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CONVENTION ON EU BEST PRACTICE IN ACCESS TO PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION – report from SIA4Y project seminar

Read about our project SIA4Y  “Strengthening civil society rights by information access for European youth” both financed in terms of EU programme “Europe for citizens” (2014 – 2020) meeting on 6 and 7th Nov 2019 in Brussels.  This convention about Freedom of Information (FoI) was organised by one of the partners –  WeCitizens, in partnership with EESC and the University of Louvain, in the framework of the SIA4Y project, 14 speakers of 11 different nationalities intervened during these two half-days.

International trends

According to Ms Adlin Hulin, the promotion of freedom of expression is high on the agenda of UNESCO, which has competencies in the field of culture and education.

Transparency International actively fights against corruption. Matilde Manzi, from TI-Europe, explains the slow process of increasing protection for whistleblowers. EU Member states need to transpose a recent EU Directive and should extend its scope. They also need to decide whether anonymous denunciations of crimes are accepted.

Mrs Assya Kavrakova, from ECAS, shows that we have in 2018 an unprecedented increase in civic engagement. Taking into account that young people act differently, we should be quick enough to grasp the opportunity to enhance democracy.

Mr Alvaro Gonzalez Perez presented two initiatives of his European students federation, AEGEE: http://yvote.eu and Generation Climate Europe (http://gceurope.org). The latter fosters youth climate dialogue, in order to reach joint statements and require stronger climate change policies.

Mr Jean-Paul Pinon, CEO of WeCitizens (Belgium), insists on measures that make politicians more accountable. He also advises a general measure to increase the interest of the average citizen for politics: removing the withholding tax (the tax paid directly by the employer to the State, on account of the employee).

Mrs Rachel Hanna, from Assess Info Europe (Madrid), reminds that we must find the right balance between access to data and protection of privacy. Concerning lobby, everything should be transparent.

Mr Jean-Marie Sohier, from Sealord (Belgium), suggests that citizens set commonly accepted policy standards and investigate how politicians comply.

Country experiences

Mrs Eila Heikkilä presents the Ohjaamo system in Finland: a network of One-Stop Guidance Centers that offer support to persons under the age of 30 for various issues (career planning, life management, participation, etc.).

Ms Wilma Haan, CEO of Open State Foundation, reminds also the economic benefits of transparency by public bodies. Her Foundation publishes big databases: Open Spending (financial data of all the local governments in the Netherlands), Open ‘Poen’, Open municipality, Open multilateral, PoliFLW NL/EU.

Mr JP Pinon shows some Belgian initiatives. WeCitizens started publishing a transparency index of political parties, and a database of politicians (PoliticiansOnline.be). Among many other initiatives, the portal Transparencia.be is more directly helping citizens to access documents from public bodies.

Mrs Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło, explains how they intend to make young people familiar with their right to know, through Youth Advisory bodies like Youth Councils, Youth Boards in various organisations including Euroregion Baltic Youth Board, also represented at this meeting by the YB Chairwoman – Ms Julia Orluk.

Mr Alexander Fanta, an investigative journalist from Netzpolitik (Berlin), gives some examples of how citizens can make an interesting investigation using access to public information. He tells that schools for journalists in his country (Austria) to not really teach the rights of such access.

Mrs Carina Paju mainly commented to initiatives of Transparency International Estonia: Transparency in capital cities (about response time) and Political party financing data.

Mr Johannes Filter, from FragdenStaat.de (Germany), says that involving people will not happen, in the first place, with a heavy investigation about corruption, but with very local questions. To get a youngster more involved in FoI, give him opportunities to find easily information he is personally interested in. FragdenStaat has a webpage allowing students to easily send requests concerning past examination questions for the General University Entrance Qualification.

Guide of good practice

Prof. S. Mrozowska and B. Kijewska, from the University of Gdansk, presented the outcome of their work about FoI, structured in three parts: (I) legal grounds, (II) youth policy and (III) examples of initiatives in the five partner countries.

You can now download our SIA4Y project Code of Good practice – “Youth access to public information. Towards a better understanding of democracy”.

To download the document click below:

SIA4Y_Code of Good Practice

The right to freedom and access to public information, enabling young people to search for and receive public documents, serves as a vital tool in the fight against corruption, facilitates full participation in public life, increases governing efficiency, encourages investment and helps enforce fundamental human rights. The openness of public authorities’ actions is an indicator of a democratic state. It is the fundamental guarantee of citizens’ trust in the state and its law, without which the harmonious functioning of society is not possible. Information on the activities of public bodies may be relevant for both the individual and the general public. Access to it is one of the essential tools enabling citizens to exercise control over those in power.

