10,566 hours. 440 days. 63 weeks. Or 1 year and 2,5 months. This is the time between the last residential programme hosted by the European Youth Centre Budapest (EYCB) and today 21 May.

 As COVID-19 restrictions were further relaxed in Hungary, the EYCB is finally welcoming a residential programme with local participants again after the forced hiatus of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event, organised by the National Youth Council of Hungary brings together youth representatives from across Hungary for the organisation’s annual delegate meeting. The first group to stay at the EYCB since 7 March 2020 was welcomed by EYCB Executive Director Gordana Berjan who also took the opportunity to applaud the first day of Hungary’s Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. The EYCB’s host country is taking over the Presidency from Germany during the Committee of Ministers 131st session in Hamburg. The Hungarian Presidency’s priorities includes, among several other key themes, youth policy, children’s rights, social inclusion and opportunities for Roma. The EYCB will also serve as the venue for several high-profile Presidency events in the autumn.

 „Your gathering this weekend symbolises the long-awaited revival of the EYCB as a residential meeting place for young people from across Hungary and from all over Europe,” said the EYCB Director in her short welcome to the group of youth delegates. „After the extremely long period of closure forced upon all of us by the pandemic, your presence here is a very happy moment. As it happens, it is also the day on which Hungary is taking over the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and I am confident that the National Youth Council can and will play an important role in helping to realise some of the important youth-related priorities of the Presidency.”