EU enthusiasts share their Euro vision at Strasbourg youth conference

It is not everyone's idea of a weekend Euro-break: a conference in the sprawling maze of parliamentary buildings in Strasbourg to debate the virtues of European democracy. Yet they came in their thousands – more than 8,000 young people from 28 member states – to celebrate the European Union and share ideas for its future.

The turnout at the three-day European Youth Event could mean one of two things: either there is genuine affection and enthusiasm for Europe's democratic institutions among some of its younger citizens, or 20-something Europeans have far too much time on their hands.

Inside the stuffy assembly rooms or outside among fluttering flags and cutouts of José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, presidents of the European commission and council respectively, they quiz ministers, simulate climate catastrophe and learn international sign language. Most speak with enthusiasm about what the EU has done for their country and with optimism about the future.

"Europe allows you to learn from your mistakes," says Léa, 27, from Belgium. "In my country we have health insurance and an education system which we don't have everywhere. Europe has to intervene, in order to avoid what happened in Greece."

Adam Sebesta, secretary general of the Pan-European Union in Slovakia, says: "Slovakia is a conservative society but we are very much in favour of the European Union. We love that we can cross borders and view it as essential for peace.

"We have been very happy with the introduction of the euro, it has given us the chance to compete with the Czech Republic and our other neighbouring countries."

It is natural to expect that people prepared to give up a spring weekend for Europe will tend to approve of things European. Research by the British Future thinktank shows that young people in Britain also want to stay in the EU, and are significantly more pro-European than their elders.

"Some issues can only be tackled at the European level," says John Lisney, 27, a Brit who works in Brussels for the League of Young Voters in Europe. He names climate change and youth unemployment as the two issues where the EU can make the most difference.

It is perhaps unsurprising that youth unemployment is the focus of many of the debates here. At the end of 2013 more than 23% of Europe's under-25s were unemployed, double the proportion of older generations. The European Youth Forum is asking MEPs to commit before the European elections to proposals including stronger legislation on internships, an ombudsman to represent youth rights and the implementation of a youth guarantee to tackle unemployment. More than 200 MEP candidates have already signed up.

It is clear that the youth at the conference have taken advantage of the mobility that the EU offers them. "This is the Erasmus generation. Welcome!" says Simona Pronckute, from Fraternité 2020, an initiative that develops exchange programmes within the EU.

Most famous among these is the Erasmus study exchange programme, which offers students grants to spend a year at a European university. There is also Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, a business exchange programme.

Stefan Köppl, 27, an Austrian former strategy consultant, is participating in the latter in Portugal, where he lives with his Polish wife. "Erasmus has been one of Europe's brightest ideas of the last century. I have a host entrepreneur here in Portugal, and I am also doing a PhD in corporate evaluation on the side.

"He gets my ideas and passion, and I gain his contacts and knowledge," says Köppl. "I'd also like to point out that raising kids trilingually is maybe one of the latest European problems.

"From the Portuguese perspective, the EU made this country what it is. It has such a large number of highways and roundabouts and highway roads. For the Polish, they now have opportunities that they did not 10 years ago. All of my wife's friends are launching their own businesses. Poland will be the first example of how European integration worked – even if they didn't use the euro."

Multiple events are focused on the need for more democracy and participation in the EU. The attendees are keen to participate and learn about how they can influence European institutions. In the corridors, groups are competing at the boardgame Eurocracy, which is touring the EU to encourage participation in the elections. Players represent political parties and must navigate the structure of the institutions to become president of the union.

Jaap Hoeksma, the inventor of the game and a philosopher of law from Amsterdam, says that when Edward Heath saw Eurocracy he said: "You bastard! You've turned my life's work into a game!"

But Hoeksma says the game has a serious objective: to help voters understand how the EU works and to debate why it matters. "The European Union is more than the free-trade market that David Cameron says it is. It is a new way of democracy. It is a game and we must learn to play it."

Five ideas to revitalise Europe

1) The European citizens' initiative

Introduced with the aim of increasing direct democracy within the EU, the European citizens' initiative came into force in 2012. It gives power to citizens to call upon the European commission to create specific legal acts, if they can gather 1m signatures from at least seven member states.

"Don't be put off by the threshold," says the MEP Peter Jahr. In theory it gives citizens a power equivalent to the European parliament and council. Initiatives registered so far call for action on vivisection, ecocide (the mass destruction of ecosystems) and media pluralism. In March, Right2Water, a group that calls for universal access and non-privatisation of water, became the first initiative to receive a formal positive response from the commission. It committed to conducting a public consultation and increasing efforts to implement water legislation. The programme's impact will then be tested at the delivery stage.

2) The youth guarantee

With the European youth unemployment rate above 23% – and soaring well above 50% in some countries – EU institutions are waking up to the need to take action on a continental level. The youth guarantee would require national governments to ensure that all people under 25 are offered a good job, apprenticeship, trainee scheme or further education course within four months of leaving employment or education. Countries are currently developing their implementation plans and the European commission has committed €6bn (£4.9bn) to the plan, with an additional €16bn in European structural funds set aside for youth employment projects. The cost of inaction, however, would be much higher: the loss of earnings and taxes would be equivalent to €153bn, or 1.2% of GDP, according to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

3) Transnational voting lists

Should the world's biggest transnational election have transnational candidates? European political parties, such as the Green party or the European People's party, work as federations of national political parties and so have no power to campaign themselves. MEPs are elected as representatives of national political parties to act with others in the parliament. But Andrew Duff, the Liberal Democrat MEP for the east of England, has argued that giving citizens the power to elect pan-European candidates would make the parliament more accountable and improve voter turnout.

The idea is popular with international-minded delegates at the conference. "We should vote for a party and their ideas, not a person and their nationality," says Giuseppe Porcaro, secretary general of the European Youth Forum.

4) A European sharing economy

In a packed tent outside the parliament, a film called The Light Bulb Conspiracy is showing, an investigative documentary about planned obsolescence – the engineering of products designed to fail in order to guarantee consumer demand. It provokes a debate about Europe's role in sustainability. In 2013 the European Sharing Economy Coalition was launched to advocate for a mainstream economy that promotes sharing resources.

The film's producer encourages his audience to explore IFixIt.org, a initiative that publishes manuals and sells parts to help consumers mend their own products. "We need to bring about a shift in mentality. If your iPhone screen breaks, why should you pay so much money just to get it repaired? You have already paid for it once."

5) A single European army

"We did not see Crimea coming," says Lukas Jaliniauskas, from Lithuania. "We live in a world where there can be an insurgency without warning." Although the idea of a single European army is not new, recent events in Ukraine have brought it to the fore again, and young Lithuanians from Debaters LT are here to discuss the prospect. They argue that the Ukraine crisis demonstrates the need for greater capabilities to protect more vulnerable states on European borders. They believe that a European army would act as a deterrent to outside forces such as Russia that have the potential to affect European trade and resources. Its proponents also use Libya as an example, arguing that a no-fly zone could have been implemented much sooner if done at a European level.