The first edition of Enlargement CEMP will be held from Wednesday in Ukraine, a country that lives in war and is one of the candidates for adhesion in the EU. The widening of the EU and the safety of Europe will inevitably be the central themes in this meeting of young people
Some came from Lisbon, others from Braga, Tavira, Azores, from other parts of the country. They found it at 10 am on Tuesday at Francisco Sá Carneiro airport, in Porto, and that’s when the adventure began. After a day of travel and a night in Krakow, Poland, twenty Portuguese young people are currently on a bus on their way to LVIV, Ukraine, where Ukrainians will be joined to participate in the first edition of Enlargement Cemp. For three days they will live and exchange experiences, while discussing topics such as the widening of the European Union, joint defense needs, the new challenges of European citizenship, competitiveness and solidarity within the European space. And the war, of course, the theme that is not in the program is in all conversations.
“This is the first time that the Summer CEMP -inspired Enlargement CEMP has been inspired but at the same time a special initiative, because it takes place in Ukraine,” confirms Luís Alves, director of Erasmus+, the main organizer of this initiative, together with the Ukrainian authorities and the LVIV City Council, and with the support of the European Commission representation in Portugal.
“Erasmus+ is a program very associated with student mobility, but it is also an instrument of civic and political participation of young people, building projects together with other countries and is also currently an instrument of cooperation with Ukraine. This is the great reason that leads us to do this Enlargement CEMP in Ukraine,” he explains.
This year are the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Portuguese Adhesion Treaty to the then European Economic Community (EEC), today European Union. To mark this date, the usual Summer CEMP, the European Commission’s Summer School in Portugal, gives way to the enlargement CEMP. After, throughout seven editions, Summer CEMP has traveled Portugal, conducting in Monsanto (2017), Marvão (2018), Monsaraz (2019), Alcoutim (2021), Ribeira Grande, Azores (2022), Barca Bridge (2023) and Miranda do Douro (2024), the Enlargement CEMP will take place in LVIV, the city that lies at the western city of Ukraine, very close to Poland, and at this moment the European capital of youth.
The 40 participants were chosen through an open call to apply all young people residents in Portugal, from 18 to 30 years. “We had almost 200 youth registrations expressing a lot of desire to be able to participate, the selection was made by crossing various criteria between the quality of the will, but also a balance in the territory, a balance of different paths, of different young people, the idea is to have a diverse, plural group here, so that the impact on Portugal in Ukraine, in projects that can result from this enlargement CEMP, can also be rich and diverse,” Luís Alves. Most of the selected are college students and young people who have just finished their education. “It is a very youthful group, and very enthusiastic, with an anxiety of its own event,” he says.
Being in Ukraine, a country at war: “This is a spectacular opportunity”
“I didn’t know anyone and I think no one knew,” says Isabel Lobo, 22, from Braga. “We only got contact with each other when they chose us and created a group of WhatsApp to start talking. And I think if you are establishing a very positive synergy among everyone.”
Proof of this is that the “field” has not even started, but there are already projects born: in the conversations they had on WhatsApp in recent weeks, the idea of producing a documentary about this experience, says 23, who studied journalism at the Catholic University and then took a master’s degree in the United Kingdom. “When I entered the Enlargement CEMP I thought: This is a spectacular opportunity, how many Portuguese people from 18 to 25 can say that they went to Ukraine? So we thought we would like to record this, with the collaboration of everyone on board, and make a documentary about the enlargement, about our visit to Ukraine, about the friendship we are probably building, about everything.” Armed with a mobile phone and a tripod, the future documentary filmmaker began working at the airport and on the plane during the long journey from the Porto Group to Krakow, with a scale in Zurich.
What led Hugo to apply for enlargement CEMP was “especially the possibility of going to Ukraine in a European framing,” he explains. “I think, as a Portuguese citizen, one cannot speak of Ukraine without talking about Europe, because the reason we feel so much what is happening in this country and we are in constant solidarity with Ukraine is because of this European context. 50 years ago this would seem more a conflict for most Portuguese, but the fact that we are part of Europe is what unites us a lot. to visit Ukraine as a citizen involved, as a journalist, as Filmmaker. ”
Ukraine, despite being at war with Russia, is one to join the European Union, at a time when the theme of widening again occupies a central place in the European debate. The negotiation process has been taking place since June last year and integration is one of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s major goals. This will therefore be awaiting the organizers, an opportunity “to reflect on the transformative role of the EU, both for the Member States and for candidate countries.”
