11th May 2021

How water-smart ideas make the Baltic Sea region thrive

From a rich marine life to beautiful vacation places, the Baltic Sea offers numerous resources that can be exploited to boost the economic growth of the region without harming its ecosystem. Interreg Baltic Sea Region funded multiple cooperation projects that have contributed to a sustainable and innovative blue economy. Good and successful examples of smart blue initiatives include ALLIANCE, Baltic Blue Growth, Capacity4MSP and Blue Platform.

30th March 2021

Cooperation as the key to a climate-neutral Baltic Sea region

A common challenge for the countries in the Baltic Sea region is how to produce green and climate-neutral energy. In fact, as much as 75% of the EU greenhouse gas emissions still come from energy use and production. Cooperation and sharing good practices in Interreg projects, such as LowTEMP, Baltic Integrid and Area 21, can be a game-changer in accelerating the energy transition in the region.

YEE • 16th November 2020

Interview on my project called 'Young Leaders Voices'

Today you have a chance to get to know Luca Arfini, an ambitious Italian guy who is embarking on a new journey. His project is called Young Leaders Voices and it aims to talk about today’s global challenges on key topics for young people. The purpose is to consider the two sides of the story, interviewing people with diverging perspectives in order to build a constructive debate.

26th October 2020

“The most effective thing for solving the climate crisis is to adopt better policies and to hold the biggest polluters accountable” – Ecosprinter

Bas Eickhout is a Member of the European Parliament for the Greens since 2009. Currently, he is the deputy chairman of the Greens–European Free Alliance group, as well as the vice-chair of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and a member of the Delegation for relations with the People’s Republic of China.

The New Federalist • 6th June 2020

Interview with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz

Luca Arfini, a young communications professional from Italy, interviewed the head of the Austrian government Sebastian Kurz, who at age of 33 is one of the youngest world leaders. He has held this position since December 2017, the year in which he also became chairman of the conservative Austrian People’s Party. The topic of the interview was set before the corona crisis hit.

engsoyouth • 21st May 2020

“I dream that everybody would find the joy of sport,” Interview with Ms Hanna Kosonen

Luca Arfini, a young communications professional from Italy has conducted the second of its series of interviews with European level -figures involved in sports and in its promotion. Today’s story is of Ms. Hanna Kosonen, Finland's Minister of Science and Culture and former ski-orienteering competitor.

engsoyouth • 5th May 2020

"Sports has played a massive part in my life", Mr Abid Raja, Norway’s Minister of Culture & Equality

Luca Arfini, a young communications professional from Italy, has started a new series of interviews with high-level figures involved in sports and in its promotion across Europe. The first one to be interviewed is Mr Abid Raja, Norway’s Minister of Culture and Equality. Abid Raja was born in Norway but has Pakistani origins; he was one of the first persons in Norwegian politics with a minority background to be nominated at such high-level position.

The New Federalist • 3rd February 2020

Interview with MEP Ska Keller

JEF Brussels Secretary-General Luca Arfini interviewed Ska Keller, co-president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament and former Spitzenkandidat in both the 2014 and 2019 European Parliament elections. In a role as co-chair for her group, she is a member of the Conference of Presidents, or rather the governing body within the Parliament. She has been working at the EU level since the age of 27 when she was elected for the first time as an MEP.

The New Federalist • 19th November 2019

Damian Boeselager MEP: “Our goal is the development of a European parliamentary democracy.”

JEF Brussels Secretary-General Luca Arfini sat down with him to discuss how he started his political carer, the main challenges he had to face when founding Volt and his plans for the 2019-24 term.

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom • 6th November 2019

European University Students And Social Media. How Do They Talk About Online Disinformation In View Of The 2019 European Parliament Elections?

European students see misleading news as a threat to younger generations but consider themselves immune as they are confident in their ability to detect unreliable web content. This is one of the findings of my master thesis

3rd November 2019

Interview with Claudia Gamon, a young Austrian MEP – Libel

Meet Claudia Gamon, a young liberal from Austria, who is fighting for a united Europe with liberal values. Former Deputy National Chairwoman of JUNOS, the youth wing of the Austrian liberal party NEOS and an IFRLY member, she has been working with NEOS since 2013. Currently, she is a Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the EP Delegation for Northern cooperation.

