Council resolution of 25 November 2003 on common objectives for participation by and information for young people
Date: 2003-11-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: access to information, dissemination of information, social participation, teaching, young person, youth policy

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— the

encouragement of

cooperation between film

— the taking into account of film heritage in actions and

archives,

initiatives to promote media literacy.

— the improvement of coordination of inventories of film

collections,

— the increase of young persons' knowledge of European

cinematographic heritage,

2. Continue the exchange of experiences and best practices
from Member States
in the group of cinema experts
already established by it, and report to the Council on the
progress achieved.

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 25 November 2003

on common objectives for participation by and information for young people

(2003/C 295/04)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE REPRESEN-
TATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES,
MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL,

CONCERNING PARTICIPATION to develop participation by young
people, by introducing and supporting action to encourage
them to exercise their citizenship actively and by enhancing
their effective participation in democratic life:

Whereas:

(1) The Commission White Paper entitled ‘A new impetus for
European youth’ presented on 21 November 2001 sets out
a new framework for European cooperation on youth
affairs.

(2) In its conclusions of 14 February 2002 the Council
(Education and Youth) recognised the White Paper as the
starting point for the establishment of a framework for
European cooperation on youth affairs.

adopted the open method of

(3) When it established a new framework for cooperation in
in its Resolution of 27 June 2002, the
the youth field,
Council
coordination,
calling in particular on the Council to establish, taking
into account a Commission draft, the common objectives
and a timetable for follow-up reports from the Member
States for each priority, as appropriate.
It also stressed
that those policies and initiatives that affect the young
people both at national and at European level take into
consideration matters such as the needs, the situation, the
living conditions and the expectations of youth.

(4) Further to the consultations carried out under the open
method of coordination, the Commission communication
[COM(2003) 184 final] of 11 April 2003 proposed a set of
common objectives for participation by and information
for young people,

NOTE that
importance of
information for young people,

the Council of 5 May 2003 confirmed the
and
the priorities of participation by

AGREE the following common objectives for developing these
priorities,

1.

increase the participation by young people in the civic life
of their community;

2.

increase participation by young people in the system of
representative democracy;

3. greater support for various forms of learning to participate,

CONCERNING INFORMATION to develop information for young
people, by improving access for young people to information
in order to increase their participation in public life and
facilitate the realisation of their potential as active, responsible
citizens:

1.

improve access for young people to information services;

2.

increase provision of quality information;

3.

participation

increase
youth
information, for example, in the preparation and dissemi-
nation of information.

people

young

by

in

A non-exhaustive list of the possible lines of action for the
above common objectives is set out in the annex hereto,

THE IMPLEMENTATION AND FOLLOW-UP OF THE COMMON
OBJECTIVES:

RECALL that implementation must be flexible, incremental and
appropriate for the youth field, must respect the powers of the
Member States and the principle of subsidiarity,

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INVITE THE MEMBER STATES TO

— specify implementing and follow-up measures, in the light
and their national

of
priorities with regard to those common objectives,

their particular

circumstances

— submit

reports on the national contributions
to the
implementation of both priorities, participation and
information, by the end of 2005, after consulting young
people, their associations and, if appropriate, national and
regional youth councils via the channels they consider
appropriate,

NOTE THAT THE COMMISSION INTENDS TO:

the

— prepare, on the basis of

to the implementation of
report

reports on national
contributions
the common
objectives,
submission to the
exchange of
Council
information and good practice concerning those two
the European Youth
priorities,

to encourage mutual

consultation of

a progress

in order

after

for

Forum, while not excluding other forms of consultation,
and propose, if appropriate, amendments to the common
objectives for participation and information,

— suitably inform the European Parliament, the Economic and
Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions,

INVITE THE COMMISSION TO: convene, when appropriate
representatives of the national Administrations dealing with
to promote the exchange of
the youth field,
information on the progress made and on best practice,

in order

TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE:

The Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the
Member States, meeting within the Council will adapt or
amend the common objectives, on the basis of the progress
report and the amended drafts submitted by the Commission,
and when appropriate take the necessary initiatives within the
framework of the common objectives,
in order to facilitate
their implementation.

