Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on the implementation of the European Pact for Youth
Date: 2006-03-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union, Representatives of the Governments of the Member States
Subjects: European social policy, social integration, youth policy

22.3.2006

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 70/1

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(Information)

COUNCIL

Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States,
meeting within the Council, on the implementation of the European Pact for Youth

(2006/C 70/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE REPRESENTA-
TIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES, MEETING
WITHIN THE COUNCIL,

HAVING REGARD to:

1. the objective, set by the Lisbon European Council on 23
and 24 March 2000 and reaffirmed by the Stockholm
European Council on 23 and 24 March 2001, of making
the European Union ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowl-
edge-based economy
sustainable
economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social
cohesion’;

in the world,

capable of

2. the White Paper entitled A new impetus for European youth,
adopted by the Commission on 21 November 2001 (1),
which recognises that ‘this strategy sets new goals for different
policy fields which are closely related to youth, such as education,
employment, social inclusion, information and civil society’;

3. The Green Paper of 21 March 2005 entitled Confronting
demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations,
which underlined that greater efforts are needed to inte-
grate young people into the labour market and to support
them as
they pursue ‘non-linear’ careers, alternating
between employment, study, unemployment and retraining
or the updating of skills;

4. the conclusions of the European Council of 22 and 23
March 2005 adopting the European Pact for Youth as one
of the instruments contributing to the achievement of the
Lisbon objectives of growth and jobs, aiming to improve
the education,
integration
and social inclusion of young Europeans, while facilitating
the reconciliation of working life and family life;

training, mobility, vocational

5. the Commission Communication of 30 May 2005 on
European policies concerning youth entitled Addressing the
concerns of young people in Europe — implementing the Euro-
pean Youth Pact and promoting active citizenship (2);

(1) Doc. 14441/01— COM(2001) 681 final.
(2) Doc. 9679/05 — COM (2005) 206 final.

6. the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005-
2008) (3), proposed by the Commission and endorsed by
the Council, that should be taken into account by Member
States
reform
and
programmes;

reported on in their national

7. the Commission Communication of 10 November 2005
entitled Modernising education and training: a vital contribu-
tion to prosperity and social cohesion in Europe (4);

8. the Council Resolution of 15 November 2005 on addres-
sing the concerns of young people in Europe — imple-
menting the European Pact
for Youth and promoting
active citizenship (5);

9. the Commission Communication of 22 December 2005
entitled Working together, working better: a new framework for
the open coordination of social protection and inclusion policies
in the European Union (6);

10. the Commission's Annual Progress Report of 25 January
2006 on implementing the Lisbon Strategy, and its
annexes, based on the national reform programmes of the
Member States presented to the Commission in autumn
2005;

UNDERLINE:

11. that young people constitute a valuable resource for both
the present and the future, and contribute to the creativity,
innovation and entrepreneurship that Europe needs in
order to fulfil the aims of the Lisbon Strategy;

12. that young people face many challenges, particularly in
accessing the labour market, with youth unemployment on
average double the overall rate within the EU;

(3) Doc. 8008/05 — COM(2005) 141 final.
(4) Doc. 13415/1/05 REV 1 COM(2005) 549 final.
(5) OJ C 292, 24.11.2005, p.5.
(6) doc. 5070/06 — COM(2005) 706 final.

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Official Journal of the European Union

22.3.2006

13. the importance of a youth perspective in the Lisbon
Strategy and the key contribution which implementation
of the ‘Education and Training 2010’ work programme,
the open method of coordination in the field of social
protection and social inclusion, the Structural Funds, the
European Research Framework Programmes and other
relevant programmes, such as the Lifelong Learning, Youth
and future ‘Youth in Action’ Programmes, can make
towards achieving the objectives of the Youth Pact;

14. the need to promote the social inclusion of young people,
especially those with fewer opportunities, so as to foster
social cohesion;

15. the importance for young people of policies aimed at
balancing work and family life, particularly given the chal-
lenges posed by demographic change;

16. the relevance of non-formal and informal

learning and
young people's mobility, supported by instruments such as
the Youth Programme and the future ‘Youth in Action’
Programme 2007–2013, to helping young people develop
a wide range of skills and competences;

17. the importance of promoting a structured dialogue with
young people, youth organisations and those active in the
youth field at all levels;

CONSIDER that:

18. as outlined in the Commission's 2006 Annual Progress
Report, the response to the Youth Pact in most Member
States has been encouraging, but that urgent action is still
required to facilitate the entry of young people into the
labour market in line with the Pact;

19. the adoption of the European Pact for Youth has strength-
ened the involvement of ministries responsible for youth
in the Lisbon process, leading to better internal coordina-
tion and reinforced mainstreaming of the youth dimension
when developing policies on employment, social inclusion,
education, training and mobility, in line with the mandate
from the European Council;

20. while many Member States refer explicitly to the Pact in
their national
reform programmes and others include
measures that are consistent with it, better implementation
of the objectives of the Pact and improved visibility of the
Pact
reform programmes and in the
Commission's Annual Progress Report would lead to more
coherence, greater effectiveness and clearer monitoring of
measures for young people, and would help to develop

in the national

knowledge and expertise on the different areas of the Pact
and the links between them;

21. while progress has been made, the European Commission
and the Member States need to reinforce measures to
implement the Pact by:

— improving the employment situation of young people
through strengthening employability and entrepreneur-
ship and providing support for the transition from
education and training to work;

— ensuring that young people with fewer opportunities
are a priority in terms of national employment and
social inclusion policies;

— reducing the numbers of early school leavers and devel-
oping closer cooperation on transparency and recogni-
tion of the value of non-formal and informal learning;

22. Member States and the Commission should also develop

and support measures in other areas of the Pact by:

— taking measures that encourage young people's mobi-
lity, in particular by removing existing obstacles, taking
into account the important role that mobility plays in
developing young people's potential and in bringing
the European Union closer to young people;

— allowing young parents to reconcile work and family
life, in particular by expanding the child care network
and developing innovative forms of work organisation.

INVITES THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL to:

23. encourage further progress with regard to measures for
young people by implementing the European Pact
for
Youth in the Lisbon strategy;

24.

25.

invite the Member States to reinforce links between poli-
cies on education, training, employment, social inclusion
and mobility, so as to develop more effective cross-sectoral
strategies for young people;

invite the Member States, when preparing their national
reform programmes, and the Commission, in its Annual
Progress Report, to report more systematically and more
visibly on the Pact within the Lisbon strategy, in order to
facilitate monitoring of the progress made;

26. reiterate its request to the Commission and the Member
States to involve young people and youth organisations at
all levels in the implementation of the European Pact for
Youth.