Brussels, 31/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Around 210 young people and policy-makers from across Europe came together at the EU Youth Conference - Empowering young people for political participation in democratic life in Europe - in Riga on 23-26 March. Recommendations were drawn afterwards that took into account the suggestions made by the 40,000 or so young Europeans who took part in the broad consultation process (known as the Structured Dialogue) prior to the conference.
The suggestions will be sent to the EU ministers for youth who will meet for an Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council in Brussels on 18 May. “It is of utmost importance to build a society that cares. A set of useful ideas have been brought forward at the conference”, stated Marite Seile, Latvia's minister for education and science. Seile also expressed concern about the growing divide between the European and national institutions and European young people, and called on the Commission and all the stakeholders to take seriously into account the voice of young people when drawing up European policies.
The recommendations that were adopted call for: (1) a culture of participation at school to be created with the inclusion of non-formal learning methodologies to encourage citizens' values and critical thinking among young people; (2) the involvement of young people in political decision-making through pilot programmes organised as part of transparent and cooperative structures; (3) the improvement of political decision-makers' commitment to young people: the Commission and member states should help decision-makers ensure the involvement of young people in the decisions affecting them and continually adopt an open communications policy with regard to young people; (4) the enhancement of the role of socio-educational (youth) work to empower young people politically: the Commission and member states should allocate youth organisations the resources and appropriate support structures, as well as the formal recognition necessary, in addition to setting up long-term partnerships with them; (5) the development of youth friendly tools for the political participation of young people to guarantee them access to online political participation tools and information; (6) the development of local and direct democracy by encouraging young people to use alternative forms of political engagement (such as art and sport); (7) increased synergies and cooperation between the different actors: the European institutions and member state should develop and improve their inter-sectoral communication in order to better involve young people in the political process and facilitate sustainable collaboration between the different stakeholders. (Isabelle Lamberty)