EU Jeugd Conferentie: Meer samenwerking tussen jeugd en buurlanden

More cooperation between young people from EU and Eastern Europe. This is the ambitious objective of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU in the youth field and the core topic of the EU Youth Conference which gathered around 230 participants from all over Europe in Warsaw from 5 to 7 September 2011. Apart from young people, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth - Androulla Vassiliou i, minister of education in Poland - Katarzyna Hall and Peter Matjasic - president of European Youth Forum, took part.

For the first time, the EU Youth Conference addressed the topic “Youth and the World”, the newest of the eight fields of action of the framework of European cooperation in the youth field. It is also a priority of the Polish Presidency to ensure the relevance of its programme through Structured Dialogue, allowing young people from the 27 Member States to express their views and expectations on cooperation between the EU and Neighbouring Countries.

“Poland, implementing the priority in the field of establishing positive relationship with the East, is trying to make people realize the needs and advantages of cooperation with the neighbours beyond the eastern border of the EU”- said Katarzyna Hall, minister of education in Poland. She emphasized that cooperation in the field of youth should constitute a starting point for further integration with this region.

During national consultations and at the EU Youth Conference in Warsaw, young people discussed with national and EU institutions representatives in order to identify advantages of cooperation with Neighbouring Countries beyond EU borders, particularly Eastern, and measures needed to further promote and increase this cooperation.

A free Schengen visa category for youth worker and a strong independent youth programme are among the main expectations the participants of the EU Youth Conference put forward to the EU and the Member States.

“The European Youth Forum draws its membership from youth-led and volunteer-based participatory youth organisations from across Europe. We are therefore pleased to see youth cooperation with Eastern Europe and Caucasus on the agenda of the EU. The Youth Forum hopes that the EU and its Member States will lift the obstacles identified before and during this conference and finally catch up with the cooperation exemplified so well by the youth civil society.” said Peter Matjašic, President of the European Youth Forum.

“I am glad to see youth participation in democratic life in practice, and, indeed flourishing. Commission will put forward a single programme for reasons of efficiency and cost effectiveness. But make no mistake, in substance the Commission will propose to continue and develop the actions of Youth in Action programme in favour of non-formal learning trough the participation and the mobility of all young people” - stated Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Sport, Media and Youth

Having addressed Participation and “Youth and the World”, the second cycle of Structured Dialogue will further explore Youth Participation during the consultations and EU Youth Conferences to be organised in 2012 by the Danish and Cypriot Presidencies of the Council of the EU.

The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is an independent, democratic, youth-led platform, representing 98 National Youth Councils and International Youth Organisations from across Europe. The YFJ works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations towards the European Institutions, the Council of Europe and the United Nations.