“Your voice in the European union – Why young people should vote in the elections for European parliament?”

This question will be answered by key representatives of youth organizations of over ten political parties, as well as prominent politics experts.

The round table will be open for debate on April 29th 2009 at 13:30 in “Grand Hotel Sofia” – hall “Triaditsa 2”. The event is open for journalists and interested citizens. The goal of the round table is to allow the political parties share their concrete views with young Bulgarian citizens and stimulate them to use their power of vote in June.

“What do young people want to know?” is the main topic of discussion moderated by the lector of “European studies” in the Sofia University docent Nelly Ognyanova. Her colleague from the New Bulgarian University (NBU) docent Antonii Galabov will also be present at the discussion. Young people will also hear clarifications from the politologist docent Rumyana Kolarova for the role of the European parliament in the democratization of Europe.

The following chairmen of the youth organizations of political parties confirmed their participation: Alexander Todorov from SDS, Korman Ismailov from DPS, Denitsa Gadzheva from “Ataka”, Petar Stanchev from “VMRO”, Trendafil Velichkov from BSP, Georgi Dimitrov from “United farmers”, Iusef Ez Edin Dakak from DSB, Ivo Chiflichki from NDSV and others. A representative from GERB is also expected.

The round table is organized by the European information center “Europe Directly” – Sofia, the Center for modernization of politics and the web portal Europe (www.europe.bg), using finances from the national budget provided for the project “Your voice in the European union”. The event is part of the campaign “Citizens forum for the elections of European parliament”, which will take place between April 27th – 30th in all centers of “Europe Directly” in Bulgaria.

The presentation in “Grand Hotel Sofia” will be preceeded by an informal youth meeting “Let’s talk about Europe”. The doors of the “Tea House” (“G. Benkovski” 11 str.) will be open for everyone interested in the European union and it’s role for the future of young people on April 29th at 10:00. Accents in the discussion wil be questions like “What kind of Europe do we want?”, “Is the voice of young heard in the European parliament?”, “What do we want to vote for?” and others.

The discussion over a cup of tea is also part of the Bulgarian citizen’s forum for the EU parliament elections. It’s organized by the European information center “Europe Directly” – Sofia, the initiative “Cafe Babel” – Bulgaria, the Center of modernizing of politics and the web portal “Europe”.