Global issues exchanges with policy-makers at domestic level

The Youth Parliament program  is an educational program organized every year by the Hellenic Parliament Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports. It is addressed to first and second grade senior high school students (aged above 15) of schools in Greece and of the Vocational Schools of Apprenticeship of the Greek Public Employment Service (DYPA). This specific institution provides opportunities for active participation of young people in national, European and global issues. 

The most well-known program to encourage young people to active citizenship, at a domestic level 

is the Hellenic National Youth Council, as mentioned in Section 5.4 . The Hellenic National Youth Council, in order to realize its goals, includes a series of methods and actions described in its statute. Among others, the following are mentioned: 

• Collaborations with social bodies such as (University Institutions, Trade Unions, Non-Governmental Organizations.) 

  • Collaborations with institutions of the Greek State and the European Union 

  • Participation in national and international networks of organizations for issues concerning young people 

  • Coordination of the implementation of programs and projects in the Greek territory resulting from its participation in European or other international bodies 

  • Establishment of stable structures for consultation with civil society 

The European Youth Parliament Greece  (EYP) is a non-profit association of independent parties and political parties. It is a member of the European Youth Parliament, which has 41 National Committees and since its establishment in 1987, it organizes annually over 100 actions involving 25,000 young people. EYP organizes on an annual basis two National Selection Conferences, one in Athens and one in Thessaloniki. In these senior high school students of the country participate in a European Council work simulation program and may participate in the National delegation. Participation can be declared by students of all senior high school classes, for schools in the Region associated with a National Selection Conference. Students, i.e. young people over the age of 18, have the opportunity to attend a General Assembly, in order to get to know the members and the way EYP operates, while at the same time they are given the opportunity to volunteer with some action. 

In April 2023, the European Youth Parliament of Greece is organizing the  45^th National Selection Conference  with special interest on "(The) Wind (of) Change - Youth Initiatives for the Development of Environmental Awareness: Empowering the active participation of young people in environmental policy".

U-Report Greece 

U-Report Greece is a Unicef platform and gives young people a platform to express their views on political and social issues. It affects more than 20 million young people in over 91 countries. In Greece, U-Report is available since April 2022. U-Report is free, anonymous and completely transparent. The platform can be used for online consultations with children and young people, which are conducted in the form of polls. Those interested can register and participate in the consultations via Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or Viber. The responses are analyzed in real time, mapped and displayed on the Greek website. The results are shared with users and disseminated to political and social bodies at national and local level. 

Global issues exchanges with policy-makers at an international level

In the context of European Year of Youth 2022, the European Commission's Voice Participation platform operates. The platform called   ‘’Time to hear your Voice on the Voice Platform’’ , offers the opportunity to young people from every country to express their ideas and concerns about the future of Europe. The categories for which young people will record their messages, in order to communicate their vision, are European values, Arts and Culture, Digital Technology, Education and Learning Mobility, Employment, the Environment, Health, Wellbeing and Sports, Inclusion and Youth and the World. 

In 2013 the program Engage was organized in an open forum on youth participation in politics, the importance and new ways in which young people gain political power and aim at inspiring reinvestment in political activity. The forum was organized by the  British Council , in partnership with the Foundation for Youth and Lifelong Learning  and Stegi Onassis Arts Foundation   

The  European Solidarity Corps   creates opportunities for young people who wish to volunteer and implement their own solidarity projects to benefit communities across Europe. The program concerns young people aged 18-30 and is a means of strengthening active participation in the European Union by facing challenges with an emphasis on the problems of sustainable development, social inclusion and equal opportunities. For the period 2021-2027 the budget amounts to 1,009 billion, offering opportunities to 270,000 young people. The National Coordination Unit for the management of the European Solidarity Corps is the Foundation for Youth and Lifelong Learning. 

The European Youth Forum is "the voice of young people in Europe". It represents over 100 youth organizations and brings together over a million of young people from one end of Europe to the other. The agenda of issues related to EYF actions includes issues of dropping out of education to sustainable policies regarding the planet. Specifically, the issues that concern the European Youth Forum are: 

• Human Rights 

  • Democracy 

  • Sustainable Development 

In Greece, the National Youth Council is a representative-member  of youth organizations in the European Youth Forum.