Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 25 May 2007 on future perspectives for European cooperation in the field of youth policy
Date: 2007-05-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union, Representatives of the Governments of the Member States
Subjects: European cooperation, quality of life, young person, youth policy

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IV

(Notices)

NOTICES FROM EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS AND BODIES

COUNCIL

Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States,
meeting within the Council, of 25 May 2007 on future perspectives for European cooperation in
the field of youth policy

The Council and the Representatives of
Member States, meeting within the Council,

the Governments of

the

(5)

(2007/C 314/07)

HAVING REGARD TO:

the Council's request (4) to promote a structured dialogue
with young people with a view to increasing the involve-
ment, at all levels, of young people and their organisa-
tions in shaping and implementing the policies affecting
them and thereby promoting their active citizenship;

the Council's request (1) to evaluate in 2009 the general
framework for European cooperation in the youth field
which was agreed in 2002;

(6)

the European Pact for Youth approved by the Spring
2005 European Council, which identified priority areas
for action in which greater involvement of young people
and of all relevant actors in youth policy was required,

the first exchange of views on future perspectives for
European youth policy, which was held at the Education,
Youth and Culture Council meeting on 16 February 2007
on the basis of a joint discussion paper
from the
German, Portuguese and Slovenian Presidencies and with
a view to the evaluation of the cooperation framework;

the work of
European Policy Advisers (2) which emphasises
importance of
health, education,
citizenship;

the European Commission's Bureau of
the
investing in young people's well-being,
labour market integration and active

interim report

the European Commission's
to the
Spring 2007 European Council entitled Social reality stock-
taking (3), which highlights the issue of intergenerational
equity against the background of globalisation and demo-
graphic change and paves the way for an open debate on
social issues and challenges that will also fundamentally
affect the social situation of young people in Europe;

1.

2.

POINT OUT that, in accordance with the European Pact
for Youth, effective and sustainable youth policy-making
requires in the relevant policy areas a truly cross-sectoral
approach to whose shaping and implementation the
Council intends to make a key contribution.

FURTHER POINT OUT that,
in view of the demographic
changes observable in all Member States, with the
number of young people as a proportion of the total
population set to decline further in forthcoming decades,
a cross-sectoral strategy is increasingly needed in order to
develop intergenerationally equitable, sustainable policies
which share both the opportunities and the necessary
burdens evenly across all age groups and which enable
young people to gain a level of autonomy appropriate to
their age and needs.

(1) Resolution of the Council and of the Representatives of the Govern-
ments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on addressing
the concerns of young people in Europe — Implementing the European
for Youth and promoting active citizenship (OJ C 292,
Pact
24.11.2005, p. 5).

(2) http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/policy_advisers/publications/index_en.htm
(3) COM(2007) 63 final.

(4) Resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments
of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on implementing
the common objectives for participation by and information for young
people in view of promoting their active European citizenship
(OJ C 297, 7.12.2006, p. 6).

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

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3.

4.

5.

6.

NOTE that the open method of coordination and the
European Pact for Youth are the main tools for devel-
oping youth policies in Europe. In the interests of effi-
initiatives aimed at
ciency, coherence and visibility,
ensuring that these tools can in future better interact and
thus be mutually reinforcing should be developed. Any
increase in the amount of reporting currently required of
Member States should be avoided.

UNDERLINE the importance of
the Youth in Action
programme (1) in increasing European cooperation in the
field of youth policy, of the European Structural Funds in
contributing
the
European Pact for Youth at national, regional and local
level and of the open method of coordination.

implementation

towards

the

of

for

the

future organisation of

WELCOME initiatives from the Commission highlighting
the role of young women and men as a fundamental
resource
society in
the European Union and its Member States, by encoura-
ging a truly cross-sectoral approach towards youth
policy-making, reinforcing the structured dialogue with
young people and promoting young people's autonomy
and active citizenship.

EXPRESS their willingness to help develop, take forward
and follow up such initiatives, whilst seeking support
from the European Parliament, the Economic and Social
the Regions, and
Committee and the Committee of
taking the role of relevant regional and local actors into
account.

6a.

