"You and the EU" is our organization's first Youth Exchange project which aimed at bringing together 30 young people from 5 different EU and candidate state countries, in order to better understand the principles, values and functioning of the European Union as a whole, together with presenting them with the importance of active participation of youth within the democratic process. Given the current context, we strongly believed that the implementation of "You and the E.U" would help encourage voting within younger demographics in the context of the 2024 European Parliament elections. Given that this project has been written by students of International Relations, we identified that a major barrier in voter participation, particularly in the younger generation, within EUP elections, consists of an informational barrier, whereby the structure in which the EU operates may seem rather complicated, and difficult to comprehend, leading young people to abstain from participating in the democratic process of this structure. We believed that by breaking down the way the EU works in a non-formal, engaging and gamified way, rather than implementing traditional methods of learning, will simplify the learning process of youngsters, helping them better understand how different institutions interact with each other, how European Parliament members get elected, how voting and decision-making is taken on a continental level, as well as how they can take part and have an impact on a personal level. It was also highly important for us to raise awareness of young people about the various opportunities they have within the EU, making them conscious about the 4 Freedoms they benefit from by being part of the EU, with those being the Freedom of Goods, Capital, Services and People. With youth being increasingly underrepresented within the political system, there is a tendency for them to fall under a spiral of helplessness, believing their voices are left unheard, which further down the road leads either to complete political disengagement, or to a tendency to join radical movements in an effort to make themselves visible. Both of these options lead to the creation of an unstable environment, and it is of high importance that we as a society mitigate these outcomes. As such, a strong reason we had in implementing this project was to make young people aware about the importance of participating in the democratic process, how to make their voices heard, as well as the various tools put at their disposal by the EU in order for them to bring the change they want to see in their community and the world. As such, we have presented them with the concepts of the European Citizens' Initiative, as well as various Tools of Empowerment which they can use for both personal, and professional development throughout the EU - such as traineeships in the EUP/European Commission, implementing Erasmus+ projects, and more. Furthermore, we wished to create an environment where young people can exchange ideas and perceptions regarding the EU, by having in-depth discussions and seminars regarding the topic of national perceptions of the EU, as well as sessions about Euroscepticism, identifying its roots, major arguments, and analyzing them from an objective point of view. Participating nations have been carefully selected based on their relations with the EU in an effort to bring together highly diverse opinions and perceptions about this institutions. This is why we have selected countries which entered the Union in different stages of its inception, with Belgium being a founding member, Greece ascending in 1981, Austria in 1995, Romania joining in the 2nd Eastern Bloc expansion in 2007, and Turkey still being a candidate state. Having participants from these countries created for a very diverse environment, where youth could talk about various national perspectives, resulting in interesting and proactive debates as well as solutions to counteract far-right Eurosceptic speech. As such, we have implemented "You and the E.U." in an effort to: -Promote Active Citizenship and Democratic Participation -Combat disengagement of youth from the political process -Help people better understand the roles, functioning and values of the European Union -Combat issues such as political radicalization and Euroscepticism. Lastly, we aimed at creating 5 easily digestible video materials talking about various topics related to the EU and its policies, in an effort to maximize the impact of our project's learning outcomes. Our 30 participants were tasked in creating these materials themselves, whilst at the same time engaging the local community in conversations regarding the EU.