The Autumn COMEM of the European Youth Forum in Thessaloniki started with the Youth Fair of the Youth Organizations. It lasted only two and half hours, however it was a very useful time during which the representatives of the NYCs and INGYOs could meet people and organizations who work in the same field and strengthen their cooperation in that region. After the Youth Fair the candidate cities if the European Youth Capital had some time to represent themselves. The candidate cities were Vilnius (Lithuania), Varna (Bulgaria), Galway (Ireland), La Laguna (Spain), Badajoz (Spain) and Ganja (Azerbaijan). After the presentations and short movies the EYC 2016 was announced - Ganja which will be the host city of the YFJ autumn COMEM in 2015.

The next morning the COMEM started. During the first half of the day the representatives of NYCs and INGYOs were discussing the progress report of the YFJ. After the progress report was adopted the organizers had arranged a meeting with the mayor of Thessaloniki, who was presenting the Youth Capital of 2014 (what has been done).
The second half of the day started with the discussion of the policy documents. This time the working groups of the forum were presenting 4 policy papers on Youth work, Quality Education, UN permanent Forum on youth and Citizenship Education. There were several amendments made on the policy papers which were discussed later the next day.The second working day of the COMEM started with the report of Maria Paschou, the chair of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. After which the new representatives of the AC had a chance to present themselves, the priorities of AC for 2014/2015 and to have an insight of the YFJ members' expectation from the AC for that period. After were to attend one of the 4 Thematic Squares. There were a) Quality Assurance of Non-Formal Education, b) Health and Young People in Europe, c) The European Elections 2014, d) European Youth Forum: A Stronger Advocacy Platform? and e) Structured Dialogue on Youth. YEE attended the Quality Assurance of Non-Formal Education which is a brochure by YFJ and we were discussing whether to give a certificate or a paper with a stamp to the organizations or projects who implement quality projects.
After there were discussions and voting on the statutory changes.

Later there was the closing of the meeting and a reception.

Zaruhi Stepanyan

External Relations Officer