A4-0100/99

Resolution on a youth policy for Europe

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the United Nations Convention of 20 November 1989 on the Rights of the Child,

- having regard to the 1996 European Convention on the application in Europe of the above-mentioned United Nations Convention,

- having regard to the resolution adopted by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 16 April 1998,

- having regard to the EC Treaty, in particular Articles 126 and 127 thereof,

- having regard to Article 13 of the EC Treaty as amended by the draft Treaty of Amsterdam, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of age,

- having regard to the conclusions of the Vienna European Council of 11 and 12 December 1998,

- having regard to the conclusions of the Cardiff European Council of 15 and 16 June 1998,

- having regard to the conclusions of the EU Council of Youth Ministers of 28 October 1997,

- having regard to the resolutions and conclusions of the Council and the Ministers of Education meeting within the Council of 23 November 1988 and 27 November 1992 on health education in schools, and the conclusions of the Council and the Health Ministers meeting within the Council of 13 November 1992 on health education ((OJ C 3, 5.1.1989, p. 1; OJ C 326, 11.12.1992, p. 2; and OJ C 336, 19.12.1992, p. 8.)),

- having regard to the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision establishing the Community action programme for youth ((OJ C 311, 10.10.1998, p. 6.)),

- having regard to the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision establishing the second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education (Socrates) ((OJ C 314, 13.10.1998, p. 5.)),

- having regard to the proposal for a Council Decision establishing the second phase of the Community vocational training action programme (Leonardo da Vinci) ((OJ C 309, 9.10.1998, p. 9.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 17 February 1989 on the need for a European young people's pass ((OJ C 69, 20.3.1989, p. 213.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 16 February 1990 on Community education and training programmes ((OJ C 68, 19.3.1990, p. 175.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 25 January 1991 on the European dimension at university level, with particular reference to student and teacher mobility ((OJ C 48, 25.2.1991, p. 216.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 14 June 1991 on Community policies and their impact on youth ((OJ C 183, 15.7.1991, p. 469.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 13 December 1991 on the problems of children in the European Community ((OJ C 13, 20.1.1992, p. 534.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 8 July 1992 on a European Charter of Rights of the Child ((OJ C 241, 21.9.1992, p. 67.)),

- having regard to its opinion of 20 September 1995 on the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision adopting a programme of Community action on the prevention of drug dependence within the framework for action in the field of public health (1995-2000) (COM(94)0223 - C4-0091/94 - 94/0135(COD)) ((OJ C 269, 16.10.1995, p. 65.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 12 March 1997 on the Commission's White Paper on Education and Training 'Teaching and learning - towards the learning society' (COM(95)0590 - C4-0597/95) ((OJ C 115, 14.4.1997, p. 85.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 14 May 1997 on the Commission Green Paper 'Education - Training - Research: The obstacles to transnational mobility' (COM(96)0462 - C4-0580/96) ((OJ C 167, 2.6.1997, p. 94.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 26 June 1997 on the Commission communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 'Learning in the Information Society - action plan for a European education initiative' (1996-1998) (COM(96)0471 - C4-0528/96) ((OJ C 222, 21.7.1997, p. 48.)),

- having regard to its decision of 12 March 1998 concerning the common position adopted by the Council with a view to adopting a European Parliament and Council Decision establishing the Community action programme 'European Voluntary Service for Young People' (C4-0007/98 - 96/0318(COD)) ((OJ C 104, 6.4.1998, p. 206.)),

- having regard to its opinion of 30 April 1998 on the proposal for a Council Decision on the promotion of European pathways for work-linked training including apprenticeship (COM(97)0572 - C4-0064/98 - 97/0321(SYN)) ((OJ C 152, 18.5.1998, p. 48.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 13 May 1998 on the Commission communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 'Towards a Europe of Knowledge' (COM(97)0563 - C4-0649/97) ((OJ C 167, 1.6.1998, p. 136.)),

- having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media (A4-0100/99),

A. whereas the success of the process of European integration largely depends on the commitment and enthusiasm of 150 million young people living in the Union,

B. whereas the commitment shown by young people and their desire to participate should be turned to account to ensure that their experience, skills, and active criticism can help society to move forward,