That is why it is so vital to ensure the broadest possible access to public information. At the institution level,
it means creating conditions for sharing information, and at the citizen level, the ability to exercise this right (I know how and for what). Only those young people who are informed about their rights and obligations can independently make decisions and pursue their goals as full citizens.

Visit our project website: www.civicyouth.eu

On the 6th and 7th of May the Baltic Sea Youth 2030 meeting took place in Gdansk.

Several Youth organizations have contributed and young people have had the opportunity to build the future plan together with experts  on youth and cooperation.

ERB was present, along with CBSS, BSSSC, ERB, Latvian Youth Council, Swedish Youth, Council, Leontief Centre, Nordisk Institute på Åland/Ålands Natur och Milljö, ReGeneration 2030, International Cooperation Burau at the Office of the Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship, Morena Association, as well as LSU and  LJP representatives who joined online.

It was a crucial meeting to start a more systematic process of coordination amoung youth in the Baltic Sea Regions, to share with all the participants what has been done so far and  which steps to be taken for the future.

The topics discussed focused on the practical instruments to engage young people and to improve communication between youth organizations.

Young people underlined the real need to have the opportunity to meet several times a year, in addition to online meetings, to build a strong cooperation within the Baltic Sea Regions.

The wokshop on the second day, brought some real ideas for the possibilities and applications that youth can catch in the frame of Erasmus + program. Thanks to the experts present, youth have started to draw the initial ideas that will be developed in the future.


Young people are planning to create a video and a letter for all organizations, politicians and adults who can and want to actively contribute, in order to ask their support.

Let’s make our voice heard!

Text by our IVY volunteer – Milena Pallotta

The SIA4Y “Right of information access from the youth perspective” workshop took place from 6th-7th March in Elblag, Poland!
The event was organized by the Association of Polish Communes of Euroregion Baltic and brought together 100 young people! There were participants from several Lithuanian cities (Telšiai, Vilnius, Eigirdžiai, Klaipeda), the Russian city of Kaliningrad, Sweden (city of Hässleholm), Poland (Elbląg, Gdańsk, Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, Iława, Dzierzgoń, Olsztyn, Gdynia, Słupsk, Otomin, Warsaw, Przezmark), Italy and Greece!
On 6th March, the participants from abroad arrived in Elbląg! There was a joint dinner and a small local tour by Mr Marcin Żuchowski and Ms Paulina Lieder before the participants’ went to rest and prepare for the forthcoming day!
On 7th March, the workshop ensued in the Town Hall of Elblag. It opened with a speech by Ms. Malgorzata Samusjew, Director of the Association of Polish Communes, workshop host organization. Ms. Valentina Scandola, organizer of the event, introduced the agenda of the day and launched a social media contest, giving later the floor to Ms Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło, representing the Polish Economic Society Branch in Gdańsk, who introduced the project “SIA4Y- Strengthening Civil Society Participation through Public Information Access for European Youth”.
The day was divided into two main workshop sessions, whose main scope was to bring the topic of “right of information access” in the foreground, also trough a synergy between SIA4Y, CaSYPoT and SB YCGN project. The Association of Polish Communes of Euroregion Baltic, in fact, had a chance to keep a fil rouge with the youth-related activities that have been implemented in the last two years. The first one on “Responsible relationships and youth civic engagement”.
The first session was held by Marcin Żuchowski and Agata Ludwiczak, from the hosting organization. The second session, instead, counted on Mr Sergejus Muravjovas and Ms Ieva Duncikaite’s moderation from Transparency International Lithuania with the title: “Model Your Municipality: Participatory Budgeting Session”.
“Responsible relationships and youth civic engagement” session:
At their first task, the participants were divided into 8 groups and asked to answer questions on 8 youth tools, which had a distinct goal each, and were written on large pieces of paper across 8 separate tables. Each group would then proceed to the next table. The tools were: employment mobility, youth information, Youth Centers, youth media, Schools of the Future, School’s Youth Zone, Baltic Youth Week, SB YCGN local round-table meetings-suggestions.
Before the launch of the second session, the winners of the social media contest were prized with lots of tech prizes and the participants had a lunch break in an adjacent room where a rich buffet was laid out.
“Model Your Municipality: Participatory Budgeting Session”:
In this part, participants were partnered according to their home towns and asked to think of and create the budget for a common project that would benefit their municipalities. The allowed budget for the participants was 100 000 euros and they had to present their idea along with the expenses that it’d require. Afterwards, each group presented the idea they came up with and finally the audience had the chance to vote for the idea they considered most interesting and likely to be implemented. The team from Tricity area presented a beach cleaning system and received the most votes. Special mention should be made of the participants from the Elblag-Kaliningrad group who proposed an international cultural festival and the team from Nowe Miasto Lubawskie who presented a very detailed budget.
The workshop closed with a presentation by Mr Dominik Kwiatkowski about the participatory budgeting in the city of Słupsk and a focus group discussion conducted by Mr Marcin Żuchowski about the situation of youth in their schools. This last session was held in the frame of YCGN project.
In general, it was a really fun and educational workshop and its young participants had the chance to get more informed about their rights and opportunities to communicate with and influence their municipalities!