23rd October 2019

Interview with Katalin Cseh, One of the Founders of Momentum Movement – Libel

Meet Katalin Cseh, a young liberal from Hungary, who is fighting to represent youth both at the national and European level. In 2015, Katalin co-founded the pro-European and liberal Movement Momentum with eight other young Hungarians. Currently, she is a Member of the European Parliament and one of the eight vice-chairs of the Renew Europe political group. Our Communications Officer, Luca Arfini, discussed with her how she got started on her political path.

29th August 2019

Interview with Geir Finnsson, One of the Founders of ‘Viðreisn’ – Libel

Meet Geir Finnsson, a 27-year-old young liberal from Iceland, who, despite the young age, has already played a crucial role in shaping liberalism in his country. Not only was he among the founders of the Icelandic liberal party ‘Viðreisn’, but also of its youth organisation ‘Uppreisn’. Currently, Geir is involved with the Reykjavik city council on behalf of Viðreisn, as well as being the Vice President of the National Youth Council of Iceland. Our Communications Officer, Luca Arfini, spoke with him about his career and experience in Icelandic politics.

18th July 2019

Letter from Our New Communications Officer – Libel

I have always been interested in journalism and freedom of expression, but after my internship at the European Federation of Journalists, I understood that the general situation of media freedom across Europe and the world is anything but positive. Journalists’ rights are under threat in a lot of countries, including my own. As a young liberal who strongly believes in individual freedoms and, above all, in freedom of speech, I decided to be active in politics by campaigning for ALDE and +Europa

The New Federalist • 19th February 2019

Salvini and Di Maio harshly attack Italian journalists on social media − but in different ways

The 2018 data of the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, a tool built to monitor and report serious concerns about media freedom and safety of journalists in 2015, show an overall decrease in media freedom all over Europe. The number of alerts has generally increased in most Council of Europe member States, with a particularly dramatic situation in Italy, where they have more than tripled from 2017 to 2018.

Medium • 18th January 2019

China and Europe, a controversial relationship!

The global relevance of China has drastically increased in the 21st century. According to the World Bank, after the beginning of the international financial crisis of 2008, China has become the largest contributor to world growth. Indeed, in the last thirty years, the Chinese economy has become the second world economy. The opening up towards foreign countries and the set of reforms undertaken since the end of the 1970s have triggered a path of steady growth.

Medium • 17th January 2019

The Difficult Status of Journalists in Europe

The Difficult Status of Journalists in Europe Working for journalists’ rights made me realized that the European crisis is heavily affecting the Journalism sector too. The economic struggle of journalists has never been as though as in this period and the digital field has not helped yet the journalists’ category to find a way out of the economic crisis or a profitable alternative to declining revenues from sales. The lack of a proper remuneration directly affected the quality of the news.

Medium • 13th January 2019

Why the EU is unable to face the current refugee crisis?

Why the EU is unable to face the current refugee crisis? In 2015, 1.3 million asylum seekers arrived in European OECD countries by sea; this number represents almost 0.2% of the European population and it is a great increase compared to 2014 when around 570,000 asylum seekers reached the European coasts. This has been the starting point of numerous critical issues for the EU Member States, who have faced the weaknesses of the European asylum policies.

Medium • 12th January 2019

Why does our society need free press?

Why does our society need free press? Lately, the debate on freedom of information and its role in the modern society has been quite widespread in the European arena, questioning the role that international institutions and the European Community have in seeking to guarantee this right. The protection of free press in a state is considered as a symbol of progress and development, as an essential prerogative for any country in the world to be considered a real democracy. “

20th October 2018

Female sports reporters start anti-harassment campaign

Female Brazilian sports reporters have joined up in a campaign raising awareness about sexual harassment and calling for respect for their professional work.