Commission staff working document accompanying the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - An EU Strategy for Youth : Investing and Empowering - A renewed open method of coordination to address youth challenges and opportunities - Impact Assessment Executive Summary {COM(2009) 200} {SEC(2009) 545} {SEC(2009) 548} {SEC(2009) 549}
Date: 2009-04-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, action programme, continuing education, education policy, employment policy, vocational training, young person, youth employment, youth policy

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 27.4.2009 
SEC(2009) 546  

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

Accompanying the 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS  

An EU Strategy for Youth – Investing and Empowering 

A renewed open method of coordination to address youth challenges and opportunities 

Impact Assessment Executive Summary 

{COM(2009) 200} 
{SEC(2009) 545} 
{SEC(2009) 548} 
{SEC(2009) 549} 

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON A EU STRATEGY FOR YOUTH 

This  impact  assessment  will  accompany  the  Communication  on  an  EU  Strategy  for  Youth: 
Investing and Empowering. 

Problem definition 

A  framework  for  European  co-operation  in  the  field  of  youth  (hereafter  the  Youth 
Cooperation  Framework)  has  been  established  in  June  2002  with  an  open  method  of 
coordination  (OMC)  focused  on  active  citizenship  of  young  people,  and  complemented  in 
2005 by the European Youth Pact – instrument dedicated to social and vocational integration 
of young people within the Lisbon strategy. Other elements such as mainstreaming activities, 
knowledge  tools  as  well  as  structured  dialogue  with  young  people  and  peer-learning  have 
been progressively developed within the framework.  

The current cycle of the youth OMC is coming at an end in 2009, and this year has been since 
long identified as a year for evaluation and review. 

In this context, it is important to identify all the challenges facing young people today and in 
the  coming  years,  whether  they  are  European-wide  challenges  which  impact  on  them  or 
problems directly affecting their situation. 

As a result of these challenges, young people in Europe suffer from a lack of opportunities: 
too many are still affected by unemployment, poverty and low education levels. In link with 
this  lack  of  educational  and  professional  opportunities,  young  Europeans  also  experience 
difficulties  of  access  to  social  and  civic  opportunities;  they  may  have  to  fight  against 
exclusion  or  marginalisation  and  health  related  problems.  They  may  also  be  excluded  or 
exclude  themselves  from  participating  in  society,  and  find  themselves  quite  isolated  due  to 
weakened solidarity links. 

The current framework could not tackle all these challenges, even if the overall assessment of 
the  results  of  the  Youth  Cooperation  Framework  has  been  globally  positive.  The  EU 
cooperation framework in the field of youth has inspired youth-related legislation at national 
level and helped many Member States develop national strategies. It has raised the visibility 
of youth and youth policies at national and EU level. The role of the cooperation framework 
as  a  platform  for  exchange  of  practices  and  for  dialogue  has  also  often  been  underlined. 
However,  the  assessment  framework  is  not  clear  and  coherent  enough,  and  is  not  enough 
delivering  in  some  areas,  such  as  the  European  Youth  Pact.  The  structured  dialogue  with 
young  people  needs  to  be  revised  and  more  inclusive,  and  the  cross-sector  nature  of  youth 
policy needs more recognition at EU and national level.  

Analysis of subsidiarity 

Member States have the main responsibility for the policy changes needed to respond to these 
challenges.  All  options  retained  for  analysis  and  presented  below  respect  the  principle  of 
subsidiarity; furthermore, they are proportional and leave the implementation of the common 
objectives and principles for cooperation in the hands of the Member States and/or their sub-
national entities.  

However, a more pro-active role at EU level is necessary in order to support Member State 
cooperation.  Action  by  a  Member  State  alone  would  not  achieve  the  same  results  than  EU 
cooperation  in  raising  visibility  of  Youth  and  youth  strategies,  definition  of  common 
objectives,  mutual  learning,  exchange  of  practices  and  experience,  access  to  European  wide 
data, etc. 

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There is thus a need to review the cooperation framework in order to better take into account 
the current and future needs of young people. 

Objectives of EU initiative 

Based  on  the  above  challenges,  the  following  objectives  are  defined  for  a  renewed  Youth 
Cooperation Framework. 

In  order  to  enhance  the  well-being  of  young  people  in  Europe  during  the  next  decade,  the 
general objectives will aim at creating more opportunities for young people in education and 
employment; at increasing access and full participation of all young people in society; and at 
fostering mutual solidarity between society and young people (in particular through inclusion, 
volunteering and actions dedicated at the rest of the world).  

The  specific  objectives  of  the  proposed  European  Youth  Cooperation  Framework  seek  to 
develop  1)  a  transversal  approach  of  issues  concerning  youth,  2)  more  efficiency  of  the 
framework and 3) mobilisation of youth organisations and young people. 

The  operational  objectives  aim  to  develop  coordination  mechanisms  between  policies, 
structured  dialogue  with  young  people,  better  implementation  of  cooperation  tools  and 
knowledge based policy making. 

Policy options 
Four policy options have been taken in consideration for in depth examination1:  

- Option 1: status quo (whereby the current framework would be extended as it is, and would 
thus function with the same tools and objectives);  

-  Option  2:  reinforced  Youth  open  method  of  coordination  (reinforcing  cooperation 
instruments  while  keeping  same  focus  on  active  citizenship  and  a  few  mainstreaming 
activities);  

-  Option  3:  developed  cross-sectoral  approach  (keeping  the  same  instruments  of  the  open 
method  of  coordination,  but  setting  up  coordination  mechanism  for  policies  with  a  strong 
youth dimension); 

-  Option  4:  global  strategy  (developing  at  the  same  time  the  open  method  of  coordination 
tools  and  the  cross-sectoral  approach,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  synergy  effects  of  both 
elements). 

Assessment of impacts 

On  the  basis  of  an  assessment  of  potential  qualitative  impacts  regarding  social,  economic, 
environmental  and  human  rights  issues,  it  appears  that  none  of  the  options  analysed  would 
have a negative impact. Option 1 would have a more limited positive impact regarding these 
issues. Options 3 and 4 would have greater social and economic impacts. 

Comparison of options 

A  comparison  of  options  regarding  their  impact  on  objectives  and  their  feasibility  indicates 
that while all options are feasible, option 4 is to be preferred in terms of its ability to address 
the challenges and to achieve the objectives. Option 1 would not bring any improvement to 

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Three other options have been considered but have not been retained for in-depth analysis: ending the 
cooperation, adopting a specific approach, or developing a set of more binding tools (see more details in 
4.2). 

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the current situation regarding the objectives, while options 2 and 3 would only bring partial 
improvement.  

Monitoring and evaluation 

The  mechanisms  to  monitor  and  evaluate  the  implementation  of  the  Youth  Cooperation 
Framework would be mainly triennial joint progress reports, dashboard of existing indicators 
and  benchmarks.  A  stronger  involvement  of  stakeholders  in  the  monitoring  would  also 
contribute to the monitoring. Proposals for improvement of the framework would be done on 
a regular basis. 

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