliament

2015 held another big milestone for EYP Finland as we organised our second International Session (IS) in the modern era, six years after the first, Helsinki 2009. Under the theme “Ideas Change Minds. People the World”, the summer session (organised 24 July – 2 August) brought together almost 250 participants in Tampere after two years of preparations.

The first seeds of the project had already been sown in late 2009 after the Helsinki IS. However, the time was not quite right so soon after and it was unclear if there would be a team and two Head Organisers to make everything happen. Both in its inception and inspiration, and in its choice of location, Tampere 2015 reflected the strong foundations EYP Finland and its past leaders and members had built; there was confidence that an IS could be organised thanks to the positive example of the successful Helsinki session, and throughout the years Tampere had been a great city for sessions with many active members coming from the city as well.

The road to Tampere 2015 was not the easiest one. Fundraising fell short and there were fewer participants than usually in a summer IS. On the positive side, the session trialled a new innovation: besides traditional resolutions, the participants were encouraged to think how they could personally contribute to the issues discussed at the session either in their own communities or on a more international level. This linked to the theme of “Ideas Change Minds. People the World”. The experiments and learnings were gathered into a

European Youth Parliament

session innovation report for further use afterwards.

Tampere 2015 IS was head-organised by past president Robert Torvelainen, with a very strong supporting core team composed of Marja Pentikäinen, Jooel Friman and Melissa Forss who carried much of the practical management and leadership of the project. The official patrons of the IS were Mayor of Tampere Anna-Kaisa Ikonen and Vice-President of the European Commission Jyrki Katainen. Furthermore, the session’s honorary board included former Prime Ministers of Finland Esko Aho, Matti Vanhanen and Paavo Lipponen, and former commissioners Erkki Liikanen and Olli Rehn.