C. having regard to the increasing prominence of the 'youth factor', brought about by economic and cultural changes in European societies,

D. whereas diversity can be considered a hallmark of the younger generation,

E. whereas young people's culture tends to develop on their own terms,

F. having regard to the impact of the media on the cultural evolution of young people,

G. whereas young people's means of communication rely extensively on new technologies,

H. having regard to the new problems and challenges with which young people are faced in seeking to find their place in our society both in the social context and on the labour market,

I. whereas young people still consider the family as part of their main reference framework, especially when faced with problems,

J. whereas crime committed by under-age children is rising in most Member States; whereas it has become a social phenomenon and a political issue; and whereas it demands a response from all the institutions that look after young people and are called upon to help them integrate into the adult world,

K. whereas 'exclusion delinquency', the new form of juvenile delinquency rooted in an inadequate sense of self-worth, the difficulty of passing on values, and mounting social handicaps, is a complex problem to deal with and whereas education, local, and penal policies consequently need to be coordinated,

L. whereas an essential prerequisite for giving young people a place in society is that they are allowed to take part in the labour market and whereas this is also achieved by recognising and promoting all the skills and qualifications they acquire through formal and informal education,

M. whereas the socio-economic situation of and prospects for young people are raising concerns which are not always reflected in political priorities,

N. whereas Europe is experiencing a real crisis in terms of participation in institutional and civic affairs; whereas there is a will and a commitment among the young people of Europe which does not always assume the traditional forms of participation and whereas young people's attitude towards politics is in part linked to the feeling that they are being left out of political decision-making on matters that affect them,

O. whereas young people and those who represent them should be more closely involved in the process of European integration,

P. whereas the prime responsibility for an effective youth policy still rests with the Member States and whereas the EU has to focus on the European value added,

Q. whereas European youth exchanges and EU cultural programmes together already account for less than 1% of expenditure under the Union budget as a whole and whereas, secondly, EU youth policy is likely to be cut back substantially, given the financial perspective set out in Agenda 2000,

R. whereas youth initiatives and programmes introduced by the Union (training, education, mobility, support for the European Youth Parliament and the Model European Parliament Foundation, etc.), however positive they are as a whole, are still extremely inadequate in terms of the resources allocated and the number of young people actually involved,

S. whereas the aims of a youth policy should not be limited to preparation for working life, however important this stage may be, but should also meet the other aspirations of young people, namely the promotion of self-reliance and responsibility, creativity, preparation for participation in democratic and social affairs, and the fight against exclusion, racism, xenophobia and ideological nationalism,

T. whereas youth exchanges at European level are a particularly effective means of contributing to mutual trust, strengthening democracy and developing a spirit of tolerance,

U. whereas equal opportunities must be respected,

V. whereas equality should be an essential component of education, and whereas cultural activity should play a significant role, through formal or informal education, in developing equal opportunities,

W. whereas more effective health education should be promoted at school and in families, both environments being of vital importance in enabling young people to live in a healthy manner, as well as in youth centres, associations, and sports and leisure centres for children,

X. whereas better information and preventive work is needed to combat the use of drugs and alcohol; whereas such preventive work is one of the major responsibilities of the adult world as a whole towards young people,

Y. whereas we should promote sexual and reproductive health and rights in accordance with the UN conference on population held in Cairo in 1994 and the Beijing women's conference of 1995 and whereas, therefore, good sex education should be promoted in schools and information also provided at other places frequented by young people,

Z. whereas the financial problems faced by young people lead to specific difficulties in terms of housing, health and mobility,

AA. whereas the specific problems identified with regard to young people in EU countries are amplified in Central and Eastern European countries as a result of the dual transition experienced by young people in those countries, namely towards adult life and towards a new society,

AB. whereas guidelines for dynamic youth policies must be drawn up to meet the new challenges in the present-day world,

AC. whereas youth policies can be approached at three different levels, i.e. European Union, Member States, regional and local level, and whereas the means required for each of them are fundamentally different,

AD. having regard to the need to group together documentary and research resources on youth in one single place and to provide for an interactive approach,

1. Reaffirms that a more enthusiastic, widespread, and lasting involvement of young people in the process of Community integration can play a fundamental role in the political, cultural, social and economic development of the Union itself;

