Since Sunday, João Videira, a student at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP), the Engineering School of P.PORTO, assumed the position of Chairman of the Board of the National Youth Council, committing himself to embracing a new challenge as leader of the organization to provide continuity to the work carried out by the current management, with a particular emphasis on the purposes with which AFS - Intercultura Portugal submitted itself to suffrage, an organization it currently represents.
João Pedro Videira, born in Porto, praised his predecessor, Rita Dias, arguing that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s invitation to join the Civil House, “should greatly honour the new generations and the National Youth Council itself, as it is recognition of the agenda that this body has been defending on behalf of young people, “with regard to their access to decision-making centres, as well as the youthful quality of this country ".
Mechanical Engineering student at P.PORTO, João Pedro Videira is today one of the main faces of student associations, a role he assumed with a sense of duty, as an imperative of the future of his generation.
His associative path began in 2014 at the ISEP Student Association, a structure he presided over until 2017, the year in which he was also Chairman of the General Assembly of the National Federation of Higher Education Polytechnic Student Associations. During these years, he was also a member of the Polytechnic of Porto General Council from 2015 to 2020. At the conclusion of this course, he was awarded the P.PORTO Distinguished Services Medal in 2020.
In December 2017, he is elected president of the Academic Federation of Porto (FAP), in elections marked by the total renewal of the federation's management bodies. The two terms in which he was president are marked mainly by the student accommodation project Bairro Académico, by the event, Tomorrow Summit, aimed at the challenges of the society of the future, and by the implementation of a strong sustainability agenda in the federation.
Since January 2020, the National Youth Council has taken on the portfolio of International Relations and the area of Innovation, Environment, Digital Transformation, Environment and Territory, while Member of the Board of Directors of FNAEESP.
An active collaborator in various CNJ activities, João Pedro Videira was one of the ambassadors of the national meeting of this structure, participated in several actions with leaders of political parties in the Colóquios (RE)Partidos and participated in the campaign for the last European elections, IDEuropa, in which FAP was a partner, having organized meetings and promoted debates with candidates for these elections.
"It is a challenging mandate, especially within the framework of the European Union, where we will seek to increase our influence before political decision-makers, especially with regards to employability and youth emancipation" - explains the current president - "we have a vision for the country and this is what moves us, and what moves me. "
Created in 1985, with a legal statute approved by the Assembly of the Republic, the National Youth Council is the representative platform for youth organizations nationwide, covering the most diverse expressions of youth associations (cultural, environmental, party, student or union). As a structure that carries out its mission in the interests of all Portuguese young people, recognized by the State as a privileged partner in terms of youth policies, the CNJ is an important platform for dialogue, encouragement and reflection, assuming the role of interlocutor before the constituted powers, claiming the right to consultation on all matters concerning the Portuguese youth in general.
