As the National Youth Council, SNYC represents young people living in Switzerland at European level. It nominates young people to take part in youth conferences in Europe. These European delegates represent the SNYC at European level, especially at the European Youth Forum (YFJ) and the Benelux-Islands-Central Cooperation (BICC) meetings. They are officially elected for two years and are responsible for informing the SNYC about the YFJ and the other conferences they attend.

The current European Youth Delegate is Niklas Tiemann (niklas.tiemann@sajv.ch).

European Youth Forum

The European Youth Forum or Youth Forum Jeunesse (YFJ) is the SNYC equivalent at European level. It represents 100 national youth councils and international non-governmental youth organisations at European level. It advocates and defends their needs and interests vis-à-vis the European institutions, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. The SNYC has been a member of the YFJ for many years. Twice a year, the Council of Members (COMEM) meets to discuss, adopt position papers, budgets and priorities, and elect committee and commission members.

BICC

BICC (formerly BBC+) is a cooperation platform for national youth councils. The members of BICC are lobbying partners of SNYC. 13 national youth councils maintain closer relations and jointly prepare their position for COMEM. BICC is composed of the national youth councils from Austria, Belgium (Flemish and German-speaking), Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Switzerland.

#myeurope – BBCplus meeting 2015

Council of Europe

As an intergovernmental, pan-European organisation, the Council of Europe serves as a role model when it comes to co-management with youth. Human rights, democracy and peace are the Council of Europe’s main concerns. These values are also supported by young people. Programmes and campaigns are planned and implemented in co-management by state deputies and representatives of youth organisations (Advisory Council). The body where the states and the youth meet is called the Joint Council and meets twice a year. SNYC was a member of the Advisory Council in 2009-2011 and 2014-2015.