In the group, one of the main topics of conversation is obviously security. “What is happening is horrible, but there is indeed a very strong curiosity to see what is going on something that can be considered near the front line, this is an interest of all,” says Hugo. The young people read and discussed the Ukrainian government’s instructions on security – they have been known, for example, that there is a mandatory collection at midnight and that they should have prepared a small bag with essential goods in case the alarms sound and have to go to a shelter. All participants were advised to install in their mobile phones the application of security of the country that issues alerts whenever the region they are in is under attack.
“They sensitized us to the daily dynamics of the conflict. I think most of us were quite shocked to discover some things, things we hadn’t even thought of.” Some parents were afraid and, in the first reaction, they even wanted to ban their children from traveling, but then practically everyone realized that this would be a unique opportunity and encouraged young people to participate. “There were even parents who wanted to accompany their children, not out of fear, but out of curiosity,” says Hugo.
LVIV is, within the context, a location considered safe, but the truth is that you need to be prepared for any eventuality. Last night, Russia launched several drone attacks on the most western regions of Ukraine and the alarms were heard twice.
Debates, lectures, workshops: young people looking at the European Union
Isabel has just graduated in law and will make a master’s degree in European politics at the College of Europe, so his interest in this enlarge is obvious. “I already knew Summer CEMP and when I discovered this new field I thought I was all about my profile and applied. I think this edition is even more special and expectations are already high. Clearly, for me, the greatest interest is having the firsthand experience of knowing Ukranians of our generation. One thing is what we see on television, another thing is to have this knowledge of the first hand conflict,” he anticipates. “I come with great humility, even a lot of humility to listen, listen, listen, I want to put myself in an active listening position.”
Isabel Lobo is one of the students traveling to LVIV
And there will be a lot to hear. The Enlargement CEMP has “a very intense, very, very filled agenda”, guarantees Luís Alves. Until Friday, young people will participate in a series of debates and workshops. The idea, reads in the program, is “bringing young people closer to diverse and resident experiences in two different countries, to discuss the opportunities and challenges of European construction in today’s world and thus create a community of young people who commit to acting with their communities to actively contribute to European construction”.
Among the invited speakers are deputies in the Ukrainian parliament, polyotologists and investigators, diplomats and journalists. Ukraine Ambassador in Portugal, Maryna Mykhailenko, will also be present. Andriy Sadovyi, mayor of LVIV, and Andriy Moskalenko, vice president, join Portuguese mayors Rui Moreira, from Porto, and Ricardo Rio, from Braga, in a reflection on the role of cities in European construction. On Saturday, there is even the hypothesis (to be confirmed) of a meeting with the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yuliia Svyrydenko. The program also provides for some more relaxed moments, such as a visit through the city’s historic center and a trip to the Molodzvich Festival, the Youth Festival.
The goal is to “strengthen the citizenship and commitment of all participants in European construction”. And all of this happens a few days before the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, utter the usual speech of the State of the Union – it will be on September 10 in Strasbourg.
But for now, we are traveling. The excitement is great and in recent days no one has been able to sleep a lot. “It’s been a little tiring. And I think it’s going to be even more tiring, it’s going to be very compact days. But I think it’s going to run so much that there will be no time for tiredness,” anticipates Isabel.
One funny thing about this event, says Isabel, is that “we are here in constant dialogue, the whole days, so everyone has to live with each other, I think they will establish friendships very, very quickly.” Among the young people, who will share rooms and meals and be together from 9 am to 9 pm, “the connection was immediate,” says Hugo. “We all like them very well. There are a lot of people interested, they have made an extraordinary selection, because so far there is not a single person we have known who did not have a good profile, in fact, from those who are 18 and have just entered university to the older people with 26, who are already starting in doctors and things of the genre.”
There was also also “very fast proximity” with the “mentors” – guests to speak or moderate conversations, and travel with young people and participate throughout the process, such as the journalist and the photojournalist. “We met the mayor of Braga, then Germano Almeida came sitting next to us. It has been amazing,” says Hugo.
“There is an enthusiasm that expresses itself in what apparently are already very strong friendships, when we are not even practically departed and, therefore, there is a great enthusiasm, a great excitement, the anticipation of what can expect to us,” concludes Luís Alves. “There is a great sharing also already of the individual paths they already have, being very young, apparently already have a lot to tell and therefore is already a very interesting and very promising experience for what will come.”
