European projects, young university students and a lot of ideas were the main ingredients of this event “Cantabria: Europa infinita”, an event which aims at promoting the projects financed in Cantabria through EU funds among the youngsters of the region.

Last 16th October, a group of young universitary students met at the University of Cantabria to participate to the event “Cantabria: Europa infinita”, event co-organised by the volunteering programme Interreg Volunteer Youth with the support of Interreg Sudoe programme. After the introduction of Maria Sanchez, the Ministry for Economy and Finances of the Government of Cantabria, several projects from Cantabria, financed by different EU funds were taken as examples to highlight what Brussels finances in Cantabria, among youngsters. Among the projects, there were “El Show de la Palabra”, financed through the European Social Fund (ESF), “Sudoe Stop CO2”, financed through the Interreg Sudoe Programme, Bund4Blue financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and lastly, the Local Action Group “Valle Pasiegos” and the East Coast Action Group which introduce several projects financed through the LEADER programme and the European Maritime and Fishery Fund (EMFF).

Then, the participants had the opportunity to participate to debates and brainstorming to improve the communication of the European Cohesion Policy. This activity was introduced by Agnès Monfret, Head of the Communication Unit at DG REGIO (European Commission) who presented the ways in which the European Union communicates on the work related to the European cohesion Policy to young people. Thus, the participants debated actively on whaht and how the EU should communicate to young people of their age and how to give more importance to the youngsters in the decision-making process. Those reflections underlined the huge interest in the opportunities provided by the EU and a deepen knowledge on the European problematic. In another hand, a set of measures in order to ensure an EU communication more efficient regarding young people was proposed. The results of those debates are compiled in this report).

Have a look to the summary of this event through this video.