From the 5th – 8th of June 2014 the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe (EYCE) met for their regular meeting in Madrid, Spain. The ExCo also took the opportunity to meet the representatives of EYCE’s Member Organisation in Spain, as well as establish new contacts with young people in Madrid.
 
During their meeting EYCE Executive Committee members reviewed and evaluated the work that has been done since their last meeting in February 2014 in Brussels, as well as planning the work of the council for the coming months, taking into account the motions and recommendations from the 39th General Meeting. A great part of the meeting was dedicated to preparations for the National Correspondents meeting, which will take place in October 2014 in Romania.
 
Before the beginning of the Executive Committee meeting EYCE’s Chairperson Benjamin Mlynek and Executive Committee member Angelita Tomaselli took the opportunity to meet Pastor Alfredo Abad, representing Iglesia Evangelica Espagnola (Evangelical Church in Spain). They were presented with the situation and activities of the MO, and discussed potential ways of closer cooperation and reactivation of the involvement of Spanish youth in Ecumenical Movement.
Upon the recommendation of Pastor Abad, the Executive Committee and office staff visited the Sunday service at Iglesia de Cristo in Madrid, where they also met with youth worker and the young people to introduce the work of EYCE and invite the young people to participate in EYCE’s activities. EYCE warmly thanks the parish and Pastor Abad for the warm welcome!
 
The agenda of the ExCo meeting itself included a variety of issues, however the predominant focus during the meeting was given to the issues related to optimising and making the work of EYCE more relevant, dynamic and appealing to the Member Organisations and young people in EYCE’s network. Strategies for improved planning, follow-up and communications were discussed and prepared. Special attention was given to establishing closer links between ExCo and the Member Organisations.
 
The ExCo also revised and further planned the agenda for the years 2014 and 2015.
EYCE is planning the following activities in 2014, both on European, as well as local levels, where the young people from all over Europe and beyond are welcome to join!
 

• 29th June – 6th July 2014, “Say no to Hate! Young people addressing hate speech from an interreligious perspective”, EYCE study session contribution to the No Hate Speech Movement of Council of Europe, Budapest, Hungary.
• 9th September 2014, Evening debate “Young Europeans: we stand for sustainability and eco-justice!”, Brussels, Belgium.
• 16th and 17th October 2014, Sharewich day in the framework of EYCE’s Campaign to Overcome Poverty “Break the Chains!”, Pan-European.
• 26th October – 2nd November 2014, “Food, Land and Water. A training course to promote the fair distribution of natural resources in the framework of ecological justice”, Dresden, Germany.

 
In addition to these thematic activities, the meeting for EYCE’s National Correspondents will take place from 17th – 20th October in Sibiu, Romania. The National Correspondents will have the possibility to exchange and share their work, as well as contribute to developing the programme of EYCE and participate in the workshops in the framework of the campaign.