Young People at the Heart of Europe - A Decade of the European Youth Centre Budapest

This book contains the contributions of numerous Europeans. They represent different age groups and a wide spectrum of political, cultural and social life in Europe. All the personalities, who have kindly offered us their memories and experience, have at least one thing in common. In their political or professional functions, in their work or in their voluntary commitment to civil society, present or past, they have come into contact with the European Youth Centre Budapest of the Council of Europe. These are young and not-so-young people who have participated in one or more of the hundreds of activities that have taken place in the Centre since it opened in 1995. They are or were decision-makers essential to the establishment, development and consolidation of a 'Second European Youth Centre', in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. They are active and committed members of civil society, politicians, youth workers and youth leaders, trainers, educators, civil servants, researchers and staff members of the Council of Europe, many of whom have been several of these in different phases of their lives. Their individual memories, wishes and experiences present the numerous parts of a complex puzzle, which together give a colourful and vivid picture of what made and makes the European Youth Centre Budapest. I hope that you will enjoy the wealth of never before published and extremely rich material that is brought together in this book, exceeding even the editors' expectations at the outset of the project.