ANNEX

a) REFERENCES

In adopting these conclusions, the Council and the representatives of the Governments of Member States meeting within the Council have taken note of the following documents:

— Council Recommendation of 5 April 2022 on the mobility of young volunteers across the European Union, OJ C 157, 11.4.2022, p. 1.

— Conclusions of the Council and of the representatives of the governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on fostering engagement among young people as facilitators of change in order to protect the environment, OJ C 159, 12.4.2022, p.9.

— Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 December 2021 on a European Year of Youth 2022, OJ L 462, 28.12.2021, p.1.

— Conclusions of the Council and of the representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on safeguarding and creating civic spaces for young people that facilitate meaningful youth participation, OJ C 501I, 13.12.2021, p.19.

— Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on strengthening the multilevel governance when promoting the participation of young people in decision-making processes, OJ C 241, 21.6.2021, p.3

— European Commission, Green Paper on Ageing: Fostering solidarity and responsibility between generations, COM(2021) 50 final.

— Council conclusions on mainstreaming ageing in public policies, 6976/21(2021).

— Conclusions of the Council and of the representatives of the governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on fostering democratic awareness and democratic engagement among young people in Europe, OJ C 415, 1.12.2020, p.16

— Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on raising opportunities for young people in rural and remote areas, OJ C 193, 9.6.2020, p. 3.

— Resolution of the Council and of the representatives of the Member States meeting within the Council establishing guidelines on the governance of the EU Youth Dialogue - European Union Youth Strategy 2019-2027, OJ C 189, 5.6.2019, p. 1.

— Resolution of the Council of the European Union and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on a framework for European cooperation in the youth field: The European Union Youth Strategy 2019-2027, OJ C 456, 18.12.2018, p. 1.

— Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations (2012), OJ L 246, 23.9.2011, p. 5.

— Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions New European Bauhaus Beautiful, Sustainable, Together, COM (2021) 573.

— Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, EU strategy on the rights of the child, COM/2021/142 final.

— European Council on Foreign Relations, policy brief, September 2021, Europe’s invisible divides: How covid-19 is polarising European politics.

— Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, COM (2020) 152.

— European Commission, Mapping study on the intergenerational dimension of sport: final report to the European Commission, Publications Office, 2020.

— European Commission, The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan.

— European Commission, The European Pillar of Social Rights in 20 principles.

— OECD, Recommendation of the Council on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People OECD/LEGAL/0474, 10.06. 2022.

— OECD report on ‘Governance for Youth, Trust and Intergenerational Justice: Fit for all Generations?’, 22 November 2020.

— OECD report on Youth and Covid-19: Response, Recovery and Resilience, 11 June 2020.

— European Commission, Commission Staff Working document, Better Regulation Guidelines, SWD(2021) 305 final, 3 November 2021.

— United Nations, Youth Strategy Youth 2030: Working with and for young people.

— Deležan Tomaž, Derailing modern democracies: the case of youth absence from an intergenerational perspective, Annales, 2018.

— Deležan Tomaž, Intergenerational dialogue for democracy. International IDEA Discussion Paper 1/2017.

— Letter to EU institutions by the Parents for Future in Europe, 12 June 2020.

b) DEFINITIONS OF THE MAIN CONCEPTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF THESE CONCLUSIONS

‘Promoting intergenerational dimension in youth policy-making and youth work provision’ means promoting intergenerational dialogue, intergenerational solidarity and intergenerational justice/equity in the youth field within the mandate of the EU Youth Strategy 2019–2027 through:

— innovative cross-sectoral youth policies (for instance establishing the intergenerational dimension as one of the horizontal priorities, pillars, or strategic or operational goals in youth policy documents) which foster dialogue in decision-making processes to enable young people to have an equal say in decisions that affect their lives, and thus promote age diversity and age equity in public life at local, regional, national and European level.

— enriching youth work provision by integrating intergenerational solidarity and intergenerational dialogue in youth work activities and volunteering activities.

‘Intergenerational dialogue’ means an interactive and safe participatory space or opportunity that brings together younger and older generations to create shared knowledge and a collective experience. It can be conducted through various mechanisms (e.g., surveys, meetings, roundtables, citizens’ panels, forums, or advisory councils), with the aim of achieving high levels of informed citizenship, shared decision-making, and the integration of intergenerational equity, and justice principles into different levels of governance.

