YEN wishes you
Merry Christmas
and a very happy
New Year 2012!!

From the 12^th to the – 14^th December 2011, the YEN took part in the conference on youth unemployment) in Paris, organised by the European Youth Forum and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD. The YEN was represented by Fatma Resit, Commissioner for Politics, and Lukas Nothdurfter, member of the Working Groups on Politics.

For three days, 50 young representatives of European youth organizations gathered to together in the OECD headquarters in Paris with experts and policy makers to discuss about the issue of youth unemployment in Europe and around the world. This conference provided a unique opportunity for youth organisations at the international level to discuss the issues and develop common approaches. During the conference, the YEN has pointed in particular to the challenges of young people of ethnic minorities in the labor market.

Thus, the Conference of pages of YEN a successful event and a further opportunity at international level to act as the voice for its member organisations.

From the 4-6th of November 2011 the YEN-Board had a meeting in Berlin. The location was chosen by the board and Éva Penzes (office) in order to get an overview of the city, the infrastructure and conditions, as we consider to establish an office of YEN in Berlin. This was mentioned during the "Council of members" in Bautzen.

During our meeting we were working on the planning of the year 2012, including possible projects, RML2future, ProML, the implementation of the project "Office Berlin" and much more. Thanks to the support of Lara Vouk, member of the Working Group on Communication, we were also working on the project "Handbook". On behalf of the board the meeting was very effective and we were pleased to work with one more member in the team.

In the course of the council of members in Bautzen / Budyšin the 40th organisation was incorporated into the Youth of European Nationalities.

It gives us great pleasure to welcome the Young ABTTF, the young generation of the federation of West-Thrace Turks in Europe, as an official member organisation of the YEN. We are looking forward to a successful collaboration!

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For this year's Youth Leader Seminar from 14th to 20th October, the YEN was guest of the Sorbian youth organization PAWK in Bautzen / Budyšin. The local people lovingly call Bautzen "The city of many towers," and so we spent a week in a castle-like hostel in the old town.

This week’s slogan was "VolunTEAR?" and was tied to the content of the Easter seminar in Christianslyst – South Schleswig. The word "TEAR" describes the fact that voluntary work may sometimes lead to frustration. Therefore, we have to try to turn this frustration into something positive and not give up the voluntary activity.
2011 is - as we all know - the year of volunteering. The voluntary efforts of young people should once again be the week’s main point.

Press review in Sorbian Language:

• Serbske Nowiny, 14.10.2011
• Serbske Nowiny, 17.10.2011
• Serbske Nowiny, 19.10.2011
• Serbske Nowiny, 20.10.2011

The Resolutions:

• YEN resolution concerning the anti-Roma demonstrations in Bulgaria
• YEN resolution regarding the census in Albania, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia and Romania

SUNS11 is an international song contest for bands singing in minority languages.

This year this event took place on 17th September 2011 in Switzerland.
Each year, the contest takes place in another location. Similar festivals are organized in other countries too. The winner will have the opportunity to join the most prestigious music contest for minority languages, the Liet International. This year the Liet International Festival will took place on 19th November in Udine.

The Burgenland-Croatian reggae band "Coffeeshock Company" that has also appeared on the Youth leader committee meeting in Carinthia, has won the first price at the Suns-band competition in Switzerland. Coffeeshock Company won with the song "Gusla / fiddle".

It has been months already that the Bulgarian right-wing populist party Ataka is campaigning for the parliamentary elections using inhuman and racist slogans against the Roma minority. This discriminatory attitude culminated in violent attacks against Roma and Sinti, as well as expulsions and arson attacks on Roma settlements.

Here you can read the Joint Statement of the Federal Union of European Nationalities and of the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity.