AKTUELLT
A Memorable Visit to the European Parliament Interviewer: Zara Usmani
Rosa Svahn is a first year Master’s Degree student at Hanken. Having lived and worked in many different places within Finland and abroad, Rosa feels passionate about bringing Finland at the forefront of international arena. She is an active member of the youth of the National Coalition Party (Kokoomusnuoret). In October the party sent her on an educational trip to the grand halls of the European parliament. Hankeiten met with Rosa to find more about her membership in the party and her experience and learnings from the visit. Hankeiten: ness
degree
As and
someone working
pursuing
a
alongside,
how
busidid
you come to join the National Coalition Party? Rosa Svahn: I joined the Youth of the national Coalition Party this year in January so basically 10 months ago. I had considered joining the party for many years, but delayed it because I felt that I didn’t have enough knowledge about politics and on top of that I lived abroad so I had no idea if I could be a part of the party while living outside Finland. Now I have learned that anybody who is between the ages of 16-30 can join us, and there are even some incoming exchange students who have joined our party! I am very glad that I finally gathered the courage to join and I do wish that I had joined earlier, since next year will be my final year in the youth wing. Hankeiten: What inspired you to go and visit the European Parliament and what was the trip all about?
6
I was fortunate to participate Eurooppa-akatemia this year, and it was a truly eye-opening experience for me. I must confess that my knowledge of the EU was very minimum. The academy was organized in two parts: (i) a weekend in Helsinki where we got familiarized with the
Rosa Svahn: The youth of the national coalition party of-
EU by people who have been involved with the institu-
fers a variety of activities from very informal hang outs
tions in EU (ii) a trip to Brussels where we got the chan-
to international opportunities. Every year they organize “a
ce to visit the European Parliament, European Commis-
study tour” called Eurooppa-akatemia. Eurooppa-akate-
sion and NATO. We also participated in some panel deba-
mia aims to expand young people's knowledge of the EU.
tes on topics such as climate change, youth and economy.
HANKEITEN 03/2019