ANNEX

MEASURES FOR ACHIEVING THE COMMON OBJECTIVES FOR PARTICIPATION BY AND INFORMATION
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

In the light of the actual circumstances and the priorities of each Member State, the following non-exhaustive
list of lines of action may be pursued:

PARTICIPATION

1. Participation by young people in civic life

(a) promote the involvement of young people in participatory structures, for example NGOs, associations, voluntary
work, local youth councils, and encourage the activities of youth NGOs, while respecting their independence and
autonomy;

(b) encourage the development of activities, initiatives and projects intended to involve young people directly at

regional and local level;

(c) publicise and show greater recognition of the outreach work done by parents, youth workers and other persons;

(d) identify more clearly the obstacles in the way of participation by specific groups and by disadvantaged young
people and encourage measures and mechanisms capable of overcoming those obstacles, in particular by making
allowance for their diversities and priorities (cultural or ethnic background, disabilities, socio-economic factors,
gender, etc.);

(e) examine qualitative evaluation methods of participation for young people.

2. Greater participation by young people in the system of representative democracy

(a) encourage and develop, [. . .] at all appropriate levels, a regular, structured dialogue between the public and/or
government authorities and young people and their representative structures (national, regional and local youth
councils, youth organisations, the European Youth Forum, etc.);

(b) ensure that such dialogue can also include young people who are not members of organisations and that their

concerns are taken into account;

(c) promote and develop this dialogue, so that young people can be more involved in public life;

(d) identify more clearly and study the obstacles in the way of participation by young people in the system of
representative democracy and encourage measures and mechanisms conducive to the inclusion of all young
people in all their diversities (cultural or ethnic background, disabilities, gender, socio-economic factors, etc.).

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3. Support for various forms of learning to participate

(a)

further develop and extend training for participation within formal education systems (in conjunction with the
objectives approved under the open method of coordination as applied to education);

(b) encourage the development of activities in the field of non-formal and informal education that promote the

active participation of young people;

(c)

further develop interaction between formal, non-formal and informal education;

(d) foster the development of experience of participation where young people live their lives: in particular within the
family, at school, in youth organisations, at university, at other places of education or training and at work, in
sporting and leisure time contexts;

(e) recognise the important role of persons working with young people and facilitating their learning to participate

and develop training actions in this field;

(f) promote and increase awareness of the benefits to all of the participation of committed young people and

combat prejudices against young people which prevent them from playing an effective part;

(g) analyse more carefully the phenomena which lead to the civic exclusion of certain groups and encourage

approaches focused on prevention.

INFORMATION

1. Access for young people to information services

(a) promote, at the appropriate levels, the development in Member States of comprehensive, coherent and coor-
dinated information services which take account of the specific needs of young people and are as youth friendly
and economically accessible as possible;

(b) facilitate equal access of all young people to information, while avoiding any form of discrimination or exclusion

based on economic, social, gender, cultural or geographical grounds;

(c) encourage the development of national, regional and local youth portals linked to the European Youth Portal.

2. Quality information

(a) monitor the quality of youth information, taking existing instruments into account (e.g. good practices and the

ERYICA's European Youth Information Charter);

(b) improve the education and training of those working in the field of youth information;

(c)

improve the link between information and counselling, with the aim of encouraging a learning and capacity-
building process among young people on how to obtain, select and evaluate information in order to become
informed users of information;

(d) promote the dissemination of specific information for young people through all

information channels,
particularly those most frequently used by young people, such as the Internet, mobile phones, video films and
cinema.

3. Participation by young people in information

(a) promote the participation of youth organisations and people working in the area of youth information at
in the preparation and implementation of youth information

level

European, national, regional and local
strategies;

(b) promote involvement by young people in the preparation of understandable, user-friendly, targeted information

products, so as to improve the quality of the information and access for all young people;

(c) encourage greater involvement by young people in the dissemination of information and advice (particularly in
youth information centres, schools, youth organisations and the media), in order to help all young people to
access information.