Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "European Commission White Paper: A New Impetus for European Youth" (COM(2001) 681 final)
Date: 2002-04-24
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU programme, European citizenship, company constituted under civil law, management techniques, young person, youth policy

C 149/84

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Official Journal of the European Communities

21.6.2002

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘European Commission White Paper: A
New Impetus for European Youth’

(COM(2001) 681 final)

(2002/C 149/18)

On 17 January 2002, the Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 23(3) of its Rules of
Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on the ‘European Commission White Paper: A New Impetus
for European Youth’.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 10 April 2002. The rapporteur was Mrs Hassett,
the co-rapporteurs were Mr Rodrı´guez Garcia-Caro and Mr Soares.

At its 390th plenary session, held on 24 and 25 April 2002 (meeting of 25 April), the Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 72 votes to one with one abstention.

1. White Paper — ‘A new impetus for European Youth’

1.1.
The Committee welcomes the European Commission
White Paper ‘A New Impetus for European Youth’, presented
on 21 November 2001. It is in full support of this policy
initiative, which has the potential to create a new dynamic for
tackling the challenges faced by young people in Europe, the
Committee calls on the Commission to swiftly develop specific
their
actions and allocate the necessary resources
implementation.

for

this opinion,

1.2.
In November 2000, the Committee adopted a compre-
the
hensive own-initiative opinion in anticipation of
announced publication of the European Commission’s White
Paper: Youth Policy. On the basis of
the
Committee played a pro-active role in facilitating the consul-
tation process. In co-operation with the European Commission
and the European Youth Forum, the Committee convened a
Hearing on Youth Policy with over 200 participants, rep-
resenting youth organisations, trade unions, employers and
other organisations active in the field of youth, coming both
from the European Union and pre-accession countries. The
Hearing produced a wealth of contributions and written
submissions (1), which were published and consequently served
as a basis for continued involvement of the Committee in the
consultation (2).

1.3.
The Committee identified youth employment and
social integration, education and mobility, participation and

(1) Report of the Hearing on Youth Policy, 20 February 2001,
Economic and Social Committee. http://europa.eu.int/comm/edu-
cation/youth/ywp/civil.html.

(2) Swedish Presidency Seminar on Conditions for Young People in
Europe, Umeå, 16-17 March 2001; Public Hearing on Youth,
European Parliament Committee on Culture, Youth, Education,
the Media and Sport, 24 April 2001; Belgian Presidency, Hebe’s
Dream: Colloquium Gent, 26-28 November 2001; Spanish Presi-
dency, Europe and Youth: a new impetus, European Youth
Gathering Murcia, 9-12 March 2002.

civil society as crucial elements of youth policy (3). It is thus
with concern that the Committee notes the limited scope of
the White Paper’s priorities and therefore urges the European
Commission to place the improvement of young people’s
social situation at the heart of all future youth policy endeav-
ours. The Committee furthermore regrets that the White
Paper remains tacit about the participation of pre-accession
countries.

2. General Comments on the White Paper — ‘A new

impetus for European youth’

2.1.
The White Paper outlines the Commission’s sugges-
tions to the member states and the regions of Europe
for putting youth-related measures into practice. Substantial
annexes include a synthesis of the results of the consultation
process and an overview of existing Community policies and
programmes, which are aimed at or affect young people. In
response, the White Paper suggests a new framework for
European co-operation comprising of two main aspects:

— applying the open method of co-ordination in the specific

field of youth;

— taking better account of the ‘youth’ dimension in other

policy initiatives.

2.2.
four key messages from the consultation process:
citizenship for young people’,
areas of experimentation’,
people’,
young

The European Commission states the emergence of
‘Active
‘Expanding and recognising
‘Developing autonomy among
as

European Union

‘For

and

a

(3) EESC Own initiative Opinion, White Paper: Youth Policy, OJ

C 116, 20.4.2001.

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a champion of values’. On the basis of these messages, the
European Commission has identified four priority themes for
applying the open method of coordination:

— participation;

— information;

— voluntary service among young people;

— promoting a greater understanding of youth.

In four additional policy areas, the European Com-
2.3.
mission suggests to take more account of youth, by utilising
the policies and actions in place and in the application of the
various instruments available (such as:
the existing open
methods of co-ordination and action plans). These policy areas
are:

— education, lifelong learning and mobility;

— employment;

— social Integration;

— young people against racism and xenophobia.

