Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the communication on the follow-up to the “White Paper on a New Impetus for European Youth” -  Proposed common objectives for the participation and information of young people, in response to the Council Resolution of 27 June 2002 regarding the framework of European cooperation in the youth field
Date: 2004-02-11
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European citizenship, European cooperation, access to information, social participation, young person, youth policy

30.4.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 109/25

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘communication on the follow-up to the White
Paper on a New Impetus for European Youth. Proposed common objectives for the participation
and information of young people, in response to the Council Resolution of 27 June 2002 regarding
the framework of European cooperation in the youth field’

(2004/C 109/05)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

Having regard to the Communication on the follow-up to the White Paper on a New Impetus for European
Youth. Proposed common objectives for the participation and information of young people, in response to
the Council Resolution of 27 June 2002 regarding the framework of European cooperation in the youth
field, COM(2003) 184 final;

Having regard to the decision of the European Commission of 14 April 2003 to consult it on this subject,
under the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

Having regard to the decision of its Bureau of 1 July 2003 to instruct its Commission for Culture and
Education to draw up an Opinion on this subject;

Having regard to the EU Commission's White Paper
‘A New Impetus
(COM(2001) 681 final) and the CoR Opinion on the subject CdR 389/2001 fin (1);

for European Youth’

Having regard to the EU Commission's working document analysing Member States' replies to its question-
naire on youth participation and information;

Having regard to Article 149 of the EC Treaty;

Having regard to the Council Resolution of 27 June 2002 setting a new framework for cooperation in the
youth field COM(2001) 681 final;

Having regard to the Council Resolution of 27 June 2002 on lifelong learning (2);

Having regard to the Council Resolution of 28. June 2001 on ‘Promoting young people's initiative, enter-
prise and creativity: from exclusion to empowerment’;

Having regard to the Council Resolution approved on 30 May 2002 on European Cooperation in the Field
of Youth;

Having regard to its draft opinion (CdR 309/2003 rev. 1) adopted on 5 December 2003 by its Commission
for Culture and Education (Rapporteur: Mr Jens Kramer Mikkelsen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen (DK/PES)

Whereas:

1)

2)

3)

It is important for Europe's future that the increasing alienation of young people in particular from
political life, despite the higher level of education, should be combated at all levels; research has
shown that the democratic behaviour of young people is closely linked to activities of direct interest
to them;

Local and regional authorities play a decisive role in European youth policy, since it is these authori-
ties that are in contact with young people, and it is at this level that young people in and out of
school get their first experiences of democracy as participants in a democratic society;

Youth policy in Europe should be a cohesive policy for and with young people, involving the rele-
vant administrations and political subject areas so as to better utilise available resources;

(1) OJ C 287, 22.11.2002, p.6
(2) OJ C 163, 9.7.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

30.4.2004

4)

5)

6)

The Council resolution dated 24 November 2003 on the future of cooperation in the field of youth
(CONS 1475/03);

Article III-182 of the Convention's draft for a treaty establishing a constitution for Europe;

Youth policy in Europe should be visible at all administrative and political levels and in all countries,
and be communicated through the channels and in the language that young people in Europe use;

adopted the following opinion at its 53rd plenary session, held on 11-12 February 2004 (meeting of 11
February)

1. The Committee of the Regions' views and recommen-

dations

that it is vital to stress the importance of also involving young
people in formulating the concrete objective of a youth policy,
and this means all young people.

The CoR recognises the EU Commission's course of
1.1
action in connection with its questionnaire, which covers all
the Member States including the candidate countries, and
welcomes the European Youth Forum's hearing and position
paper (3). The course of action is a positive follow-up to the
method in the White Paper entitled ‘A New Impetus for Euro-
pean Youth’ (4), in which a large proportion of the countries'
young people, experts and politicians at all levels make their
views heard.

1.2
The CoR has already welcomed the use of the open
method of coordination and the principle of subsidiarity in
relation to European youth policy, provided that this method
pays full attention to involving regional and local authorities.
The CoR would therefore suggest that in future it should be
consulted and not merely informed when initiatives are taken
in the field of youth policy.

1.3
The CoR shares the EU Commission's view that a consis-
tent European youth policy, which takes account of the situa-
tion in individual countries and the challenges and problems
facing young people in Europe today, will help to implement
the strategic objective of the European Councils of Lisbon and
Barcelona to make Europe ‘the world's most competitive and
dynamic knowledge-based economy’.

