Last week I was invited in Leuven for a brainstorm together with 6 other participants. We were asked about our favourite meeting places, both virtually and in the ‘real’ world, and about our intrest in politics. The brainstorm is one of the first facts within the so-called VEP project (Virtual European Parliament). In Belgium, research groups like memori and also the research lab i-City, participate in this project, which wants to involve young EU citizens in the decision making process of the European Parliament. The research is going on simultaneously in several countries of Europe. Here some more information from the official website:

  • The VEP project aims as a trial project at integrating young EU citizens from 3 different regions (Lulea, Barcelona, Flanders) in the decision making process of the European Parliament. As a trial project the Virtual EP activities will run parallel with the actual agenda of the European Parliament. The young EU citizens will be able to: access relevant information via the VEP portal, share thoughts with the other participants, collaboratively write reports on specific topics and will be asked to give their opinion via mobile voting and surveying.

I always like brainstorms because it makes you reflect on ‘normal’ things in life you normally don’t really think about. So apart from learning a lot from the others on eg European politics (I could actually mention only one Belgian member in the European Parlimanent, shame on me), I learnt a lot about myself. Like: why do I like a place? I realised that it depends on my mood, my expectations,…So one day, I can like a place a lot, and the other day, I don’t (anymore). But a good place -for me- is always WARM, hmmm, nicely warm. I hate cold places…