For different reasons – Brexit, economic crisis, Europe, right-wing populist governments - Europe is confronted with a wave of europhobism. For many people European Union is the scapegoat for any difficulty and challenge arising from global trend and has to live with constant reproaches of bureaucracy and inefficiency. Young people tend to be a little more positive, as they profit from the mobility activities offered by EU programmes like Erasmus+ and others, enjoy to travel freely and to chose their preferred country of study or work. It cannot be taken for granted that the young generation as a whole is pro-European or will stay pro-European. Flash Eurobarometer 455, European Youth (January 2018) and Generation What? (www.generation-what.de), a large-scale Europe-wide study from 2017 about the young generation (18-34) in Europe reveal they feel clearly part of their own city/region and their own country, and the identification with Europe was clearly the weakest (11 percent). Also, the higher educated young felt more often European than the low-educated (14 versus 8 percent). MEGA is taking up these findings and aims to dealing with them in the context of youth work, where a lot of young people from different social backgrounds can be reached in informal settings. The project seeks to strengthen young people as potential ambassadors of the European idea by helping them do unmask Europhobic, populist distortions of the image of the European Union. An informal, playful learning offer making use of the motivation power of gamification will foster critical thinking capacities and equip them with the knowledge and skills to counter Europhobic myths with undistorted European realities. Thus, they will become able to spread positive attitudes towards the European Union and its underlying among their peers. The main project objectives are: - To foster critical thinking in young people so they can better unmask europhobic myths and misconceptions about the European Union - To develop positive attitudes towards the European Union and its underlying values In terms of concrete products MEGA will develop the following outputs: - A comprehensive research report on widespread europhobic myths and real success stories of the European Union - Online gamification environment presenting these beliefs and myths and online quizzes leading to accurate facts about the issues concerned - Train-the-trainer course for youth workers to address Europhobia in an informal, gamified way in youth clubs and other places where young people meet - A publication promoting and explaining the MEGA approach at combating e Europhobia by a strategy combining online gamification and interactive face-to-face interventions in youth groups. MEGA will be put into practice in a piloting phase involving min. 50 youth workers and 500+ young people. The MEGA main outputs will be designed in a way which makes it easy for other organisations to apply them in their informal learning activities and will be embedded in renowned networks related to relevant project areas that will maintain the project results, tools, teaching and learning opportunities also after the project lifetime. The project partnership is led by BUPNET Bildung und Projekt Netzwerk GmbH, Göttingen, Germany and consists of partners with complementary experience and skills in the field of informal learning and youth education from Austria, Cyprus, France, Italy and Lithuania.
MEGA has taken up these findings and implemented the project in the context of youth work, where a lot of young people from different social backgrounds can be reached in informal settings. The project aimed to strengthen young people as potential ambassadors of the European idea by helping them to unmask Europhobic, populist distortions of the image of the European Union. An informal, playful learning offer making use of the motivation power of gamification was developed to foster critical thinking capacities and equip young people with the knowledge and skills to counter Europhobic myths with undistorted European realities and spread positive attitudes towards the European Union among their peers. In a nutshell the main project objectives were to: - Foster critical thinking in young people so they can better unmask europhobic myths and misconceptions about the European Union - Develop positive attitudes towards the European Union and its underlying values - Train youth workers in gamified online and face-to-face methods to strengthen young people in rejecting Europhobic myths and to build up their confidence as ambassadors of the European idea among their peers. - Implement the MEGA gamified approach in national pilots.
Currently, Europe is faced with manifestations of Europhobia and right-wing populism. As new challenges arise in the world, more myths emerge. Social media and media overall play an essential role in spreading misconceptions about the EU and sometimes it becomes impossible to separate facts from fiction, especially for someone without knowledge of Europhobia or Euromyth. Though, Euromyths can be created unintentionally due to misinterpretation of unclear or misunderstood information on complicated policies of the EU, they are also frequently spread intentionally by Eurosceptics and Europhobes, who blame the EU for all the difficulties arising in modern world, such as Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, bureaucracy and much more. The spread of disinformation as well as fake news and myths about EU can have a range of consequences, such as threatening European democracies, polarizing debates, and putting the health, security and environment of EU citizens at risk. Unmasking EU-myths becomes more and more important to keep the EU united. Web-based communication and social media take a significant part in today’s Eurosceptic mobilization. Checking the facts not only helps to un-mask EU myths, but also to better understand EU processes.