We should provide free Interrail passes to every young European upon turning 18. This would give them the possibility to experience Europe and European travel, themselves. It would extend the opportunity to disadvantaged young people who cannot afford to travel abroad.

We need to change our consumption trends by focusing on buying ethically, locally and produced goods and seasonal fruits and vegetables. We must develop an effective system of sharing resources within a community.

For example, a good way of doing this would be to develop a system that allows citizens to borrow these objects from neighbours, friends or via online connections. There are already some small projects dedicated to this, but they could become more common and widespread with wider EU funding. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that dealing with mental health issues is a luxury that not many people can afford. We need a mental health pact to organise our resources and tackle mental health issues within our global community. The continued uncertainty of 2020 and 2021 is compounded by the longer uncertainty of climate change. For this reason, it is necessary for the European Union to sign and promote a mental health promising to use resources to tackle mental health. We need to:

-         treat mental health in schools and teach children how to seek help for a variety of mental health issues

-         provide psychological support to vulnerable groups, such as those adversely affected by the pandemic and by climate change

-         subsidise treatment, including therapy

-         fund positions for more psychologists within national public health systems

Europe needs to be able to compete with the emerging superpowers and have a say in the future of the world. That is why it needs to become a strong federal state.

The European Union prides itself on the fiscal union and the free movement of people and goods. In other cases though, there are multiple different individual objectives and strategies which undermine the unity of the Union. It is therefore important to start talking about the EU as a federal state or even as a confederation – to exercise the strength of the unified collective, rather than a fragmented collective of different nations' voices.

This would also mean implementing a cohesive foreign policy, army, and economy as it would make the Union stronger on the international stage.

It has been a year of turmoil for our healthcare systems amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Wouldn't it be a great source of resilience to hold EU Member States to a certain standard of healthcare and help to fund this throughout the region in the case of future virus outbreaks? The EU needs a universal healthcare system with a shared budget, to which all Member States contribute. This budget should service equal wages for healthcare workers and an equal level of care for all European citizens.

To enable the exchange of knowledge, there should be platforms on which regions of the EU can inform themselves about different models of inclusion or present their own.

It already starts in school. In my class, there were students with disabilities (Down syndrome, Asperger's and others). Together we learned to discover the world, each on their own way, each with their own view. It did not matter that some of us learned different things than others. It did not matter that one student had an extra tutor. It didn't matter because we grew up being different. And I think that's exactly what you should be learning in school. 

1. We should teach children in school how to live in such critical situations like a pandemic, and and how to act in dangerous situations, to protect oneself and others.
2. We should give young people more opportunities to help others during a crisis.
3. We should create intergenerational dialogue, where young people can help older generations and visa versa.
4. Connect young people from different countries via online common classes in schools or vlogs, to share their daily reality and discuss how people live in different Member States.

by listening to the young people in the EU and support initiatives that will also reinforce youth civil society across the Atlantic.