Nominating organisations
Young European Federalists (JEF) As one of the founding members of the European Youth Forum JEF has been involved in the work of YFJ in various contexts and always tried to contribute the maximum possible given the limited resources available. Furthermore, we are proud of our political but non-partisan nature and of constantly working towards a united and democratic Europe, a dream we share with the rest of the YFJ membership. It is notably thanks to Peter, through his work as our representative in the YFJ Pool of Trainers (2006-08) and then as our Secretary- General (2008-10) as well as YFJ President (2011-12) that JEF increased its level of participation in the YFJ context.
In more than ten years of being an active and devoted volunteer and youth worker Peter has shown immense reserves of energy and patience as well as team-spirit, changing many young people's lives through his unselfish effort – often working late nights and weekends when needed – to bring the idea of activism for Europe closer to their minds and communities. Peter has demonstrated his motivation, skills and willingness to improve the work of YFJ by speaking up for transparency and quality over partial interests.
Consequently, we as JEF want to stress the key aspects of Peter's vision and ideas, in particular the importance of continuous work on securing a European financial framework for youth organisations, promoting citizenship and focus on the EP elections 2014 as well as focus on youth employment issues. We believe Peter has already shown his commitment to an inclusive and transparent way of decision-making in YFJ and that YFJ would further benefit under Peter's guidance and vision and in our eyes he remains the most suitable person to take on the challenges that lie ahead, as witnessed by his excellent track record in JEF and during the last two years in YFJ.
National Youth Council of Slovenia (MSS)
The National Youth Council of Slovenia (MSS) has been created in 1990 and devoted to international and development of youth work in Europe ever since. We strongly believe in the added value of the European Youth Forum (YFJ) as the voice of young people at European level is highly beneficial for all youth organisations. Therefore, we remain dedicated to actively support the work of YFJ in every way we can and believe that by supporting Peter we offer to YFJ an excellent candidate that can lead the Youth Forum in the best interest of both, its members and all young people in Europe, as he has demonstrated during his first mandate as YFJ President.
The Forum is again entering a challenging period in times of ongoing crisis that shapes the life of all citizens in Europe and its consequences are felt hardest by the young people. In view of the pressing issues such as youth unemployment and the negotiations on the new MFF and future generation of EU youth programmes we believe that continuity and a strong leadership within a strong team and in cooperation with strong member organisations can equip YFJ to secure the added value for us as national youth councils.
In MSS we believe that Peter has demonstrated his commitment, his knowledge and skills as well as personal qualities and a strong enthusiasm for voluntary work that are needed to be a strong leader of an inclusive platform and thus support his bid to continue leading our platform as YFJ President.
OTHER YFJ MEMBER ORGANISATIONS EXPRESSING THEIR SUPPORT
Croatian Youth Network (MMH)
is a democratic, inclusive and representative alliance of 61 non-governmental youth organizations in Croatia, which became full member of the European Youth Forum in 2011. During the period that preceded our full membership we felt we had a great friend and a supporter in Peter Matjašič, who not only dedicated his time and energy to support MMH membership, but has also put lots of effort in supporting the development and recognition of other youth umbrella organisations in the region of South-East Europe.
We see the need for the Youth Forum to reinforce its role as a voice of its member organisations for advocating youth issues at European level as crucial at this moment in time. We have witnessed Peter doing a great job, together with the Board, the Secretariat and the member, in issues related to the creation and adoption of a new generation of youth programmes, defending and promoting youth rights and supporting the development of youth work all over Europe.OTHER YFJ MEMBER ORGANISATIONS EXPRESSING THEIR SUPPORT
is a democratic, inclusive and representative alliance of 61 non-governmental youth organizations in Croatia, which became full member of the European Youth Forum in 2011. During the period that preceded our full membership we felt we had a great friend and a supporter in Peter Matjašič, who not only dedicated his time and energy to support MMH membership, but has also put lots of effort in supporting the development and recognition of other youth umbrella organisations in the region of South-East Europe.
We believe that Peter has the knowledge, the courage, skills and enthusiasm to continue his mission as the leader of the most important platform of youth organisations and we cordially support his bid for a second mandate as YFJ President.
Youth for Exchange and Understanding (YEU) is a network of 38 youth organizations in 32 countries across Europe and Northern Africa based in Brussels. Since 1986 we are working on promoting and developing non-formal education in order to foster peace, understanding and co-operation between the young people of the world, in a spirit of respect for human rights.
In YEU we were very happy cooperating with Peter as YFJ President in the past two years. We found his inclusive leadership style, constant availability for all our questions and needs as well as his willingness to be physically present in numerous events, including our own, refreshing and motivating. We worked with him on specifically on the topic of new media and internet governance and were impressed with his professionalism and knowledge as well as his efforts to always ensure visibility for the Member Organizations of the Youth Forum in the processes of EuroDIG and IGF.
YEU is therefore fully supporting Peter Matjašič for the second mandate as YFJ President.
Youth of European Nationalities (YEN)
YEN has been a full member of the European Youth Forum since 2010. Especially during the tenure of Peter, YEN was given and took advantage of many opportunities to actively participate in the field of European youth policy and put the topic of autochthonous minorities on the European agenda. We very much appreciated Peter's approach in listening to what the different issues YFJ members wanted to bring forward. At the same time he treated all members equally, regardless whether big or small, influent or not, INGYO’s or NYC’s. And we especially valued the opportunity provided to actively take part in the Structured Dialogue process and for being invited to the informal meeting with Commissioner Vassiliou at the EU youth conference in Cyprus in September. Moreover, we appreciate a lot the efforts Peter as YFJ President together with his team has put in securing funding for youth organisations in future EU youth programmes and for having involved us in the advocacy while doing so.
Youth of European Nationalities (YEN)
is a
dynamic and active network of youth organizations in a multicultural
and multilingual Europe. YEN was established as an independent youth
organization in 1984 and currently has 40 member organizations.
The main goal of YEN is the preservation and development of the
rights of minorities and ethnic groups. We are the competent
partner for all questions concerning youth minorities and we raise
the awareness within majority population concerning minorities and
ethnic groups.
YEN has been a full member of the European Youth Forum since 2010. Especially during the tenure of Peter, YEN was given and took advantage of many opportunities to actively participate in the field of European youth policy and put the topic of autochthonous minorities on the European agenda. We very much appreciated Peter's approach in listening to what the different issues YFJ members wanted to bring forward. At the same time he treated all members equally, regardless whether big or small, influent or not, INGYO’s or NYC’s. And we especially valued the opportunity provided to actively take part in the Structured Dialogue process and for being invited to the informal meeting with Commissioner Vassiliou at the EU youth conference in Cyprus in September. Moreover, we appreciate a lot the efforts Peter as YFJ President together with his team has put in securing funding for youth organisations in future EU youth programmes and for having involved us in the advocacy while doing so.
All in all, we are
not only underlining these facts because we have profited from the
work of the current Youth Forum Board and Peter as YFJ president
for the last two years. We do so because we saw that Peter
has the skills, enthusiasm and the right ideals to feel with us every
time he stands up for youth rights. Therefore, the Youth European
Nationalities strongly supports Peter Matjašič for a second
mandate as YFJ President.
National Council of
Youth and Children's Organisations of Civil Society of Belarus
(RADA) would like to express the support to the current YFJ President
Peter Matjašič as a candidate to the President position for two
more years. Why we believe Peter to be the best choice for this
position? Peter is an enthusiastic and dynamic young person who
profoundly believes that common Europe is our future and who has
committed himself to make it an even better place to live in for all
Europeans!
In our
opinion he has been a very inclusive and consensus-building President
of the European Youth Forum during his first term, leading the
platform through many challenging moments. Being
President of YJF 2011-2012 he reached out to members with regular and
transparent updates though the monthly board reports overviews as
well as through constant use of social media (Facebook and Twitter).
He managed to lead, coordinate and organise the
Forum in an effective and visible way.
Furthermore,
Peter has proven to be an excellent spokesperson to defend the vision
of youth organisations. He ensured an open and inclusive process for
discussion and adoption of the Youth Forum's new strategic priorities
for 2013-18. He supported a lot the
regional work of YFJ focused on cooperation with organisations from
non-EU countries, one of the examples is the creation of a project
group on Eastern Europe and Caucasus to promote better cooperation
between INGYOs and NYCs in this region.
We consider that it makes
sense that the Forum does not change the lead and possibly the
strategy for the next two years. RADA strongly supports Peter for a
second term and hopes for fair, democratic and competitive elections
in Maribor 2012!