2. Notes that in their conclusions issued at Vienna, the Heads of State and Government maintained that 'Member States and the institutions of the European Union also need to address the concerns of the young people of Europe in a more general fashion, thus sending a positive political message to citizens';

3. Calls on the Member States, since they bear the main responsibility for bringing about an effective youth policy, to pursue a comprehensive policy in this area, fund it more generously, and frame their individual youth policies in such a way as to make for coherence, coordination, and complementarity;

4. Welcomes the achievements of Community policies in the field of education and training, exchanges, and practical experience serving the public good, and globally approves the guidelines of the Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci programmes - phase II - and those of the Community action programme for young people, and in particular the desire to improve coordination of those programmes;

5. Points out that the socio-economic situation of young people unfortunately also raises concerns in addition to the specific problem of education and training and that there is a lack of properly coordinated consideration of these political priorities at European level;

6. Expresses alarm at the increasing violence among young people and calls on the Commission to conduct a comparative study on the forms of juvenile delinquency and the ways in which they are being tackled in the different Member States, so as to enable know-how to be coordinated and pooled to more useful effect; calls on the Commission to lend more meaningful support in order to train teachers and protagonists of civil society to deal with antisocial and criminal acts;

7. Hopes consequently that the programme for young people, which essentially concerns a combination of the Youth for Europe and European Voluntary Service programmes, will receive financial backing commensurate with its importance and will allocate a greater proportion of funding to supporting initiatives put forward by young people themselves;

8. Regrets that the Council has so far been unable to agree on the framework programme for young people, once again sending an unfortunate signal as to the Union's real commitment to policies aimed first and foremost at young people;

9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to comply with the Vienna conclusions on employment policy in the Union by giving consideration to comprehensive professional integration measures that can, for example, promote partnerships with EU businesses liable to provide young Europeans with employment;

10. Considers therefore that the Commission should have given more significant encouragement to innovative and creative initiatives by young people aimed at their participation in economic life, thereby investing in young people's spirit of enterprise; strongly urges the Commission to rectify this omission forthwith;

11. Calls on the Commission to introduce prizes and 'labels' to confer recognition on innovative initiatives along the lines described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11, and 12, whether undertaken by businesses or by youth organisations; believes that the purpose of such recognition should be to give a high profile to the activities in question and ensure that they serve as an example;

12. Calls for support for and the continuation of the implementation of innovative projects, for dissemination of the findings of evaluations of such projects, and for specific elements of the European cooperation model to be put into effect nationally as regards the involvement of young people in difficulty in associations, musical, cultural and other activities at local level with a view to their positive personal development and hence better integration into society; points out that sport plays an important part especially in the free-time activities of young people and is consequently a factor of social integration and furthermore contributes to the fight against racism;

13. Encourages the Commission and the Member States to pursue a coherent policy by taking the necessary steps to combat educational failure and to reduce the number of young people dropping out of the educational system without basic qualifications, and to provide more generous support for second-chance schools;

14. Encourages the Member States and the Commission to move rapidly towards the validation of knowledge acquired through informal education and recognition thereof on the labour market;

15. Calls on the Member States to give due consideration to health education in schools and to encourage measures for the prevention of related risks; stresses, in particular, the importance of preventive work to combat drugs and alcohol;

16. Calls on the Member States to promote good, universal sex education in schools and to provide information about contraception in order to improve sexual and reproductive health and to combat unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmissible diseases;

17. Reaffirms its support for the development of a European network of youth passes, calls on the Commission to make every possible effort to achieve this and calls on the Member States that have not yet done so to implement the system of youth passes as soon as possible;

18. Considers that the rights of young people, which the Union must guarantee within its borders, should apply to all young people, whether Community nationals resident in their own country or in another Member State or legal immigrants;

19. Welcomes the policy on which the Union has embarked to eradicate racism and calls for further support measures to integrate foreign young people and young migrants in particular;

20. Considers that young people from another Member State or young legal immigrants from a third country should be allowed to vote in all elections specific to young people (in schools, associations, clubs, trade unions, etc.);

21. Calls for an information policy aimed specifically at young people to focus on the new Article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam with a view to encouraging them to play their own active part in combating 'discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation';

