Whose arena is the EU youth policy?: Young participants’ involvement and influence in the EU youth policy from their own points of view: Case of the EU Presidency Youth Event in Hyvinkää, Finland

The article has a triple aim. The first aim is to study the structure of EU youth policy, especially the role of the EU Presidency youth events in the EU institution. The EU youth event in Hyvinkää during the Finnish EU Presidency in 2006 was the starting point of our case study. Second, we analyze how the EU Presidency youth events, the case of Hyvinkää in particular, function as tools of political influence in forming EU youth policy. Third, we analyze the Hyvinkää youth event as a democratic miniature society. To show the variety of youth participation in the different political arenas of the EU we bring reflections from the European Youth Forum and the European Youth Parliament to our analysis. The study suggests that in the future the EU Presidency youth events should function as important and versatile arenas of learning-by-doing enabling the growth of ‘young active EU policy citizens’.