Eurodyssey's history

Edgar Faure had a conviction and a vision: A united Europe and the European construction would not be possible without the young people. And he believed in their enourmous potential. To unleash this potential and to foster intercultural dialogue and understanding in a context that would at the same time benefit the young people from a personal point of view by bringing their professional training to perfection, he launched in 1985 the "European Youth Tour", which later became the Eurodyssey programme.

As president of the Regional Council of Franche-Comté and founding president of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), Edgar Faure wanted to expand the programme beyond his Region. Convinced that European Regions' have capacity to develop and realise their own initiatives, he established Eurodyssey in the framework of the AER.

Looking back at more than 20 years of existence and more than 10.000 young people, who have been placed in traineeships abroad: what started as a small programme has today turned into one of the main assets of the AER.