22. Calls for the Ministers responsible for youth policies in the Member States to meet on a more sustained and regular basis; calls on the European Council to place youth policy on the agenda for its forthcoming meeting;

23. Calls on the Commission and Council to draw up a genuine intersectoral, coherent, and integrated European policy for young people, giving due recognition to the capital resource which young people represent for the future of European society;

24. Calls therefore on the Member States and the Commission jointly to adopt working guidelines aimed at:

- guaranteeing a high standard of general education and vocational training,

- giving young people in the Union more opportunity to participate in society,

- preparing young people in the Union to integrate more fully into the economy and society,

- protecting the health of young people, in a broader perspective,

- giving young people good opportunities to make active use of European citizenship;

25. Calls on the Member States to place youth policy on the agenda for the next intergovernmental conference, to ensure that the aim of coordinating youth policy at European level and promoting youth employment is laid down in the EU Treaties;

26. Calls on the Member States jointly to seek to meet the specific challenges facing society in regard to the situation of young people and, in particular, of disadvantaged young people, by strengthening each Member State's national plans for employment through 'Action plans for young people', encompassing various sectors, such as education and training, employment, health, and housing, as well as measures to improve and promote:

- the involvement of young people in decision-making on matters that affect them,

- the entry of young people into working life,

- equal opportunities for young women and men,

- solidarity,

- the fight against racism, xenophobia and ideological nationalism;

27. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to devise measures for education in citizenship, such as youth local councils and parliaments; also calls on the Member States and the Commission, at the same time, to support new and established youth organisations, which have sound knowledge and experience of training in democracy and active citizenship; considers that, if it is to be effective, education for citizenship must start at primary school and be offered to all children, implying a need for teacher training in the subject to be provided on a widely available basis;

28. Notes with satisfaction that the Vienna European Council welcomed 'the initiatives to put the issue of youth participation on the agenda of the EU institutions';

29. Calls for the Commission and the Member States more systematically to organise forms of consultation of young people on policies that affect them in order to involve them in the decision-making process and subsequently ensure that their proposals are taken up;

30. Calls on the Committee of the Regions to encourage regional and local authority representatives to set up regional youth councils with a view to ensuring not only that young people are involved on a more organised basis in regional and local decision-making, but also that they are consulted about Community proposals on which the Committee of the Regions is required to deliver its opinion, in particular covering matters such as education, the arts, and, once the Treaty of Amsterdam has entered into force, social issues, employment, vocational training, and so forth;

31. Calls on the Member States to include a representative of youth organisations on their lists of candidates to serve on the Economic and Social Committee;

32. Considers that the emphasis must be placed on working in partnership with young people by encouraging the development of youth associations and networks; consideration should also be given to a procedure whereby reports from youth parliaments would be considered at least once a year by the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media of the European Parliament;

33. Calls on the Commission to ensure that all young people have access to information about the EU institutions and the workings of the Union, since this would deepen their understanding of Europe and pave the way for their involvement in European policies, especially youth policy;

34. Calls on the Commission, following the example of the Dialogue Youth pilot project, to continue and extend the approach of grouping together information networks aimed at young people to enable them to operate in synergy and complement one another in supplying information geared to young people's needs;

35. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to introduce 'one-stop help desks' for young people needing information or assistance;

36. Calls for the establishment of a specific 'Europe 15-25' youth structure whose aim should be, among other things, to promote youth projects and gather information and documentary resources on young people, including publications and specific studies produced by European institutions and Member States, which will enable those working in the youth sector and young people themselves to have access to information concerning them;

37. Considers also that this should be supplemented by the establishment of a 'Youth' Internet site administered by the Commission on the basis of 'Europa' which will give added visibility to measures designed for young people at Community level and in the Member States in a wide variety of areas: education, training, social and political rights, unprejudiced information on sexual matters, health, sport, leisure, housing, consumption, audiovisual industry and media, culture, etc. This would also facilitate dialogue with young people in general; believes that the Internet site could reach young people who would otherwise be excluded, especially those who are most isolated and do not belong to clubs or organisations; takes the view, therefore, that the Commission should endeavour to make the site interactive, creating a forum for consulting young people and obtaining their opinions;

38. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Committee of the Regions, the Heads of State and Government, the Council of Europe, and youth organisations, in particular the European Union Youth Forum.