1.4
The CoR agrees with the EU Commission that non-
formal and informal education and actions to promote mobility
are a key factor in the personal development of young people
and in making them active citizens, and that such forms of
education should be given a high priority in youth policies at
local, regional, national and European level. In particular, these
objectives should be incorporated, at European level, into the
new generation of programmes, Youth for Europe and
Grundtvig, for the period 2006-2012.

Common objectives to enhance the participation of young people

1.5
The CoR agrees with the EU Commission's overall objec-
tive that ‘measures to encourage young people to be active citi-
zens should be instituted and supported and that their effective
participation in democratic life should be reinforced,’ but feels

(3) Implementing Common Objectives to enhance the participation of
young people and improve information for young people (25-26
April 2003).

(4) COM(2001) 681 final

1.6
The CoR shares the EU Commission's view that young
people in particular are becoming increasingly removed from
life and urges that intensive research be conducted
political
into the reasons for this and that measures be proposed to
tackle the root of the problem and involve young people more.
This must be in parallel with the implementation of
the
common objectives regarding young people's participation in
democratic life.

Greater participation by young people in the life of the community in
which they live

The CoR agrees with the EU Commission and the
1.7
Council of Europe's European Charter on the Participation of
Young People in Local and Regional Life that local society has
a major role to play and calls upon the governments of the
Member States, together with local actors, to create the appro-
priate conditions in terms of legislation and resources for work
on involving all young people in local political life.

For this reason, the CoR would encourage and support

1.8
the establishment of youth councils at local level.

1.9
The CoR approves the proposed increase in involve-
ment, but feels that strong emphasis should be placed on the
equal participation of young people of both sexes and that an
effort should also be made to involve groups of young people
who for social or ethnic reasons, because of physical or mental
disability, or for other reasons have extra difficulty in expres-
sing themselves in political
life. The CoR considers it to be
imperative to champion equal access to democratic processes.

1.10
The CoR feels that if the Involvement project is to
succeed, it is absolutely essential for there to be a better inter-
play between private NGOs, youth and leisure clubs, associa-
tions and parents, on the one hand, and the public authorities
and politicians on the other. The same principle applies to
cooperation between the local, regional, national and European
levels.

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1.11
The CoR welcomes the involvement of youth in the
in
European Commission's pilot projects (DG EAC 43/03)
favour of youth participation and is pleased at the great interest
shown in the Commission allocating more resources to the
next round of project proposals, as only a very small propor-
tion of projects in the last round were able to be financed.

support a holistic outlook) - is one of the cornerstones of devel-
oping youth involvement in the processes of democracy, and
feels that it is up to national, regional and local authorities to
formulate educational policies that actually aim to provide a
decidedly democratic form of instruction.

Greater participation by young people in the mechanisms of represen-
tative democracy

1.12
The CoR agrees with the need for a change in attitude
and behaviour among young people, but also among politi-
cians. Among young people this can only happen if they feel
they have a concrete political influence. Dialogues with young
people should therefore be organised especially in those places
where the young have achieved/can achieve an enhanced possi-
bility of taking part in political decisions, by encouraging them
to get involved in the planning and management of services of
relevance to them, and by experimenting with ways for young
people to play an active part in community life. Initiatives in
this direction should be concrete and, among other things,
contain proposals for seeking out work with a view to invol-
ving young people who are not organised into associations or
the like.

1.13
The CoR would stress the importance of European
youth organisations and other organisations that are active in
the field of youth policy being given the economic opportu-
nities to work closer together in networks with a view to
exchanging good practice in this area, and is therefore pleased
with the Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Deci-
sion establishing a Community action programme to promote
bodies active at European level in the field of youth (5).

ethnic,

1.14
The CoR agrees that many young people are prevented
from taking part in democratic processes for social, economic,
educational,
cultural, or gender-based reasons or
because of physical or mental disability. It is therefore essential
resources are
that,
provided, particularly at local level, for research into the under-
lying reasons for the lack of participation among these young
people and that, at the same time, initiatives are taken that can
prevent and put right the negative factors that are discovered.

in addition to mainstream activities,

The CoR therefore strongly supports the fact

1.15
that
Article III-182 of the Convention's draft for a treaty establishing
a constitution for Europe proposes supplementing the current
treaties' provisions relating to youth policy with the objective
that Union action should aim to encourage young people's
participation in democratic life in Europe.

