Archives from one of the founding organisations of the European Youth Forum are now available online

The Historical Archives of the European Union, based in Florence, has posted historical documents from the European Coordination Bureau of International Youth Organisations (ECB-BEC) on its website.

ECB-BEC was established in 1972 and was comprised of just seven founding organisations. Its aim was to be a platform for international non-government youth organisations to work together on European-wide youth rights. Those original seven eventually grew to include 30 youth organisations around Europe.

In 1978, ECB-BEC joined forces with the The Council of European National Youth Committees to establish the Youth Forum of the European Union (YFEU). In 1996, the European Youth Forum was created by national youth councils and international non-governmental youth organisations to succeed the YFEU.

The documents contain 15 files from meetings of the statutory bodies of the ECB-BEC and training seminars from youth organisations in Central and Eastern Europe. They span from 1972, when the ECB-BEC was founded, until 1997, the year after the creation of the Forum. These documents offer not only vital to record the ECB-BEC’s legacy, but they also are a valuable part of the European Youth Forum’s creation and history.

Check out the archives here: http://archives.eui.eu/en/fonds/30444?item=BEC