Pre-Study - Europe 2038

Albania

Some students of the Master of Science, department of Social Work and Social Policy were involved in conducting a pre study with 11 young people aged 18 to 24 years from some cities of the country. Three of the interviewed young people had finished university studies and were employed, not in their profession; five were attending master studies; 3 others had completed secondary education, one of whom was returned back to Albania from emigration. Their main concerns at the time of the interview were closely related with: difficulty of finding a job and its sustainability, especially in the relevant profession; fear of facing health problems; high level of unemployment, especially among young people; lack of meritocracy, concern that were burdening the family with expenses for studies, and the involvement of policy in every area, especially in professional life. Regarding their visions, young people mentioned topics related their professional career; health troubles; family, children and the opportunity to care for parents; and a country where the law applies. Their expectations for the future of Europe were closely related with the opportunity of Albania to be a member country of the European Union; visa free movement in EU countries; Albania’s ability to achieve European standards; better functioning of the state and the respect of law enforcement; and the opportunity to study in EU countries. Few young people were pessimistic about the Albanian EU entry, arguing that being a small and poor country means to not have adequate attention and this can bring more problems than benefits.

Austria

21master students of Social Work (MSO15, group 2) conducted a pre-study with 28 young people located in Upper Austria. The sample comprised 15 men and 13 women aged 16-25 years from a large variety of educational backgrounds. Eleven young people were first or second generation immigrants, while 9 were searching for a job. When asked for their personal visons, the young people mentioned topics related with their jobs or careers and their families. Interestingly, eight young people mentioned positive European topics like economic stability, mobility and peace when thinking about their personal future. The fears of the young people were related with economic instability, civil unrests, racism, war and increasing poverty. The associations to Europe were very positive, while their future expectations for Europe were very negative. Many worried that the European Union will collapse and that the European Union will not be able to cope well with the Euro crisis and the Refugee crisis. The detailed results can be downloaded here: Europa 2038_Österreich

Germany

In Germany, as part of the EU project “Europe 2038 – Voice of the Youth”, a qualitative study was conducted with four participants, which was intended to provide a first impression of the ideas of young people about Europe and the future of Europe. The semi-structured interviews were conducted by a 22-year-old research assistant, who interviewed young people living in the Bavarian country side. The four juveniles (75% female) were between 17 and 18 years old. Two of them had an immigrant background. All interviews were audio-recorded and verbatim transcribed. When asked about the risks and opportunities that Europe offers, the young people expressed as follows: They saw the present greatest difficulties in Europe in the fields of environment, economy and human rights. They perceived the greatest opportunities that Europe offers for them in education, personal freedom and political unity. Direct requests that Europe could do something for them, however, were denied. Nevertheless, the young people appreciated the opportunities to expand their own horizons in a politically stable system and to grow personally.

Italy

As first action of the project, a qualitative study on the visions of Europe of Italian young people was performed. We interviewed 10 young people on the following topics: visions about Europe, future of Europe, its identity and challenges, young peoples’ expectations and views about their own future, including hopes and worries. The sample comprised persons aged 18-24 years and included 7 women and 3 men. Six were undergraduate students (in two different topics: psychology and economic science), 2 were workers, 1 was unemployed and 1 a high-school student. In the sample, 8 were Italian citizens, 1 was Polish citizen and 1 had a double citizenship (Italian and Swiss). When asked about Europe, as it is currently, young people focused mainly on economics: Europe is perceived as an economic union, and the intervieved persons reported mostly a negative vision about Europe. When asked about the future of Europe, they answered that Europe will be increasingly diverse, connected and aimed to favor the social development and the collaboration among Union states. As challenges for the future of Europe, they mentioned immigration, integration and terrorism, but they focused especially on economic topics: Europe should in future improve the economy, help more young people by providing job opportunities and fostering mobility, become more “fair”, and value more moral integrity and meritocracy. With regards to young peoples’ expectations for their own future, they mentioned: having a job that is good and consistent with their education and that would allow to lead a satisfactory private life and a satisfying professional activity. Mentioned worries (as more urgent needs) were related to young peoples’ expectations: Fears of not finding a satisfactory job, of not completing the education and of not having a happy private life were their most relevant worries.

Romania

T he pre-study in Romania was conducted by the team members. The sample consisted 6 young people (5 female, 1 male) from Oradea, Bihor county. The participants were undergraduate psychology students (3, third year) and graduate students in clinical and educational psychology (2, second year). Regarding their personal visions, the young people reffered to career, job opportunities and starting their own families. Their fears were related to the regugee crisis and the tensions between different countries. In their perspective, Europe was associated mostly with positive aspects, like study and job opportunities, progress, etc., but there was a negative association coming from one of the respondents regarding instability. The future of Europe was associated by four of the young people with positive aspects (progress, evolution, civilization, etc.) and by other two with negative aspects (refugee crisis, financial, political and security difficulties).

Spain

A group of 25 youngers from Cordoba University, aged between 24 and 27 years old, collaborated actively with this project. They took part in a focus group dynamic and answered many questions regarding to their opinions, expectations and worries about different topics related to Europe.
According to the Project EU-2038’ goals, Spanish young persons used their voice to inform about their main actual and future worries and wishes. They focused on what they expect from Europe, and their opinions about the major societal challenges such as clean energies, security and freedom, migrations, inequalities and social exclusion, violence or terrorism, etc.

They expect a more united Europe; nonetheless the most of them prefer to stay in Spain. A more united Europe promotes 2 different points of view: a positive one, where educative and professional opportunities arises, and a negative one where the differences between rich and poor countries increases. Spanish young persons recognize to know other European countries and cultures. They would like to go abroad to improve other languages but the half of them wouldn’t go for living although they’d have professional o personal difficulties in Spain. The main worries for young people are finding a job, improving the educational system, overcoming the financial crisis, fighting against terrorism and eliminate gender and cultural inequalities. To develop European policies and to improve the education system are the most important measures to overcome these problems.

United Kingdom

We conducted interviews with 20 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 years. They were all able to discuss the future. Although they were concerned, they seems optimistic about the future. Most of them wanted work-life balance in the future and discussed having families and finding meaningful employment after tertiary education. About two-thirds were concerned about the UK’s plan to leave the EU and did not want the UK to leave. Even amongst ones who wanted to remain, there was little feeling of European identity. Others wondered what would happen to the EU in the future and whether the UK would rejoin at some point. Some criticised the EU for its big business neo-liberal policies that led to austerity in many countries, whereas others mentioned regulation. Only a few rated immigration as a problem. In general, young people seemed fairly optimistic about the world.