Brussels, 05/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 23 April, the European Youth Forum celebrated its third European day of solidarity between the generations by taking part in the European Union conference, “Towards the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations (EY2012)”. The forum discussed the sensitive issue of rivalry between young and old people on the job market. Given the unprecedented youth unemployment rates and the difficulties experienced by young people to make ends meet, real competition has developed between the unemployed for any existing vacancy on the job market. The European Youth Forum deplores the fact that discussions regarding the high level of unemployment among young people and the need to increase the age of retirement means that the stereotype of generational conflict has become increasingly propagated and that younger and older people are fighting each other for jobs. The forum is eager to underline the complementarity offered by the two generations, which should help to eliminate any kind of rivalry on a healthy labour market. Peter Matjasic, the president of the European Youth Forum declared that “in a flourishing economy, jobs create jobs and it is therefore an unfounded claim that pushing older people out of the labour market is a solution to tackling youth unemployment, because this is not the case”. He concluded that the challenge is to develop policies together, which can help older generations to age more actively. (I.L./transl.fl)