INTEND, by adopting these conclusions,
to contribute
with a set of relevant proposals on future thematic and
structural perspectives to a thorough discussion on future
perspectives for European cooperation in the field of
youth policy and to the evaluation of the cooperation
framework in 2009;

7.

CONSIDER, against this background, the following issues
to be particularly relevant:

(a) European cooperation in the field of youth policy
shares responsibility for addressing young people's
quality of life in Europe by means of specific youth
policy instruments, but
also through improved
mainstreaming of
the youth dimension into, and
cross-sectoral coordination with, related policy fields.
Such cooperation could be strengthened with the aim
of:

— improving young people's social

inclusion and
facilitating their transition towards autonomy and
in
thus responding to demographic challenges,
particular by:

— providing the possibility for all young people
to acquire the necessary basic skills and
competencies,

(1) OJ L 327, 24.11.2006, p. 30.

— facilitating the transition between education

and training and employment,

— combining flexibility, including the increased
mobility required from young people, and
security (‘flexicurity’),

— promoting the entrepreneurial potential of

young people, and

— where necessary, promoting policies which
offer second chances that put young people
back on the path to build their human capital
for the future;

— improving the conditions for living in multicul-
tural societies by fostering the inter-cultural skills
of young people,

— promoting respect for human rights and values
such as
respect, diversity,
equality and solidarity as well as combating all
forms of discrimination,

tolerance, mutual

— increasing young people's well being, which
includes enabling them to lead a healthy life,

— promoting the cultural and creative engagement

of young people,

— providing support

for young people through
better reconciliation of work, family and private
life so as to enable them, if they so wish, to start
a family and to participate fully in training and
education or to enter into working life at the
same time,

— improving the

in
socio-economic
which young people in disadvantaged urban and
rural areas live.

conditions

the existing instruments of

(b) Developing youth policy in a cross-sectoral manner
and in close cooperation with young people, those
active in the youth field and youth organisations is
paramount. Amongst other proposals to be devel-
oped,
the structured
dialogue — such as Presidency youth events and the
European Youth Week — should be used to host
fora involving actors from related policy
informal
areas of
the Commission and the
the Council,
European Parliament. Care should be taken to ensure
that young people's representatives are involved from
the outset in the development and implementation of
such fora, with particular consideration for young
people in socially, culturally or economically disad-
vantaged situations.

Proposals for strengthened cross-sectoral cooperation
in the Council and its bodies involving the youth
field should be developed.

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(c) A regular European Youth Report on the situation of
young people in Europe could help to analyse and
draw attention to young people's concerns and their
quality of life, as well as the development of youth
policies in Europe. As part of the structured dialogue,
young people should actively contribute to the
reporting exercise. The Reports should be viewed as
visible incentives to trigger discussions according to
their thematic priorities.

To avoid additional reporting obligations, this should
be done by using the information collected through
the reporting exercises under the open method of
coordination, with the possible addition of relevant
data and structured examples of good practice from
the Member States, youth organisations and the
research field.

(d) To improve continuity, coherence and visibility in the
youth field, optimum use should be made of
the
cooperation between three Presidencies on the basis
of 18-month-programmes. In line with the Council's
Rules of Procedure (1),
this would include timely
cooperation with the following three Presidencies and
the Commission, so that on the basis of an agenda
the thematic priorities
endorsed by the Council

would be clearly identified for the following three
years.

The Presidencies should in particular pay attention to
interlinking the individual steps of
the structured
dialogue with young people and to ensuring that
issues discussed with young people can be followed
up.

(e) A cross-border framework to facilitate exchanges of
good practice between local and regional youth
policy players should be set up, with a particular
emphasis on ‘peer learning’ in relation to local imple-
mentation strategies for the European Youth Pact.
those exchanges should be made
The findings of
easily accessible to all
interested parties and they
should be systematically evaluated and exploited, also
as part of
the contribution of Youth Ministers
towards achieving the Lisbon Goals.

The exchanges should be supported by a set of guide-
lines for planning, structuring and evaluation. The
development of an award scheme should be consid-
ered in order to draw attention to excellent examples
of successful implementation of local strategies and
to raise awareness of the work done within the youth
field in the European context.

(1) OJ L 285, 16.10.2006, p. 47.