POLITICS is an essential part of daily decision-making in the world, and we learn from each other every single day. It brings us together in many ways at, for example, international conferences – such as the upcoming YSI x SNP International Conference in Scotland next month. Delegations from different countries will participate, including delegates from the Social Democratic Danish youth political organisation, DSU.

We in DSU find Scotland interesting because – among other things – of the heated debate about independence. The Scottish election about independence from the United Kingdom in 2014 was particularly interesting because the votes were very close with only a small majority of the Scottish population voting against independence. And, of course, Brexit also had a big impact on Scotland since a majority of the Scottish population voted against Brexit, but because the United Kingdom overall was in favour of Brexit, it meant that Scotland had to leave the EU as well.

We find it interesting that the question about independence is still to this day a very important matter for Scotland which really shows that politics is full of feelings. This really shines through in the Scottish population when talking about independence and that makes it even more interesting to us.

As a small state we have also had our entire existence based on the difficult game of dealing with the major powers in Europe, sometimes to our advantage and other times with catastrophic results such as the bombing of Copenhagen in 1807 and the loss of our fleet to England.

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Our hope for the future is in line with the founding of the European Union. A peaceful, democratic Europe where the nation states have the deciding power as to which future they want. A prosperous Europe with co-operation among the European states where we stand up for democracies and where we unwaveringly continue our support for Ukraine. Denmark is one of the biggest contributors of military aid to Ukraine based on the size of our economy and we hope that this can help inspire others.

In Denmark, we have a very strong tradition for public referendums and protection of minority rights, such as the German minority living in southern Denmark. In light of our long history of wars with Germany, we managed through public referendums to find a peaceful solution decided by the people living in the historical border land between the two states. We hope that Scotland and the UK will manage to find a similar solution which works for both.

We are very excited to participate in the YSI x SNP International Conference because we want to make a difference in Europe and since Brexit, we are all in a new situation where we have to find a new path forward. Not only is Scotland in a new situation, but all of Europe is affected by Brexit.

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It is very important that we do not exclude Great Britain completely just because it is not a part of the EU anymore. Looking forward, we have to maintain a good relationship with each other to show that we are open to having relations with nations outside of the EU as well.

We are looking forward to the YSI x SNP International Conference to learn from one another and to hopefully share some more of our visions for a future Europe as well.

Marie Schmidt is a member of the International Committee in The Danish Social Democratic Youth (DSU). Rasmus Emborg is former president of the Nordic Youth Council and current vice-president of the International Committee in DSU