Stichting Europees Jeugdparlement Nederland (EYP NL) is an independent non-profit and non-partisan volunteer youth organisation and is part of the European Youth Parliament network. It aims to improve political education, policy dialogue, and awareness of democracy, language skills and personal development.
The organisation started its activities in 1998. Since then, from a humble number of 2 to over 100 active volunteers and over 2000 alumni, EYP The Netherlands has come a long way and ever since has been active in conducting extracurricular educational activities for high-school students.
EYP NL encourages young Europeans to have a say on political issues and put high efforts into making them heard. For all events, EYP NL acquires partners and patrons and invites them to the events along with decision-makers from politics on all levels.
EYP the Netherlands is cooperating closely with the Representation of the European Commission in The Netherlands, the Information Office of the European Parliament in The Netherlands, as well as with national, regional and local politicians and institutions. Representatives from these groups and bodies are invited to events. One of the main aims of EYP NL is to offer young Europeans a place to discuss and debate European politics. It is therefore vital for them to provide a direct link from students to decision-makers and politicians.
In Rotterdam, experts from local institutions, business and academic institutions like the Rotterdam University are regularly invited to send experts to the events.
In the past two years, the following speakers have visited the events of EYP NL and engaged in open debates: Eberhard van der Laan (Mayor of Amsterdam), Annemarie Penn (Mayor of Maastricht), Gerrit Zalm (former minister of finance), Ronald Plasterk (then Minister of Education), Prins Constantijn (then assistant to Commissioner Neelie Kroes), Nout Wellink (former president of the Dutch Central Bank).
For the last 10 years EYP NL organisers at least 10 events annually, including regional and national conferences, as well as training events for its members.