DigiLux 2020 - Concept Paper

European Youth Parliament Luxembourg

CONCEPT PAPER DIGILUX 2020 The Great Disruption: The Future of Employment in Europe

21st - 22rd November 2020

Dear everyone, It is our absolute honour to introduce you to the very first Digital Event of EYP Luxembourg. DigiLux will not be a traditional session, but it will be a Think Tank revolving around the topic of the Labour market.

The Covid-19 pandemic is still exerting pressure on the labour market and disrupting the way we work in the present as well as in the future. That is why we wanted to give youngsters from all across Europe the opportunity to closely collaborate with experts and stakeholders of the domain and have a realistic and direct insight into the thematic.

The format and concept of DigiLux 2020 may be new, but the aims and values that we bring to the table stay the same. EYP is an informal educational program that focuses on building the next generation of European-Citizen, by providing a safe space for growth and development where welfare, acceptance, and mutual respect are of utmost importance. With this event, we wish to provide young people from across Europe with an opportunity to deepen their knowledge around the world of the labour market, as well as give them the possibility to obtain actual feedback and input by stakeholders of the concerned domain.

Let’s kick off the Digital era of EYP Luxembourg and shine a light on the world of labour together in all its facets.

Sabine and Moritz

Dear fellow EYPers, I am delighted to invite you to DigiLux 2020 – the first Digital Event of EYP Luxembourg. For reasons all too familiar, life as we know it has been disrupted. The covid crisis influences how and where we can move, how we study, and – most pressingly of all – how we earn our livelihoods. This is why I am so honoured to preside a conference on the future of employment in Europe.

For better or worse, employment is embedded in everything we do: it brings food to the table, it shapes our personalities, it even influences our social status. None of these observations are new, but they have been cast into a new critical light by the unequal ways in which the pandemic and government policy responses have treated different groups of workers. And once the shock phase begins to give way to a new reality of living with the pandemic and beginning the social and economic reconstruction, young people's voices must be heard on the European forums.

Whether you are looking for employment right now, five years away from graduation, or already in work – I want to hear from you.

EYP is renowned not only for bringing young Europeans together, but for inspiring and empowering them into active citizenship. DigiLux will be an event of empowerment, with a strong focus on concrete policies and actions for Member States to take as we navigate our way out of the crisis. The participants will benefit from discussions with academic experts and European policy-makers, considering both what should be done and how the European institutions and Member States are able to solve the problems they are facing.

DigiLux will truly be an event of the digital age – intensive, informative, and international, but full of the famous spirit of EYP. I am very excited about embarking on this journey together with all of you.

Henri

Dear reader, It is with utmost excitement and eagerness to dive into this digital adventure to introduce you to the vision for the Media Team of this innovative event - DigiLux 2020. One concept shaping my vision for this particular event will serve as a principle of my work: the idea of overcoming challenges from yesterday and improving for today. The corona crisis has made us adapt to a new normality but together as a society, we managed to get past these hard times and strive for better.

In these unprecedented times, it is more important than ever for the voices of young people to be heard, and for our ideas to be shared and I want DigiLux 2020 to be another platform for this idea to be true. Moving our mode of dialogue into the digital sphere gives us a chance of exploring avenues that may not have been open to us through the traditional means of our sessions format, as well as allowing us to include those from any and all parts of the world in our conversations.

With that being said, I urge you to join me on this journey and I hope to see you there!

Adrian

Thematic Vision Under the theme The Great Disruption: The Future of Employment in Europe, the participants of DigiLux will discuss and debate the ways in which Member States address the long-lasting challenges and inequalities in labour markets highlighted by the pandemic. With the issues fresh in everyone's minds, there is perhaps no better time to address questions such as: who gets to work from home versus on-site? Do the salaries of 'key workers' match their contributions to society? Should governments support struggling workers with furlough schemes, or encourage them to find new jobs? Should young or old jobseekers be prioritised? We strongly encourage participants to bring in their personal viewpoints and suggest additional topics for discussion.

Academic Vision Hosting the event online allows us to think outside the box, producing high-quality output whilst allowing participants the flexibility to fit the discussions into their lockdown lives. DigiLux will have a strong focus on policy-making in the real world, as the working groups are asked to define the key problems in their topic and create policy proposals for debate with a panel of European experts within the space of one day. On the other hand, we aim to allow freedom for chairpersons to shape their working group topics and working methods; while the academic leadership will offer support, guidelines and best practices, chairs are encouraged to find the best way to work with their participants. It is the results that count.

Editorial Vision The Media Team of the session shall be an environment fueled with productivity, improvement and enrichment where combined efforts will provide opportunities for self-development while looking back into what we assessed by now and improve. The atmosphere of the Media Team will be one where the development of its members will become a source of inspiration for every participant at the session. Bearing in mind the session’s theme and what the core values of this event, Media Team Members will be encouraged to think outside of the box, work on one personal project throughout the session mained at raising awareness on the topic of labour market. I would like to give all Media Team Members the chance of taking ownership over their actions, analyse and improve while being granted support whenever needed.

Format and Structure Working Groups and Topic Groups At sessions, we are used to the classical committees whereas at DigiLux, we will be splitting participants up differently. First into four different Topic Groups, each revolving around a different aspect of the Labour Market. Then each topic group will be divided into 2 separate working groups discussing the same aspect/question/statement but from a slightly different point of view. For the first part of the event, the working groups will be working independently. Near the end both groups, working on the same issue, will gather and compare their individual opinion papers ('green papers'), with the goal of creating a common 'white paper' of greater academic quality and broader perspective.

Green and White papers In alignment with the focus on concrete policies, the output of DigiLux will resemble the policy papers of the European Commission known as Green and White papers.

Although the creative process is very similar to resolutions, the main difference is that these papers are more 'essay-like' and thus easier to understand for external audiences. Working groups will write green papers, which act as draft versions for the final 'white paper' presented to the panel GA. With the ideal length of 1-2 pages, the goal of the White Paper is to stimulate discussion and debate on concrete actions which the European institutions may take to address the problems identified by the topic group.

Panel General Assembly DigiLux will modify the format of a General Assembly as we know it. We want to offer the proposing topic group the rare opportunity to obtain input and feedback from experts and stakeholders, without cutting back on the possibility to involve the other topic groups in the discussion.

The format will be as followed: Presentation of the opinion paper Stakeholder round 1-2 rounds of debate Summation speech