2.4.
The Committee understands this ‘taking more account
of youth in other policies’, as a form of youth mainstreaming
in other policy areas. In current Community policy both equal
opportunities and the environment have been mainstrea-
med (1). If this proposal is to be followed-up, there is a clear
need for the Commission to take its responsibility to initiate
policy and propose, on the basis of a Communication, a
strategy outlining how youth can be taken into account
effectively in other policy areas (‘youth mainstreaming’).

The four priorities themes for applying the open
2.5.
method of co-ordination, though, reflect a limited view of the
‘specific field of youth’. It is difficult to envisage their policy
impact and significant added value to national and regional
youth policies, which to a large extent already have a much
broader remit.

2.6.
The European Commission proposes to address these
four ‘youth specific’ priorities through an open method of co-
ordination. Though the proposal of an open method of co-
ordination is to be welcomed,
the defined priorities and
suggestions can to a large extent be addressed appropriately
through incentive measures and recommendations on the
basis of Articles 149 and 150 of the Treaty. These priorities
can also to a large extent be addressed through activities in the
framework of the existing Community programmes as well as
a Union-wide youth information strategy.

2.7.
After Commissioner Reding announced a White Paper
in November 1999 a multi-stranded and highly inclusive
consultation process was launched. This process has been
skilfully managed by the European Commission displaying a
high degree of flexibility and willingness to adapt the process
to the specificity of the youth sector in Europe. The Committee
commends the European Commission and trusts that this
open approach will continue in the future.

2.8.
However, it is important to recall that the consultation
was based on thematic dimensions proposed by the European
Commission. The consultation actively involved young people,
youth organisations, youth researchers, civil society as well as
policy-makers and administrations on all levels. The annex of
the White Paper reflects the results of the consultations in a
thematic structure (2), which was initially drawn-up by the
European Commission itself:

— participation;

— education;

— employment, vocational training and social inclusion;

— well-being, individual autonomy and culture;

— European values, mobility and relations with the rest of

the world.

(1) European Commission Communication ‘Incorporating equal
opportunities for women and men into all Community policies
and activities’ COM(96) 67 final. Currently each Directorate
General in the European Commission is responsible for main-
streaming equal opportunities into its policy areas. This work
is given direction by the Group of Commissioners on Equal
Opportunities and supported by an Inter-Service Group on
Gender Equality.

(2) It is important to note that although the ‘Commission has tried to
reproduce as faithfully as possible the proposals which emerged
from the consultation in order to pass them on to Europe’s
decision-makers’, it also includes a disclaimer that ‘the suggestions
... do not necessarily reflect the Commission’s views’. European
Commission White Paper ‘A New Impetus for European Youth’,
COM(2001) 681 final, p. 23.

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2.9.
The thematically structured consultation process set
expectations and encouraged the various actors in the youth
field to elaborate valuable and specific policy proposals. The
extent to which the White Paper actually reflects the results of
the consultation is unsatisfactory, in particular as it is difficult
to see the link to the four ‘youth specific’ priorities outlined in
the White Paper. These priorities can only be considered a first
for
step as they only partly address the issues set out
consultation.

3. Methodology

3.1.
The White Paper: A New Impetus for Youth proposes
an open method of co-ordination in the field of youth. The
proposal to introduce the open method of co-ordination in
the field of youth policy is largely unprecedented in the sense
that the initiative did not formally come from the European
Council and the measures proposed are not presented as
promoting the key political objectives of the Union. The open
method of co-ordination, which has been used in key policy
fields such as economic and employment policy, including
their education dimension, was formalised as a method for co-
ordinating policies at the European level by the Heads of State
and Government at the Lisbon European Council in March
2000. The Lisbon European Council conclusions both define
the method and its use to promote the strategic goals of the
European Union (1). In this sense, the open method of co-
ordination has to date been initiated in order to promote
the co-ordination of policies, which are a Member State
competence, but which are nevertheless crucial for the Union
to become: ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-
based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic
growth with more and better
social
cohesion’ (2).

jobs and greater

the European Commission’s White
3.2. More recently,
Paper on European Governance proposed that
the open
method of co-ordination should be used on a case-by-case
basis to ‘achieve defined Treaty objectives and encourage co-
operation, the exchange of best practice and agreeing common
targets and guidelines for the Member States’ (3). Moreover, the
Governance White Paper also clarified the role of the various
institutions in implementing the open method of co-ordi-
nation, emphasising that the Commission should play an
active co-ordinating role.

