At an informal meeting in Vienna (Austria) on Monday 3 September, ministers responsible for youth said that youth should not be the poor relation in European policy. It has been 12 years since an informal Council of this kind has been organised. The last one already dates back to the Austrian Presidency of the Council the EU.
Austria has set itself the objective of making progress on three key dossiers: the future of the Erasmus + programme, the European Solidarity Corps, and the new youth strategy. The rotating presidency is hoping to reach a general partial agreement on the first two dossiers during the Education and Youth Council on 26 November.
After the meeting, the European Commissioner for Youth, Tibor Navracsics, stated “I am happy to see the ambition that the EU youth ministers have shown today during our discussions on the necessary investments in the young generation. Now I am counting on their unrestricted support in the negotiations on the next multi-annual financial framework of the European Union”. Juliane Bogner‑Strauss, the Austrian Minister, declared “At the informal meeting of youth ministers it was an undisputed fact that Erasmus+ is one of the most successful and prominent European Union projects. We therefore would like the area of youth, in this panoply of programmes, to continue to be considered a chapter of its own with a budget of its own”. The budget currently planned is €3.1 billion out of a total budget of €30 billion for youth.
Brexit. Asked about the position that the United Kingdom would occupy in the future Erasmus programme, the Austrian minister explained that even though the subject had not been tackled, “a lot of states are taking part in it without being members of the EU” and therefore Brexit is not expected to “pose a problem”. Commissioner Navracsics was more cautious in this regard and pointed out that nothing had as yet been decided.
The meeting is expected to continue in the afternoon by way of a dialogue between political decision-makers and youth representatives organised as part of the youth conference. According to the Austrian Presidency, more than 240 youth delegates and youth politicians from 35 countries attended as part of an “interactive dialogue on youth policy and EU youth goals”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)