Founded in 1987, the European Youth Parliament (EYP) is an organisation, reaching out to young people across Europe, and encouraging them to have their say in shaping the future of their continent. The Heinz-Schwarzkopf-Foundation « Young Europe » takes care of the European Youth Parliament, the international activities and the management of their activities.  

 The EYP seeks to promote the European dimension in education and to give students in the 16-22 age group the opportunity to participate in a practical, positive learning experience.
The EYP constitutes a forum in which these young people can express their own opinions, without any political connotations and without reverting to role play. Students are encouraged to take an interest in current affairs and the democratic process, practice independent thinking and take personal initiative.

The EYP organises 3 international 10-day sessions each a year. These are held in different European countries each time, bringing together 250-300 students and teachers from Europe in its widest sense, i.e.not only the 28 EU Member States. The basic idea of a session is that the delegates come together in multi-national committees, each committee looking at a different topic. Having taken part in ‘Teambuilding’, the delegates participate in Committee Work, producing a Resolution on their topic, which is then debated in the General Assembly.

For more information on these Sessions and the selection procedures, contact your national EYP. National EYP Committees exist to promote the objectives of the EYP in their country. This is often achieved by organising various European events. They select the team that will represent their country at the autumn/winter and spring international EYP sessions. To this end, many national committees organise a selection process, often including regional and national conferences, a resolution/essay-writing competition, and an interview process, all adjudicated by an independent jury. The exact method used varies from country to country. It should be added that usually students are selected as school teams, rather than as individuals.

The following countries are participating:
Albania, Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

An address list of national EYP’s can be found on: http://www.eypej.org/index.php?goModule=nationals