On the 7th of March we had our annual parliamentary evening in Berlin.
You might think a parliamentary evening could be boring! Well, you would be wrong, and I’ll tell you why!
That morning many young members from all over Germany arrived to begin preparation for the evening. When you have the chance to speak to politicians you really need to have some demands in your pocket that you can address to them.
You should know that 2017 is not a normal year in Germany – it’s election year – so no better opportunity to make a change. We had deep discussions in our working groups to formulate our election demands. Some of the topics discussed ranged from smart farming, voluntary agricultural year and young farmer sponsorship to digitization of rural areas, and many more!
In the afternoon there was yet another highlight; the agricultural working group had a conversation with the vice-president of nutrition committee- Member of Parliament Friedrich Ostendorf. We then took the chance and visited the Reichstag dome and enjoyed an amazing view over Berlin. After we had finished preparing the parliamentary evening was nearing so all that was left to do was for everybody to get dressed up.
We were delighted to welcome many politicians
under the motto: “I stand up for rural areas!”
To connect with every guest we had an idea – we played a special version of the game ’activity’. You might ask yourself – how will that work? Well first we divided everybody into mixed groups (rural youth and politicians). One person got a hat and became a meeple. Somebody had a dice and the meeple moved each round to the next field. There were exercises to do like discussing, drawing, express something pantomime. Perhaps this might sound crazy? However the effort of this method means you are able to discuss issues in a relaxed atmosphere. The winner of the game got to be first at the buffet.
All in all everybody definitely enjoyed the evening and we were able to effectively address our demands to the politicians.
Kathrin Muus
Vice-Chairwoman of Rural Youth Germany