The Maastricht Treaty and its historical and current importance was the topic of the local seminar that was organised on 24th May in Vizela of northern Portugal, as part of the CERV project European Local Citizens, that is co-funded by the EU.
This seminar was attended by 63 young people who had the opportunity to discuss and exchange with experts but also with expatriates living in Portugal and -via teleconference- with students in Spain.
The event started with a short introduction to the topic and the Treaty and then the organisers established connection with their Spanish counterparts to discuss together on the impact of the Maastricht Treaty in the everyday lives of the citizens.
Michela, a Romanian citizen living in Spain and Giorgos, a Greek citizen living in Portugal shared their experiences from leaving in another EU country the rights but also the difficulties they faced and how different it was for Michaela -not yet being an EU citizen when she migrated to Spain- and Giorgos, who had access to the rights enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty.
After the connection with Spain was over, participants discussed with the experts of EducPro and Giorgos about the Treaty and reflected on the new challenges and the need to update the Treaty so that it better responds to the needs of today -after 30 years that it is in place.
Young people had the opportunity to express their thoughts and reflections and to propose ideas that would help in their view to better integrate EU mobile citizens into local policymaking and local societies, especially small ones, like Vizela.
The event closed with Felipe Costa, from the municipality of Vizela, summarizing the main findings and thanking all the young people for their participation.
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