POLITICS
“The true State of the Union is in Ventotene”, the New Europe Association wrote in a post on Facebook while the “Spitzenkandidaten” (lead candidates) Debate was underway in Florence as part of “The State of the Union” conference. Indeed, the island of Ventotene, on which Altiero Spinelli was held captive, is the venue for “The Ventotene Europa Festival”, an event of reflection and discussion about Europe that is bringing together about fifty young people from Paris, Madrid and Rome. The theme of this five-day event, now in its third edition, is “The words of Europe”. Besides rediscovering the meaning of some key words in seminars and group discussions, the young participants are working on the drafting of some “Proposals for Europe 2019-2024”, a new “manifesto” that will be submitted to European policy-makers at a final round table (5 May) on “What Europe will look like: the next Parliament and the voice of youth”. In the past few weeks, the New Europe Association has raised €8,000 in a crowdfunding campaign to finance the event.