3.3.
In order to be successful, the methodology proposed
in the White Paper on Youth needs adaptation as it does not
reflect entirely either the description in the Lisbon European
Council conclusions or in the White Paper on Governance. A
clear articulation of the process of open method of co-
ordination needs to be developed,
in the same way that
occurred for the European Employment Strategy or the
Social Inclusion Process. It is indispensable that beyond the
involvement of member states, binding mechanism for the
participation of the European Parliament, the European Econ-
omic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions
as well as most
importantly of young people and their
organisations, such as the European Youth Forum, are
developed.

3.4.
The methodology proposed in the White Paper requires
a high-level of co-ordination and policy capacity in the
European Commission. The Committee would like to see this
level of ambition met by adequate resources for the Directorate
dealing with Youth. In this respect it is to be noted that the
Commission was not yet in the position to explore the whole
range of instruments offered by Articles 149 and 150. In
particular Recommendations of the European Commission
(Article 149(4)) should be used to develop the co-operation in
the youth field on the basis of the community method that
will accompany the development of the open method of co-
ordination.

3.5.
Furthermore, the Committee would like to have more
clarification on its own role and that of civil society organis-
ations, in particular youth organisations, in the cycle of the
open method of co-ordination. It should be recalled that
paragraph 38 of the Lisbon European Council conclusions
describes a role for NGOs in the Open Method Coordi-
nation (4).

The Committee underlines

3.6.
importance of
developing youth policy objectives. These should be developed
in a clear framework in which the respective institutions can
assume their roles, in particular the European Commission.

the

(1) Presidency Conclusions, Lisbon European Council, 23 and

24 March 2000, paragraph 37.

(2) Presidency Conclusions, Lisbon European Council, 23 and

24 March 2000.

(3) European Governance, A White Paper, COM(2001) 428 final.

(4) Paragraph 38 of the Lisbon conclusions states a method of
benchmarking best practices on managing change will be devised
by the European Commission networking with different providers
and users, namely the social partners, companies and NGOs.

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4.

Involvement of Civil Society

4.1.
Any policy aimed at young people must be character-
ised by the fundamental principle of youth participation; a
principle that
is reiterated at European and international
level (1). The Committee underlines the basic principle that
young people and youth organisations should be involved in
the formulation of and decision-making on youth policy
at local, regional, national and Community levels (2). The
Committee welcomes the emphasis on promoting the partici-
pation of young people in the White Paper, and would like to
see a more coherent articulation of this principle in the
proposed policy-implementation.

4.2.
The Committee notes that many actors in the consul-
tation process in particular the young, have expressed disap-
pointment about the lack of ambition in addressing the social
and economic situation of young people (3). On the basis its
own-initiative opinion and the results of the Civil Society
Hearing on Youth Policy, the Committee supports the reser-
vations raised about the extent to which the White Paper
actually reflects the articulated policy challenges.

4.3.
The Committee regrets that the European Commission
has missed an opportunity to fully understand and recognise
the existence, development, and variety of European civil
society in the youth field. While in particular youth organis-
ations have taken many initiatives to contribute at various
levels and stages to the White Paper, there is an apparent lack
of appreciation of their contributions and role in the process.
Consequently, and in contradiction to the White Paper on
European Governance, the measures proposed in the Youth
White Paper do not fully ensure a meaningful role for civil
society and its representative organisations. In this context
the Committee notes with disappointment the ambiguous
statements and proposals with regard to the European Youth
Forum, which indicate misconceptions about the functions
and independent nature of civil society organisations.

(1) Declaration of the United Nations on the International Year of
Youth 1985, ‘Peace, Participation, Development’; United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989; European Charter
on Participation of Young People in Municipal and Regional Life
of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe,
1992; Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe ‘On Young People and Participation’, 1997;
Resolution of Council and Ministers for Youth meeting within the
Council of the 8 February 1999 (OJ C 42, 17.2.1999, p.1).

(2) EESC Own initiative Opinion, White Paper: Youth Policy, OJ

C 116, 20.4.2001.

(3) The response included: National Youth Council of Ireland ‘A
Missed Opportunity to put Youth at the Centre of Europe’ initial
response, incorporating the views of the group of Irish young
people involved in the White Paper Consultative Conference;
ETUC Youth Reaction to European Commission White Paper: A
New Impetus for European Youth; European Youth Forum
response, 0011-02 White Paper. ESC Own initiative Opinion,
White Paper: Youth Policy, OJ C 116, 20.4.2001.

