Young people celebrate International Youth Day with "Picnic Eurotastic"
![](http://www.eutrio.be/files/bveu/imagecache/node_main_img/1_1.jpg "Young people celebrate International Youth Day with "Picnic Eurotastic"")
12 August is International Youth Day. To celebrate this, young people and youth workers from Belgium and all over Europe gathered in the Royal Park (Warandepark/Parc de Bruxelles) in Brussels for a sustainability picnic.
At this "Picnic Eurotastic", more than three hundred young people and youth workers savoured sustainable drinks and enjoyed the musical accompaniment provided by DJ Sonar and other artists. With this event the Belgian Youth Councils aimed at putting the spotlights on the positive commitment and enthusiasm of young people. As the organisers put it: “We hope that Picnic Eurotastic is the start of an international tradition to organise picnics for, by and with young people on International Youth Day”.
This International Youth Day also starts off the International Year of Youth (2010-2011). "The voice and public perception of young people in Europe are an important priority for the European Union. Accordingly, 12 August is the ideal day to start off the International Year of Youth in a festive manner,” says Jan Vanhee of the Belgian EU Presidency – Youth.
International Youth Day and the International Year of Youth are United Nations initiatives. The theme for the International Year of Youth is ‘dialogue and mutual understanding’.
The three Belgian youth councils cooperated to organise the Picnic Eurotastic. These youth councils are official advisory bodies to the regional governments concerning all domains involving children, young people and their organisations. They ensure that the voices of children and young people are heard by policy makers and defend the interests of youth work organisations in Flanders and Europe.