By IVY Theodora Chatzipanteli

Youth is often defined as the age group from 16 until around 30-34. It can be a time of great opportunities and challenges when people prepare for the responsibilities ahead, including their livelihood, family obligations, and productive engagement with their communities.

Overview of the Euroregion Baltic Youth Strategy

The Euroregion Baltic Youth Strategy was created by Mr Przemyslaw Kulawczuk, Mr Andrzej Poszewiecki and Ms Elzbieta Kolasinka in cooperation with Mr Damian Ciachorowski and the ERB Youth Board and in accordance with research done within the scope of the CaSYPoT project. It was presented by Ms Agata Ludwiczak of Euroregion Baltic International Permanent Secretariat during the ERB Executive and Youth Board meetings in Klaipeda, Lithuania on the 13th and 14th of February respectively. The Youth Strategy’s focus is on recommending measures that will foster collaboration between the countries of the Euroregion Baltic. This aims to tackle the issues of youth migration and regional depopulation as well as the resulting social and economic challenges.

The Euroregion Baltic and its challenges

These issues are shared to a different extent by each of the countries and administrative regions which constitute the Euroregion Baltic. The regions included are Bornholm (Denmark), Kalmar, Kronoberg, Blekinge, Skåne (Sweden), Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Pomorskie (Poland), Klaipeda (Lithuania) as well as the Kaliningrad region of Russia. Relevant studies illustrate the dramatic results of regional abandonment which are especially pronounced in Poland and Lithuania and less noticeable in Sweden and Denmark.
Unfortunately, it appears that many provinces in the Baltic region are currently in a cycle of limited opportunities, outbound immigration and social and economic abandonment. The youth who are the future of their regions are particularly affected by this. In each region-member of the Euroregion Baltic, high percentages of young people have to deal with unemployment, lack of options in higher education and limited chances of self-realization. The result of this is that the majority want to move to a larger municipality or city.
Currently, each of the regions of the Euroregion Baltic has its own youth policy trying to deal with these issues. Cooperation and sharing experience between the regions are very limited. However, if more cross-border initiatives and collaboration were to be established, that could make the regions more attractive to their youth and create more opportunities.

The new Euroregion Baltic’s Youth Strategy proposal

Euroregion Baltic’s Youth Strategy is focused on understanding the young people’s needs and helping to communicate them. The three main strategic objectives of the new Youth Strategy are : connecting the youth through the promotion of mobility, engaging through development and empowering through the building of identity. First, with an increased mobility it becomes easier for young people to connect across the Baltic Sea and beyond in order to gain work experience, make connections and cooperate with other young people and adult experts. Second, the promotion of development supports the youth by fostering quality, innovation and sustainable development in cities and regions. Finally, by focusing on building identity, the Euroregion Baltic can strengthen the relations between its young people and foster future cooperation and common understanding.
A positive element of the strategy is that it includes in its creation young people alongside politicians, authorities, experts and universities. This will not only help in the implementation of the strategy by the local government but also ensure its success which is directly linked to the youth participation in it.

Euroregion Baltic has several tools in its disposal with which to achieve these objectives like employment mobility, youth information, Students’ Council, Youth Centers, media, school’s first job and many others.

Now it only remains to see which of these can be adopted and put into action on local level!

By IVY Theodora Chatzipanteli

The Baltic Youth Camp is a three-day festival open to all youth within the age group 18-29 years from one of the 11 countries in the Baltic Sea Region or from Iceland.

Why should you participate?

This festival is an occasion for youth representatives from the Baltic Sea Region to gather and explore friendship, cultural identity and politics through workshops, small seminars and social activities related to art, technology, human rights, ecology, sustainability and heritage and enjoy excursions, sports and music.

Learn more on our website: https://www.balticyouthcamp.org/ and follow the Facebook page @Baltic Youth Camp !

Registration will open in February! Stay tuned =)

The Association of Polish Communes of Euroregion Baltic, IPS, is currently part of Europe for Citizens project SIA4Y- Strengthening civil society rights by Information Access for European Youth (http://civicyouth.eu/2018/12/19/sia4y-project-kick-off-meeting-in-gdansk-european-debate/).

The project, led by the Polish Economic Society (Gdansk, Poland), foresees a series of mirroring events “Access to public information from the youth perspective” in each partner country (Poland, Estonia, Finnland and Belgium), and we’re about to start the organization of ours that will take place in Elblag (Poland), on 7th March 2019 (1-day event).

Our event will count 80-100 participants from our ERB network (Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, and Poland) and from our SIA4Y partner countries, especially from Finnland and Estonia. We still have to define the details but I think that our target group will be mainly young people aging between 18 and 25 years old.

The main objective of the event will be to inform and train the participants in the use of the right of access to public information, including practical training on socially responsible relationships and participatory budgeting knowledge for youth. Our idea would be to dedicate half of the time on right of access, and the second part on participatory budgeting through a role game.

We are currently looking for speakers that would be able to give a significant contribution to our event, with experience in the topics described above, and used to work with youth.
If you are interested in participating as speaker, please contact Valentina Scandola at valentina.scandola@euroregionbaltic.eu

Are you a young girl/ boy between 18-25 years old?

Would you like to know more about your right of access to public information?

Then our Youth Workshop is the right occasion for you to gain practical knowledge in this field, besides socially responsible relationships and participatory budgeting.

The workshop will be organized in the frame of SIA4Y project– Strengthening civil society rights by information access for European youth, led by the Polish Economic Society in Gdansk (PL).

If you are eager to know about our project and next activities, and if you would like to leave your comments, you can visit the website civicyouth.eu.

Stay tuned and save the date 7th March 2019!

The event venue will be Ratusz Staromiejski (Town hall)

Stary Rynek 25, Elbląg (PL).

N.B. Agenda and link for registration will be available in January.

10 October, 09.00 – 12.00, at the Mission of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union (Boulevard du Regent 53 – 1000 BRUXELLES)

How do we improve the opportunities for young people in regions and cities across Europe, and what can be gained by doing so? Get inspiration (and lunch) at our side-event ”Regions and Cities for Youth”

Whether you are from a small rural village or a big city, local and regional authorities are often responsible for youth and the facilitation of their everyday lives. However, European regions and cities face several challenges regarding youth – such as demographic changes, the need for developing skills and the well-being of youth. What would you say is the biggest challenge for your city or region?

Join us at this side-event where we explore how the EU´s toolbox (e.g. Erasmus+ and the EU Solidarity Corps) can make your region/city more attractive for young people and thereby boost regional growth. This unique seminar brings together several participants, and thereby perspectives, from all over Europe: from North, West, East and South. Youth voices will be present throughout the conference and Novi Sad, the youth capital of 2019, will share their experiences on how they managed to win this prestigious title. Welcome!

Here You can find pdf: Side-event-Regions-and-cities-for-youth-Irma

Seventy young people (age 16 to 30) from Nordic and Baltic Sea countries met last 18-20 August on the Åland islands to discuss about the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Youth took part in several workshops focusing on SDG 12- responsible consumption and production in an intercultural and inter-generation learning process. During this Summit, participants elected a Working Group that drafted a first ReGeneration 2030 Manifesto.
The Manifesto was introduced to the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) Annual Conference in Marienhamn yesterday. It will be introduced also:
– by CBSS in its Committee of Senior Officials (19th September in Riga)
– by CBSS Expert Group on Sustainable Development (EGSD) on 27th September in Riga
– during the Democracy Festival Birstonas (7-9 September in Vilnius)
– in the BSSSC Youth Event and Annual Conference (9-12 September in Gdansk)
– in the Forum of Strategic Planning of Regions and Cities of Russia (22-23 October in St. Petersburg)

The Manifesto will also be presented to the ERB Executive Board at its meeting on Bornholm on 26 September 2018.

You can read the Manifesto here: Manifesto ReGeneration 2030 Summit 2018

For more information, you can contact Olga Zuin- Programme Coordinator Baltic 2030 Unit- at olga.zuin@cbss.org

ReGeneration 2030- Today Tomorrow Together

The content of this website is the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union, the Managing Authority or the Joint Secretariat of the South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020. The project UMBRELLA is partly financed from the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 through the European Regional Development Fund.