Learning to participate

The CoR agrees that education - in its various forms,
1.16
be it informal (initiatives to facilitate access to education for the
underprivileged sectors of
formal or non-
formal (e.g. Second Chance Schools and similar initiatives that

the population),

(5) COM(2003) 272 final

1.17
The CoR agrees that it is important for young people
to have some understanding and experience of representative
democracy, and calls for concrete measures and initiatives to be
taken, such as ‘youth political days and for means of participa-
tory democracy to be set up where young people congregate
(schools, youth centres, etc.) and/or at urban level.’

1.18
The CoR considers the social heritage to be another
factor of decisive importance as regards the ability and desire
to participate in the processes of democracy. So, together with
informal and non-formal education, attention should
formal,
also be paid to the effective involvement of parents and the
family in the widest possible sense of the term.

1.19
The CoR agrees that there is a need for research to be
carried out into the reasons why groups of young people are
marginalised, not least in terms of the social heritage and the
consequences of globalisation, and calls for concrete initiatives,
including benchmarking, to be taken at European level.

The CoR agrees with the view that, in the main, the
1.20
provision of information for young people has to target two
groups: (1) young people themselves and (2) adults who come
into contact with young people. It is therefore important to be
aware of which group is being targeted when providing infor-
mation for young people so that content, resources and other
arrangements
Information,
guidance and advice service specifically geared to young people
must be provided (Infoyouth).

accordingly.

can be

tailored

1.21
The CoR recognises that both the Member States and
local and regional authorities are responsible for providing
information for young people, but would emphasise that the
key actors in implementing such measures are to be found in
particular at local and regional
level, and so it is they who
should be involved as much as possible in strategic planning.

Improving young people's access to information services

including the remark that many of

The CoR takes note of the EU Commission's conclu-
1.22
sions when analysing the Member States' youth information
services,
these services
exhibit certain inadequacies as regards form and level, coordi-
nation between the European, national, regional and local
levels, and utility, and therefore agrees that there should be a
fundamental
in these areas, especially with
respect to target groups of young people who represent the
most disadvantaged, including those with physical or mental
disabilities. These information services should involve actively
seeking out types of information and young people themselves.

improvement

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1.23
The CoR agrees with the call for increased coordina-
tion of the various information services and closer vertical and
horizontal cooperation in Europe, but would like a few more
details on how this is to be done.

1.24
As regards information for the disadvantaged, the CoR
thinks that before any efforts are made to ensure equal infor-
mation opportunities for these groups, the results should be
obtained of research into the factors that hamper disadvantaged
young people.

Provision of quality information

1.25
The CoR welcomes the EU Commission's proposal for
a code of standards in the area of information provision and
counselling services
including common
for young people,
quality criteria and quality control mechanisms, but also sees
the need for a benchmarking of the effects. The European
dimension will be enhanced automatically through working
with a common code of standards.

1.26
The CoR agrees with the EU Commission that staff
working in the field of youth information should be better
trained. Such training should particularly cover the world of
young people and its rapidly changing channels of communica-
tion, where new technology such as mobile phones, SMS and
internet games play a decisive role.

Enhancing young people's participation in the shaping and dissemina-
tion of information

1.27
The CoR accepts the EU Commission's proposal to
involve youth organisations and young people generally in the
planning and implementation of youth information strategies,
but would like to stress the importance of ethnic and other
minorities being involved in the processes of provision, produc-
tion and dissemination, especially as regards target groups of
vulnerable young people.

The CoR notes with satisfaction that the EU Commis-
1.28
sion is planning to use the open coordination method for
implementing and monitoring the common objectives in a flex-
ible way and in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.

The CoR requests that the active role of the local and
1.29
regional authorities be defined and respected as
regards
exchanges of experiences and good practice and when taking
part in the projected regular transnational meetings.

The CoR also requests the Member States to consult
1.30
the local and regional authorities when preparing the national
reports on the implementation of the two priorities participa-
tion and information in 2005 that the EU Commission is to
use as a basis for drawing up a progress report for the Council.

Brussels, 11 February 2004.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB