Brussels, 13/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Youth Conference opened in Rome on 13-16 October under the presidency of the Italian Minister for Labour and Social Policies, Giuliano Poletti, together with the participation of the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou. This event seeks to support and promote discussion between youth organisation representatives and political leaders under the heading, “Promoting Access to Youth Rights and Improving their Autonomy and Participation in Society”. During the course of the different work sessions, subjects connected to the identification of key youth rights will be tackled, such as their access to jobs, social welfare systems, access to funding and support from youth organisations. At the end of the conference, participants will publish their conclusions, based on their discussions, as part of the new structured European dialogue with youth.
Since 2010, European structured dialogue with youth has enabled young people to get more involved in European political debates and the dialogue with decision-makers. The dialogue is structured into 18-month cycles and is pursued during national consultations and European youth conferences, at a European level. At the end of each cycle, the conclusions are submitted to the European Ministers for Youth Council, which will decide whether to include them in the discussion texts. During the most recent Youth Council on 22 May 2014, ministers decided to improve the rules for European dialogue with youth, in light of the experiences obtained during the first three cycles between 2010 and mid-2014. (IL)