EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 3.7.2008 
SEC(2008) 2175 
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  
 
accompanying the  
Proposal for a 
 
RECOMMENDATION OF THE COUNCIL 
 
on mobility of young volunteers across Europe 
 
  
SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  
{COM(2008) 424} 
{SEC(2008) 2174} 
 
EN 2   EN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
Cross-border mobility of young volunteers in the European Union is low. Young people who 
wish to volunteer abroad in Europe do  not have enough opportunities to do so.  
This is why the proposed initiative aims at enhancing the mobility of young volunteers 
throughout Europe. Positive side effects will  be enhanced opportunities for non-formal 
education and increased employability, competiti veness, social inclusion and citizenship. The 
initiative concerns young people in the Europe an Union under 30 years of age who wish to 
volunteer in a country other th an their own. Its scope covers  voluntary activ ities clearly 
distinguished from employment conducted abroad during a limite d period of time, typically 
several months, as describe d by the Commission Communicatio n "Follow-up to the White 
Paper on a New Impetus for European Yout h - Proposed common obj ectives for voluntary 
activities among young people in response to the Council Resolution of 27 June 2002 
regarding the framework of European cooperation in the youth field" of 20041.  
The situation of youth vol unteering is fragmented in the Me mber States. It includes civic 
services organised by public aut horities as well as civil soci ety-organised volunteering. In its 
proposal the Commission strives fo r a solution that a llows all existing vol unteering systems to 
interoperate. 
Large consultation exercises with stakeholders, volunteeri ng and youth organisations, and 
Member States preceded the proposed initiative. The results of these consultations have been 
taken on board of the proposal as far as possibl e. Recently issued opinions of the European 
Parliament2, the European Economic and Social Committee3 and the Committee of the 
Regions4 have been taken into account. 
While the primary objective of the proposed init iative is to enhance mobility of young cross-
border volunteers, spec ific objectives are to improve  the knowledge of cross-border 
opportunities of volunteering for young people,  increase exchange opportunities for young 
volunteers, assure a reasonable level of quality , promote skills and competence acquired by 
young volunteers, target youth workers in thei r support of young cross-border volunteers and 
encourage young people with fewer opportunities to volunteer abroad. 
The Commission analysed four options in orde r to verify which one would allow to reach 
these objectives best: keeping th e status quo, improvement of the interoperability of existing 
systems in the Member States, extension of the European Voluntary Service (EVS) or the 
harmonisation of national youth vo lunteering schemes. While clin ging to the status quo would 
not bring about any improvement, an extens ion of EVS would be too expensive, and 
harmonisation is ruled out by the Treaty. This leaves only one feasible option, improvement of the interoperability of existing systems in th e Member States, which allows for realising all 
objectives. 
Interoperability in this context means that national voluntary system s open up opportunities 
for volunteers from other Member States an d keep their specific needs in mind when 
                                                
 
1 COM(2004) 337 final, Brussels, of 30 May 2004 
2 REGI/6/50546, 2007/2149, of 21 April 2008 
3 SOC 243, of 13 December 2006  
4 ECOS-IV-017, of 6-7 February 2008 
 
EN 3   EN designing their activities . This could be done through better knowledge of national systems 
and on civil society organisa tions, support to the hosting or ganisations in the country, 
information towards young people, youth work ers and youth leaders about opportunities 
abroad, and highlighting the value of European  youth mobility cards. These efforts would be 
supported by a "quality assurance" of volunt eering opportunities, adap tation of learning 
outcomes to national and European qualification frameworks, the use of Europass and Youthpass, and the promotion of trans-Eu ropean youth volunteering towards employers, 
authorities, institutions, etc.. The Commission would support the use of these instruments and develop further the European Young Volunteers' Po rtal as part of the existing Youth Portal.  
To get the appropriate impact, the proposed lega l form for this option is a Recommendation. 
A Council Recommendation would involve Member  States to a greater extent than a 
Commission Recommendation and is expressly foreseen in the lega l basis, Article 149 (4) of 
the Treaty.  
For the youth field this would be a quantum leap  forward, as this will be the first Council 
Recommendation. The ambition of the proposal is not to  bring about radical change but rather 
an evolution of mechanisms already existing  within Member States. Based on existing 
Resolutions
5 on youth volunteering and mobility Recommendations6, the goal is to propose 
operative recommendations towards improved mobility of young volunteers in Europe. The 
Recommendation will be part of the EU's "R enewed Social Agenda: Opportunities, Access 
and Solidarity in 21st Century Europe".  
                                                 
5 13996/04 of 15 November 2004 and 14427/07 of 19 November 2007  
6 2001/613/EC of 10 July 2001 and 2006/961/EC of 18 December 2006