Brussels, 06/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 6 November, the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz and vice president, Isabelle Durant, opened the Citizens' Agora 2013 on youth unemployment. This event will be held over three days (6-8 November) and will bring together around 60 young people from the 28 European Union member states to debate youth unemployment. At the end of the conference, they will put forward recommendations to the European Parliament.
Schulz emphasised that, in the majority of debates organised at the EP over the past three to four years, Parliament had been urging member states to adopt efficient measures to tackle youth unemployment: “This is a question of survival for our democratic systems”, he said. Schulz intends to present the contributions and recommendations drafted at the end of the discussions to the next European youth employment summit in Paris on 12 November, which will bring heads of state and government together. Durant underlined that the Agora was not another experts' conference for decreeing what should or should not be done but rather, a genuine body where young men and women from all member states, social classes, the unemployed and those in work could talk together. The recommendations should reflect as accurately as possible the problems and expectations of young people regarding employment issues. She added that, “we're getting on the train of participatory democracy, which should be further pursued, especially among young people… We will see what they expect and what they think should be looked at”. (IL/transl.fl)