European Parliament resolution on the Communication from the Commission to the Council: 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 — C5-0404/2003 — 2003/2127(INI))
Date: 2004-02-26
Institutions: Committee on Culture and Education, European Parliament
Subjects: action programme, dissemination of information, social participation, youth policy

23.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 98 E/175

Thursday 26 February 2004

P5_TA(2004)0119

Involving young people in decision-making

European Parliament resolution on the Communication from the Commission to the Council:
Follow-up to the White Paper on a New Impetus for European Youth (cid:1) Proposed common objec-
tives 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 (cid:1) C5-0404/2003 (cid:1) 2003/2127(INI))

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to the Commission Communication (COM(2003) 184 (cid:1) C5-0404/2003),

(cid:1) having regard to Decision No 1031/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of

13 April 2000 establishing the ‘Youth’ Community action programme (1),

(cid:1) having regard to the conclusions of the Education and Youth Council of 14 February 2002 welcoming
the White Paper as a starting point for the creation of a framework of cooperation on youth policy in
Europe,

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 14 May 2002 on the Commission White Paper ‘A New Impetus for

European Youth’ (2),

(cid:1) having regard to the Resolution of the Council and of the representatives of the Governments of the
Member States, meeting with the council of 27 June 2002 regarding the framework of European
cooperation in the youth field (3),

(cid:1) having regard to the Council Resolution of 25 November 2003 on common objectives for partici-

pation by and information for young people (4),

(cid:1) having regard to the Commission White Paper of 21 November 2001 entitled ‘A New Impetus for
European Youth’, which proposed a new framework for youth policy cooperation in Europe
(COM(2001) 681),

(cid:1) having regard to Article 149 of the EC Treaty,

(cid:1) having regard to Rules 47(2) and 163 of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:1) having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport and

the opinion of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities (A5-0081/2004),

A. whereas formulation of the common objectives followed on from an unprecedented consultation
process involving young people, youth organisations, researchers in the youth field and political rep-
resentatives at regional, national and European level,

B. whereas young people must be seen as equal partners in this consultation process, and young people
who do not belong to an organisation and, in particular, groups of disadvantaged young people must
not be excluded from it,

C. whereas the open method of coordination is to be used for the objectives of participation and

information,

(1) OJ L 117, 18.5.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 180 E, 31.7.2003, p. 145.
(3) OJ C 168, 13.7.2002, p. 2.
(4) OJ C 295, 5.12.2003, p. 6.

C 98 E/176

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

23.4.2004

Thursday 26 February 2004

D. whereas young people are becoming less and less involved in existing organisational structures,
whereas young people must be given an opportunity to involve themselves more in voluntary work,
in existing organisations such as political parties and trade unions as well as other social movements
and organisations and take part more simply, swiftly and easily in the decision-making processes of
public life,

E.

having regard to the positive contribution of voluntary work to the development of active citizenship,

F. whereas young people must be encouraged to take part in the first European elections of the enlarged

EU,

General

1. Welcomes the Commission’s plans for common objectives for participation and information, which
make a substantial contribution to setting a new framework for European youth policy;

2. Welcomes the Council’s acceptance of
25 November 2003 as an important step forward in the political dialogue on youth policy cooperation;

these objectives in its abovementioned Resolution of

Regrets that the substance of that Resolution does not fully reflect the Commission’s original pro-

3.
posals;

Procedural issues and general framework proposals

The open method of coordination

4.
Considers that the Commission’s proposed open method of coordination is an appropriate way to
achieve better cooperation at European level in the specific area of youth policy, and calls for an inter-
institutional agreement to be concluded along these lines, as requested in its resolution of 5 June 2003 on
the application of the open method of coordination (1);

Implementation of the objectives

5.
Calls for speedy and unbureaucratic implementation of the action lines to achieve the proposed
objectives, with due respect for the principle of subsidiarity as regards the current Member States and the
accession countries;

6. Welcomes the fact that the proposed measures are to be implemented in a decentralised way, observ-
ing the principles of transparency and democratic control; considers that visibility should also be a feature
of the achievement of the common objectives;

7.
Calls on the Council and the Member States to make specific proposals for regular exchanges of
experience and to formulate evaluation criteria so that an objective comparison can be made, taking
account of the differing structures in different countries, and to make the necessary financial resources
available for this cooperation;

8.
Endorses the demand that, when setting the framework for youth policy and also when implement-
ing the action lines, there must be no discrimination on grounds of gender, race, ethnicity, social back-
ground, religion or ideology, disability, age or sexual orientation;

Emphasises that there must be gender equality and that problematic areas for women must be

9.
identified and appropriate measures devised to overcome these obstacles;

(1) P5_TA(2003)0268.

23.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 98 E/177

Thursday 26 February 2004

10. Welcomes the fact that the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (1) refers explicitly to
the participation of young people in the democratic life of Europe in Article III-182 and to the creation of
a European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps in Article III-223;

11.
Is convinced that the guidelines announced in the White Paper should be developed without delay
and therefore calls on the Commission to develop jointly with the European Parliament and the Council
specific mechanisms and structural prerequisites in order to take greater account of the concerns of young
people in other Community policies;

Participation

12.
Endorses the Commission’s basic approach of consulting international youth organisations, which
should be adopted increasingly in developing open coordination in the youth policy area, and calls also for
national youth councils to be consulted likewise;

Calls on the Member States, using the bottom-up principle, to identify opportunities for young
13.
people to participate in decision-making at local, regional and national level, to find effective ways for
young people’s views to be heard and to make the results of this participation visible to the general public
and to young people themselves;

14.
Is convinced that a high level of participation of young people in the decision-making process in
the area of youth policy is needed to increase the effectiveness of young people at all levels of decision
making;

15.
Calls on the Member States to improve and strengthen existing frameworks and structures at local
level (town youth groups, national and regional youth councils) and/or to create new ones to make it
possible to coordinate youth work and youth policy and directly involve young people;

Points out that existing youth organisations and networks in the area of youth work should be

16.
recognised and reinforced so that synergy is fully exploited and ongoing dialogue becomes routine;

Is convinced that autonomy and best practice mechanisms help to strengthen the European dimen-

17.
sion of youth work;

18.
Calls on the Member States, when implementing the action lines to achieve the proposed objectives,
to make sure that the participation of young people and youth organisations at national level is governed
by the principle of equal treatment;

19. Welcomes and endorses the Commission’s intention to encourage young people’s involvement in
society and a broad spectrum of youth initiatives and at the same time calls on the Commission and the
Member States to encourage young people to vote in the European elections in 2004;

Is in favour of using innovative methods in formal, non-formal and informal education and suppor-

20.
ting organisations that are active in this field;

Calls for youth work initiatives that are open to all and provided by private organisations to be

21.
linked to European affairs courses offered in schools;

Information

Calls on the Commission and the Member States,

22.
in further developing and supporting youth
information networks (such as youth information centres), to ensure that measures and materials are
developed, in cooperation with youth organisations and representatives of youth groups, so that young
people can obtain, though local, personal contact, high quality information that has been specifically
developed for them;

(1) OJ C 169, 18.7.2003, p. 1.

C 98 E/178

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

23.4.2004

Thursday 26 February 2004

23.
Calls for particular attention to be paid to the Commission’s information networks and for a wider
range of direct training and information events to be made available to providers of political education for
young people;

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support measures that encourage young people
24.
themselves to become sources of information for other young people, and stresses the importance of
agreeing qualitative and quantitative benchmarks for comparing young people’s participation in youth
information;

25.
Points out that in planning and implementing information policy in the context of political and
social life at European, national and local level, young people must be seen as a specific target group,
which is particularly important with regard to the planned information campaign in 2004 on enlargement
and the European elections; calls for inclusive language to be used in all publications produced for cam-
paigns;

Is convinced that, in this regard, young people must have unlimited access to information products

26.
that are comprehensible, user-friendly and appropriate to their expectations and needs;

Wider perspectives for youth policy

The future of the ‘Youth’ action programme

Calls on the Commission to develop an independent follow-up programme for the ‘Youth’ action

27.
programme, with sufficient financial resources to meet the growing demands in the youth policy area;

28.
Proposes, in the context of preparing future action programmes in the youth field, that as many
young people as possible from different countries are involved in the measures as a target group, ensuring
that there is fair representation of all regions of Europe with a special attention being paid to the most
disadvantaged areas;

29.
Further proposes supporting cross-border regional groups in which young people can address cross-
border issues, enabling them to meet in the context of intensive international cooperation and discuss
issues such as peacekeeping, environmental protection and so on;

30.
Proposes the motto ‘overcoming exclusion’ as the basis for the future thematic framework for youth
projects; this would include such complex subject areas as social inclusion, xenophobia, intercultural learn-
ing, the environment, art as a bridge to communication, sport and globalisation;

31.
Emphasises that the future youth programme should promote the political and social participation
of young people in a European context; notes that the programme should consequently allow young
people room for manoeuvre if and to the extent that they wish to decide themselves the political and
social issues in relation to which they wish to develop joint projects; youth organisations and the organi-
sations carrying out projects should therefore be consulted regularly with regard to the definition of the
programme’s objectives and priorities;

European Youth Week as a permanent fixture

32. Wishes to see a thorough assessment of the European Youth Week 2003 and calls on the Commis-
sion to make any necessary adjustments to this initiative based on this assessment and to ascertain whether
it can be made into a permanent fixture and a durable feature of European youth policy, and calls for
plans to include an introductory ‘youth parliament’ day, giving young people an opportunity actively to
experience democracy at work in the European Parliament;

*

*

*

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, Commission, the governments and

33.
parliaments of the Member States and accession countries and the European Youth Forum.