IDEA at the European Youth Event 2025 (EYE)

IDEA’s participation in EYE 2025 combined preparation, international cooperation, and youth-led activities in Strasbourg. The project aimed to promote debate methodology as a tool for developing critical thinking, communication skills, and information-seeking among young people from across Europe. It also contributed to a stronger sense of European identity, supported intercultural exchange, and highlighted the importance of debating skills in civic life.

Kick-off meeting
The project began with a preparatory meeting in Strasbourg where all activity organisers gathered to set the stage for EYE 2025. This meeting created space for networking, exchange of ideas, and coordination of activity organisers across the different organisations.

Preparations
In the months between the kick-off meeting and the event itself, IDEA coordinated a range of preparatory activities. These included the selection of participants from member organisations, internal preparatory meetings for each activity, and the introduction of plans, visions, and the Code of Conduct. All of this aimed to ensure inclusivity and provide opportunities to engage and connect young people from different communities.

Activities at EYE 2025
During the European Youth Event in June 2025, IDEA delivered two activities in the EYE Village:

• The Logic Lab: Crafting Strong Arguments – The interactive workshops focused on constructing structured arguments, where the statement–explanation–example–impact model was introduced to participants. They created their own arguments and received feedback from facilitators. The workshops welcomed over 100 participants, each of whom improved their communication skills and critical thinking. The workshops were facilitated by IDEA staff from Czechia and Slovenia, with additional support from volunteers from Finland, Italy, and Slovakia.

• Debate Today, Europe Tomorrow – Showcase debates, where teams of high-school debaters from Latvia (proposition) and Italy (opposition) debated Europe’s energy future. Over 120 participants joined the debate and contributed to the post-debate discussion, where they could ask the debaters questions, express their opinions, or deliver arguments. The activity provided young people with an opportunity to share their perspectives and increase awareness of potential challenges, as well as the importance of critical thinking and argumentation skills.
  articipation in the project contributed to a stronger understanding of European identity, increased youth civic participation, and provided space where young people can try the debating technigues.

Participation in the project contributed to a stronger understanding of European identity, increased youth civic participation, and created a space where young people could test debating techniques.

The activities were part of the European Youth Event 2025, organised by the European Youth Forum and the European Parliament.