WRITTEN QUESTION P-1719/01

by Ari Vatanen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 June 2001)

Subject: EU's White Paper on youth policy

Hitherto the European Union has not had a youth policy as such. EU measures affecting young people have mostly taken the form of youth and student exchange programmes relating to the freedom of movement of young people, and financial support for various projects. During the Finnish Presidency in autumn 1999, Mrs Reding, the Commissioner responsible for youth matters, announced that the Commission was launching a process which would lead to the publication of a White Paper on youth policy in autumn 2001.

The European youth forum - and European young people in general - have noted with satisfaction the recent news that the Commission is not abandoning its plan to publish the White Paper under the Belgian Presidency. A White Paper is not a legally binding text, but its influence in a given section can nevertheless be significant. In this case it could be of great importance in developing a comprehensive youth policy for the EU.

Throughout the preparation process, the Commission has stressed the importance of listening to young people. For over a year now, thousands of youth organisations, youth workers, civil servants and researchers and tens of thousands of young people from various European countries, have been participating in the different stages of this process. The credibility of the European Union in the eyes of young people is now at stake. A lot has been said about the attitude of young people towards the European Union, particularly after the low turn out in the last European Parliament elections. That being so, it is important that the White Paper should be published, that it should put forward the Commission's plans

for improving the living conditions of young people with the help of the various EU policies and that it should contain a vision of how the voices of youth representatives should be heard in decision making which affects young people.

What measures does the Commission propose to take to develop the EU's youth policy? Does the Commission as a whole propose to commit itself to promote young people's living conditions in all the EU's policy sectors? How does the Commission propose in future to arrange for young people's opinions to be heard in the planning and implementation of measures which affect them?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(12 September 2001)

The Commission agrees with the Honourable Member. The policy of cooperation on matters concerning European youth must be strengthened alongside the Youth Programme, the value of which should not be called into question.

For this reason, at the initiative of the Member of the Commission responsible for Education and Culture, the Commission embarked upon the preparation of a White Paper on the subject.

The Commission wished this to be preceded by widespread consultation on an unprecedented scale. It is therefore aware of young people's expectations and of the responsibilities such expectations give rise to, not only at European Union level but also - in fact especially - in the Member States.

The White Paper will be expected to provide possible answers and lines of action. It will cover the points raised by the Honourable Member. Numerous mechanisms are necessary to implement a new policy of cooperation on matters concerning European youth. It is important to take young people into consideration in a number of policies, in particular because young people may turn out to be an asset for the implementation of such policies. Finally, the Commission does not intend to put an end to the discussion which it itself launched, but rather to give it added impetus.

The White Paper should be published by the end of the year.