‘Intergenerational equality’ means providing the same level of opportunities and assistance to all age groups in society. It ensures that all age groups have the same rights and responsibilities.

‘Intergenerational equity’ means recognising that different age groups have diverse needs and that adjustments to imbalances must be made. The process is continuous and requires intentional and unintentional barriers arising from bias or systemic structures to be identified and overcome. Equity means providing various levels of support and assistance depending on the specific needs or abilities of different age groups. It ensures that all age groups are given the resources they need to have access to the same opportunities.

‘Intergenerational justice’ refers to fairness between generations based on the idea that ‘the pursuit of welfare by the current generation should not diminish the opportunities for a good and decent life for succeeding generations’ (United Nations, 2013 (1)). In the context of these Council Conclusions, intergenerational justice describes relations between contemporary generations, i.e., between younger and older generations.

‘Intergenerational solidarity’ refers to mutual support and cooperation between different age groups so as to achieve a society where people of all ages have a role to play in line with their needs and capacities and can benefit from their community’s economic and social progress on an equal basis.

c) SUMMARY OF THE FINAL REPORT ON THE NATIONAL CONSULTATIONS UNDER THE 9th CYCLE OF THE EU YOUTH DIALOGUE:

The consultation phase of the 9th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue (EUYD9) ran from January to August 2022. This summary of the EUYD9 results covers consultation activities conducted by National Working Groups, the input from International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations participating in EUYD9, and the outcomes of the EUYD9 Youth Conference in Prague, Czech Republic (2). The results of the mid-term collection of good practices (3) are also incorporated.

Results of sub-theme 1: ‘Information and education’

According to the young people who participated in the consultations, sources of information and opportunities to learn about climate change should:

— be youth-friendly, accessible and available in a range of formats and languages.

— show the relevance of climate change to the lives of a diverse range of young people.

— be comprehensive, trustworthy and informed by science, cover a range of environmental topics and show political processes and developments related to sustainability.

— highlight links between climate change and inequality, of which many young people were unaware of in the consultations.

— go beyond information sharing and aim to motivate and empower young people to act in favour of sustainability, including through political action and by making sustainable lifestyle choices.

— avoid ‘apocalyptic messages’ which create feelings of hopelessness, and impact on young people’s mental health.

To increase learning opportunities about sustainability, it was suggested that schools should be better used, and the topic included in their curricula. Though schools were the most widely suggested forum for these opportunities, civil society, youth clubs, youth organisations, digital tools and peer-to-peer programmes were also among the beneficial learning environments identified. The need for funding for youth work and youth organisations in order to expand learning opportunities relating to sustainability was raised.

Results of sub-theme 2: ‘Action and empowerment’

A common opinion among consultation participants was that policy makers and politicians have shown a lack of action on sustainability and environment issues, and that young people have very limited ways to hold decision-makers to account on these topics. There were feelings of mistrust and discontent towards politicians. Many, but not all, young people were able to identify a variety of available participatory mechanisms, (e.g., protests, petitions, civil society organisations). In general, however, these mechanisms were all said to be failing to bring about change on sustainability, due to inaction from the relevant policy makers. No specific types of mechanism were widely identified as more effective. Young people involved in formal structures, (e.g., youth councils, advisory boards) said that these structures did have some impact when embedded in policymaking. However, many young people were not aware of these structures. Opportunities to hold decision-makers to account for were said to be improved by:

— policymakers committing to more extensive action based on outcomes of participation mechanisms.

— improving the accessibility of participation mechanisms, ensuring that they focus on the concerns of marginalised groups as well as majority issues and enable marginalised young people to take leadership roles.

— increasing the number of opportunities for participation on sustainability, especially informal and regular dialogue with elected representatives.

— promoting and protecting youth councils by increasing resources, establishing more local youth councils and ensuring legislative backing.

Results of sub-theme 3: ‘Governance’

The EUYD9 Youth Conferences in France and in the Czech Republic and the informal ministerial meeting of 22 January 2022 in Strasbourg identified concerns from young people about youth washing. The young people that participated in the consultation phase were less familiar with the concept but often able to recognise it. Youth washing was said to be an engagement between politicians or policymakers and young people which has no genuine possibility of creating political change, despite expectations to do so. The consultations identified that participatory mechanisms can reduce youth washing by:

— increasing transparency and visibility by giving young people clear information on the feasibility of implementing their demands and ensuring policymakers' commitments are publicly recorded and promoted.

— providing follow up and feedback to young people on the actions taken by policymakers after participation activities with policymakers publicly reporting on changes achieved or justifying the lack of changes achieved by given deadlines, as well as engaging in ongoing dialogue with young people.

— developing more consistent and stronger links between participation mechanisms and policy sectors linked to sustainability.

Results of sub-theme 4: ‘Mobility and solidarity’

In the consultation, young people from a diverse range of marginalised backgrounds were asked what could enable them to take advantage of EU-wide mobility opportunities related to the environment. Financial barriers or perceived financial barriers were a major issue. These included direct costs, being unable to take a break from employment or risking losing social welfare assistance. Language barriers and a lack of accessible information about opportunities also played a role. Some young people perceived EU mobility opportunities as not intended for young people from their backgrounds. A tendency to focus on immediate life needs or local issues rather than environmental topics was also a factor. The young people consulted identified a need to:

— lower the threshold for accessing opportunities by removing costs, offering short term (two to three days) opportunities, simplifying administrative procedures, and connecting directly via schools or local projects.

— increasing funding and support to the organisations which promote mobility and solidarity projects.

— focus on local environmental initiatives that are connected to and affect marginalised young people's own communities.

— increase publicity and outreach, including delivering mobility opportunities connected to schools as well as by working with organisations, professionals and previous participants who have ‘bonds of trust’ with young people in marginalised circumstances.

— emphasise the personal benefits of taking part, especially with regard to employability and employment skills, and make opportunities more attractive.

— provide flexible, high quality and professional support that is able to meet a variety of different accessibility needs including resourcing organisations working with young people in marginalised circumstances to support environmental mobility opportunities.

Results of sub theme 5: ‘Access to infrastructure’

Financial limitations were identified as one of the key factors preventing young people from making more sustainable living choices. The participants consulted called for the development of sustainable infrastructure that is affordable for young people. The general lack of infrastructure in rural areas was also highlighted. The types of infrastructure requested included:

— affordable and improved public transport along with safer and more widespread facilities for cycling, becoming viable options compared to cars.

— financially accessible housing options, as young people said that financial barriers were a major factor for them in making it difficult to consider sustainability when choosing housing.

— more green, open public spaces and promotion of renewable energy.

— affordable sustainable food and consumption options, including recycling and reuse. This was important to many young people but not as high a priority as other suggestions.

The EU Youth Conference in Prague identified a role for youth policy, and the youth sector in supporting young people's participation within the policy areas more directly related to infrastructure, such as transport, housing, urban planning, energy and agriculture.

Results of cross-cutting theme: Intergenerational dialogue

The EU Youth Conference in Prague identified that sustainability and inclusion are not ‘youth issues’, but rather issues that affect all of society. Therefore, it was said that good practice in policymaking required intergenerational dialogue between all generations. There were no strong demands for intergenerational dialogue in the EUYD9 consultations, but there was a degree of support when the topic was introduced to the young people participating. Intergenerational dialogue was said to have potential to:

— legitimise and build recognition for young peoples’ concerns and efforts on sustainability issues.

— build mutual solidarity and support between generations.

— promote intergenerational learning and enable young people to influence older generations’ views on sustainability.

It was said that intergenerational dialogue should not replace existing youth participation mechanisms or direct dialogue between young people and policymakers but should take place alongside these activities.

(1) United Nations, Intergenerational solidarity and the needs of future generations, Report of the Secretary-General, A/68/322, 2013.

(2) EUYD9 EU Youth Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. Final Conference Report: Deliberations on Sustainability and Inclusion, 25 July 2022.

(3) EUYD9 Mid-Term Report. Good Practices and Consultation Processes, 30 June 2022.