site.btaYouths from Romania, Bulgaria Participate in Common Project under Erasmus+

Youth from Romania and Bulgaria are participating in a common project under the Erasmus+ Programme. Entitled Vote, please!, the project is implemented by Bulgaria's Orenda Foundation and Romania's Atelierul European de Arta cultural association in partnership with the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection in Bucharest's District 6, association head Felix Crainicu told BTA. The project, which will be on for 17 months, aims to encourage people to vote; it is about social commitment and active European citizenship, not politics, Crainicu specified.

In the words of journalist Oreste Teodorescu, a lecturer within the project, the complex 2024 marks a new historical stage through he series of elections across the globe as well as the serious social and economic crises. This new stage is marked by ideological conflicts, vulnerabilities in security, a demographic decrease and ever more specific threats of generalization of wars. "Europe is shaking from a geopolitical point of view under the pressure of Russia's expansion and Donald Trump's threats that he will limit NATO's activity if he becomes US president. Climate change and the risk of AI going out of control complement the dark picture. I think that only when we know well the world we live, history, and culture, which are at the basis of our civilization, can we preserve our minds clean and make the right choices in this mess, dominated by fake news, manipulation, and extremist propaganda," Teodorescu commented.

Andreea Hagiu-Robutu, a trainer within the project, said that 2024 is the first year when all types of elections will be held in Romania: European, local, general, and presidential. Only 25% of young Romanians exercised their voting right in the 2020 elections. "Our project aims to help the young people we work with realize that they have an important say in their future as well as ours, and that the participation in society, including through voting, is part of their role as citizens," she noted.

In an informal environment for learning through experiences, the youths will develop leadership and initiative skills, and then will pass along the mission for improving information among other young people in their communities. The project unites 30 young people.

In the past years, a team from Varna (on the Black Sea) visited Bucharest for the first so-called mobile camp. The participating 15 youths from Bulgaria and 15 from Romania had the opportunity to tour Bucharest with a tour guide on the topic of Nicolae Ceausescu's rule and its consequences. They visited the Senate of Romania's Parliament. A second camp will take place in Varna in April.