Euroscola 2021
On the 16 th of April , the Euroscola event kicked off . It was held virtually and EPAS schools ( European Parliament Ambassador Schools ) all across Europe could tune in to the event that took place between 8:30 GMT and 10:30 GMT . The main focus of this Euroscola event was Cyber security : How can we protect our Digital future ?
David Sassoli , the president of the European Parliament , was the first to address the schools involved . He gave a short speech in which he encouraged participation of young people in European affairs and stated that young people were the future of Europe .
Next up was the Vice President of the European Parliament , Othmar Karas . He gave a brief overview of the European Union . A live Q and A session was then opened ; students who were participating could ask a question directly of Othmar Karas . Questions about cyber security , unemployment , the environment and Covid-19 all popped up during this Q and A . Othmar addressed these questions , explaining what the EU was doing to address each of these issues . He called on national governments to be more transparent and to promote greater co-operation where they could .
Fake news and cyber security took center stage as the head of the parliamentary committee which deals with foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union , including disinformation , was introduced . He spoke about the dangers facing the EU especially in the cyber world , and which sectors were at most risk of facing cyber-attacks .
In advance of the Euroscola session , students could record themselves asking questions about cyber security and disinformation online . These videos were collated and played in the next segment of the event . The head of the parliamentary committee then answered some of these questions .
To wrap up the event , a vote was held on the 4 most popular ideas proposed during the event . The vote showed that most students supported investing more in educating young people on cyber security in order to better protect themselves online .
Jaume Duch , the spokesperson of the European Parliament wrapped up the event with a few final words about Euroscola and the contribution young people have made to the EU .
This session of Euroscola 2021 was a huge success , garnering over 1000 viewers from 97 schools all across the EU .
By Rawak Atmeh ( TY )