4.4.
As affirmed by the Laeken European Council, pro-
gressing European integration requires the substantiation of
the concept of European citizenship in order to bridge the
increasing gap between the European Union and young
people (4). While the White Paper states a ‘citizenship deficit’,
the European Commission does not fully explore the potential
that civil society organisations, including youth organisations,
offer for active citizenship (5). The Committee therefore reiter-
ates that appropriate support and recognition should be
given specifically to International Non-Governmental Youth
Organisations, as they have a play a unique role to involve
young people directly in the European construction (6).

5.

From Impetus to Dynamics

On the basis of the pro-active role the Committee has played
throughout the process leading to the publication of the White
Paper, the Committee:

5.1.
commends the European Commission for having made
a qualitative leap forward in the promotion of European co-
operation in the youth field;

5.2.
trusts that the open approach of consultation and
policy formulation in the youth field will continue in the
future youth policy development, for which the White Paper
and its process of development have created some promising
building blocks;

recommends that the European Commission adopt a
5.3.
broader conception based on objectives,
in line with the
Committee’s proposal on an integrated and cross-sectoral
youth policy, when developing policies in the youth field;

5.4.
calls upon the European Commission to revisit the
results of the consultations, in order to define more compre-
hensively the issues for which the open method of co-
ordination is applied and to publish a Communication laying
out how youth is effectively taken into account in other key
policy areas;

(4) The Laeken Declaration states that the Union needs to resolve the
basic challenge of ‘how to bring the citizens, and primarily
the young, closer to the European design and the European
institutions’.
the European Union — Laeken
Declaration’ 15 December 2001.

‘The Future of

(5) Contribution of Lynne Chisholm to the Public Hearing on Youth,
European Parliament Committee on Culture, Youth, Education,
the Media and Sport, 24 April 2001.

(6) The European Union grants support to International Non-Govern-
mental Youth Organisations through budget line A3029 of the
General Budget of the European Communities. International Non-
Governmental Youth Organisation (INGYO) is a generic term
that includes all youth organisations, organisations of young
professionals, youth branches of trade unions, political youth
movements etc.

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5.5.
calls upon the European Commission to prepare,
regularly, a regular report on the situation of young people in
Europe and to forward it to the Council and the European
Parliament as well as the Economic and Social Committee and
the Committee of the Regions;

setting up a specific Directorate for Children and Young People
within the Directorate General for Education and Culture, the
main tasks of which should initially be to give concrete shape
to, and to implement, the measures proposed in the White
Paper and to implement the Youth programme;

5.6.
calls upon the European Commission to inform the
its Opinion of
Committee how the recommendations of
November 2000 and the results of the Civil Society Hearing
organised in February 2001 are reflected in the White Paper
and how they can be dealt with in the proposed new
framework of European co-operation in the youth field;

5.7.
calls upon the Council, the European Commission and
the European Parliament to increase the Community Budget
allocation for Education and Youth from 0,5% to 1%;

5.8.
calls upon the European Commission to swiftly
develop specific actions and allocate the necessary resources
for their implementation. Resources for the follow-up of the
White Paper must in no case derive from re-allocating funds
of the existing Youth programme;

5.9.
notes that the Commission proposes ‘setting up a high-
level working group to advise it and the Council of Ministers,
in its various configurations’ to examine the issues surrounding
autonomy for young people. The Committee offers its support
and expertise to the working of this group;

recommends that the European Commission give a
5.10.
sharper profile to policy on children and young people (1) by

(1) European Economic and Social Committee opinion on ‘Exploi-

tation of children and sex tourism’ (OJ C 284, 14.9.1998).

Brussels, 25 April 2002.

calls upon the European Commission and the Council
5.11.
to involve the applicant countries as early and as widely as
possible not only in the implementation of the White Paper
but also in the discussion on the further outlook for youth
policy in the European Union;

5.12.
calls upon the Convention on the Future of Europe
to examine in depth the issue of the status of young people in
Europe and to send a clear signal to all forces in society to
actively involve young people in the process of building an
enlarged and more democratic European Union;

5.13.
offers its availability to the Convention on the Future
of Europe to facilitate the participation of young people and
their organisations in this process, both through its three
observers in the Convention and through support to the
announced ‘youth convention’;

5.14.
considers that, in connection with the forthcoming
revision of the Treaties, a specific article on youth policy
should be included in the European Community Treaty
providing at least for the Community to promote co-operation
between member states on youth policy and, where necessary,
to complement their activities; and calls on the Council of
Ministers responsible for Youth to support this proposal with
an appropriate resolution.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS