The second edition of the European Rural Youth Parliament (ERYP) organised in Spain between 4-6 November 2019, brought together 70 rural youth representatives from all parts of Europe to explore opportunities and challenges for rural youth and jointly prepare the Declaration of Candas.
The rural youth declaration calls for action on five different areas - opportunities for diverse economic activities, sustainable agriculture and food production, broadband infrastructure and transport, accessibility and quality of public services, and civic engagement and political awareness. The declaration was completed during the European Rural Parliament (ERP) happening back-to-back with the youth event, and it will be presented to the EU decision-makers in early 2020.
At the European level, the youth policy already acknowledged rural youth in strategic terms – in November 2018 – through the EU Youth Strategy for 2019-2027 outlining 11 European Youth Goals where ‘Moving Rural Youth Forward’ is one of them.
