EN    EN EN 
 
EN 1   EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 27.4.2009 
SEC(2009) 546  
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
Accompanying the 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSI ON TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EU ROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMI TTEE OF THE REGIONS  
 
An EU Strategy for Youth – Investing and Empowering 
 
A renewed open method of coordination to address youth challenges and opportunities 
  
Impact Assessment Executive Summary  
 
{COM(2009) 200} 
{SEC(2009) 545} {SEC(2009) 548} {SEC(2009) 549} 
 
 
EN 2   EN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON A EU STRATEGY FOR YOUTH  
This impact assessment will accompany the Communication on an EU Strategy for Youth: 
Investing and Empowering. 
Problem definition  
A framework for European co-operation in  the field of youth (hereafter the Youth 
Cooperation Framework) has been establis hed in June 2002 with an open method of 
coordination (OMC) focused on active citizensh ip of young people, and complemented in 
2005 by the European Youth Pact – instrument dedicated to soci al and vocational integration 
of young people within the Lisbon strategy. Other el ements such as mainstreaming activities, 
knowledge tools as well as structured dialogu e with young people and peer-learning have 
been progressively develope d within the framework.  
The current cycle of the youth OM C is coming at an end in 2009, and this year has been since 
long identified as a year fo r evaluation and review. 
In this context, it is import ant to identify all the challenge s facing young people today and in 
the coming years, whether they are European-wide challenges which impact on them or problems directly aff ecting their situation. 
As a result of these challenge s, young people in Europe suffer from a lack of opportunities: 
too many are still affected by unemployment, pove rty and low education levels. In link with 
this lack of educational a nd professional opportuni ties, young Europeans also experience 
difficulties of access to social and civic oppor tunities; they may have to fight against 
exclusion or marginalisation and health rela ted problems. They may also be excluded or 
exclude themselves from participating in soci ety, and find themselves quite isolated due to 
weakened solidarity links. 
The current framework could not tackle all these challenges, even if the overall assessment of 
the results of the Youth Cooperation Framew ork has been globall y positive. The EU 
cooperation framework in the fiel d of youth has inspired youth-re lated legislation at national 
level and helped many Member States develop nati onal strategies. It has raised the visibility 
of youth and youth policies at national and EU le vel. The role of the cooperation framework 
as a platform for exchange of practices and for dialogue has also often been underlined. 
However, the assessment framework is not clear and coherent enough, and is not enough delivering in some areas, such as the European  Youth Pact. The structured dialogue with 
young people needs to be revised and more inclus ive, and the cross-se ctor nature of youth 
policy needs more recognition at  EU and national level.  
Analysis of subsidiarity  
Member States have the main responsibility for the policy changes needed to respond to these 
challenges. All options retained for analysis and presented below respect the principle of 
subsidiarity; furthermore, they are proportiona l and leave the implementation of the common 
objectives and principles for cooperation in the hands of the Member States and/or their sub-
national entities.  
However, a more pro-active role at EU level is necessary in order to support Member State 
cooperation. Action by a Member State alone w ould not achieve the same results than EU 
cooperation in raising visibi lity of Youth and youth strate gies, definition of common 
objectives, mutual learning, excha nge of practices and experien ce, access to European wide 
data, etc. 
 
EN 3   EN There is thus a need to review  the cooperation framework in orde r to better take into account 
the current and future needs of young people. 
Objectives of EU initiative  
Based on the above challenges, the following objectives are defined for a renewed Youth 
Cooperation Framework. 
In order to enhance the well- being of young people in Europe during the next decade, the 
general objectives will aim at creating more  opportunities for young people in education and 
employment; at increasing access and full particip ation of all young people in society; and at 
fostering mutual solidarity be tween society and young people (i n particular through inclusion, 
volunteering and actions dedicated at the rest of the world).  
The specific objectives  of the proposed European Yout h Cooperation Framework seek to 
develop 1) a transversal approa ch of issues concerning youth, 2) more efficiency of the 
framework and 3) mobilisation of youth organisations and young people. 
The operational objectives aim to develop c oordination mechanisms between policies, 
structured dialogue with young people, better  implementation of cooperation tools and 
knowledge based policy making. 
Policy options 
Four policy options have been taken in consideration for in depth examination1:  
- Option 1: status quo (whereby the current fram ework would be extended  as it is, and would 
thus function with the same  tools and objectives);  
- Option 2: reinforced Youth open method of coordination (reinforcing cooperation 
instruments while keeping same focus on active citizenship and a few mainstreaming activities);  
- Option 3: developed cross-s ectoral approach (keeping the same instruments of the open 
method of coordination, but setting up coordi nation mechanism for policies with a strong 
youth dimension); 
- Option 4: global strategy (developing at th e same time the open method of coordination 
tools and the cross-sectoral approach, in order to take advantage of synergy effects of both 
elements). 
Assessment of impacts 
On the basis of an assessment of potential qualitative impacts rega rding social, economic, 
environmental and human rights issues, it appear s that none of the options analysed would 
have a negative impact. Option 1 would have a more limited positive impact regarding these issues. Options 3 and 4 would have greater social and economic impacts. 
Comparison of options 
A comparison of options regarding their impact  on objectives and their feasibility indicates 
that while all options are feasible, option 4 is to be preferred in terms of its ability to address the challenges and to achieve the objectives . Option 1 would not bri ng any improvement to 
                                                
 
1 Three other options have been considered but have not been retained for in-depth analysis: ending the 
cooperation, adopting a speci fic approach, or developing a set of more binding tools (see more details in 
4.2). 
 
EN 4   EN the current situation regarding the objectives, while options 2 and 3 w ould only bring partial 
improvement.  
Monitoring and evaluation 
The mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Youth Cooperation 
Framework would be mainly trie nnial joint progress reports, da shboard of existing indicators 
and benchmarks. A stronger involvement of st akeholders in the monitoring would also 
contribute to the monitoring. Proposals for impr ovement of the framework would be done on 
a regular basis.