Today the European Commission adopted a proposal for a directive which would ensure protection from discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, sexual orientation and belief or religion beyond the workplace. This is a great step forward, as it extends protection from discrimination to areas such as health care, education, access to social protection and social security to mention but a few. While millions of Europeans continue to face discrimination on various grounds and in different areas of their lives, this directive comes in the support of the commitment of EU institutions to effect a discrimination-free Europe.

On July 1st, France has taken over from Slovenia the Presidency of the European Council . With Ireland rejecting the Lisbon Treaty through the referendum and with strong signals that the Czech Republic and Poland will not ratify the treaty either, the context for the following six months is a challenging one for a Presidency that aims to strengthen the European Union. Other priorities of the French Presidency are stricter laws on immigration, more money for defence, tackling climate change and securing a consensus on energy, preserving the CAP and EU expenditure on agriculture, and creating employment and growth by deregulating the labour market.

Are you young, green and active? Have to do an internship for your Bachelor or Master? Between study and work and don't want to sit at home waiting for a job? Want to get work experience to have a better chance for your dream job? Interested in politics and youth issues? Interested in the European Institutions?
Then FYEG is what you are looking for and you are what FYEG is looking for!

We are currently looking for 2 highly motivated interns for this Autumn and Winter 2008. Both are full-time positions, but the working hours are flexible and you can therefore fix it according to your studies/other interests. One position is to do an internship with the Green Group in the European Parliament and the other one is in FYEG's Headquarters in Brussels.

On the 29th of May, Lambda Istanbul, the biggest LGBTQ rights movement in Turkey, was closed due to a decision made by  the Turkish courts. The first attempt to close Lambda Istanbul was based on the grounds that the organisation was acting against the laws and moral standards. As the court could not reach a decision on these grounds, they ruled to close the organisation on procedural grounds instead. This court ruling is the latest in a series of legal measures to target organisations that defend human rights in Turkey.

Are you young, green and active? Have to do an internship for your Bachelor or Master? Between study and work and don't want to sit at home waiting for a job? Wanting to get work experience to have a better change for your dream job? Interested in politics and youth issues? Interested in the European Institutions?

Then FYEG is what you are looking for and you are what FYEG is looking for!

The Energy Globe Award is one of the world's most prestigious environmental prizes. Projects from all over the world, aimed at conserving and protecting resources by employing renewable energy, compete annually in five categories: Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Youth. The aim of the competition is to present sustainable and viable solutions for the environmental problems brought about by using non-clean energy sources.

Two weeks before the European Parliament votes on it, the Council reached an agreement on the content of the Returns Directive, on the basis hardening the conditions even more.

The Committee of Permanent Representatives of Member States of the EU (COREPER) who met yesterday in Brussels, finally agreed on a text for the Directive on common standards and procedures in member States for returning illegally staying third country nationals, more known as “Returns Directive”, to be formally approved by the EU ministers in the upcoming Council of Justice and Home Affairs in mid June. However, before that, the decision will  be translated into the European Parliament, which will vote on it on the 5th June.

120 young greens from all over Europe participated in the General Assembly of the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG) which was held in Berlin from the 9th to the 11th of May. In the General Assembly, Young Greens elected a new Executive Committee and a Secretary General for FYEG, whilst celebrating together with younger and older young greens the organisation’s 20th anniversary.

The Federation of Young European Greens is extremely concerned about the precarious nature of the job market created by the strategy for employment of the European Commission. On Unemployment Day, FYEG would like to remind the European Institutions that this strategy has created an unprecedented situation in Europe, in which 40% of the unemployed are under 30 years old. Due to this situation, the youth of Europe face worse access to housing and a delay in their emancipation.