On Monday 26 November, the EU Council adopted its negotiating position with the European Parliament on the European Solidarity Corps for the period 2021-2029, although several Member States criticised the procedure for designating monitoring indicators.
The European Solidarity Corps enables young people aged 18 to 30 to participate in a range of solidarity activities through voluntary actions or the implementation of professional projects governed by an employment contract.
The Council's position, which does not address budgetary issues, maintains the broad lines of the proposal presented by the Commission (see EUROPE 11798). The main change is the breakdown of the budget allocation (Article 12): 86% for voluntary activities (solidarity), 8% for internships or jobs and 6% for voluntary work (humanitarian aid).
During the round table, France, Greece, Cyprus and Belgium referred to their joint declaration in which they criticised the procedure for drawing up the programme's monitoring indicators. They regret that this competence reverts to the European Commission through delegated acts, without involving the States.
The Commissioner for Education, Tibor Navracsics, welcomed the Council's political agreement in principle, while calling for sufficient flexibility on the question of the budget allocation (Article 12). He also stressed that the use of delegated acts was "the lightest and most correct option".
It is now up to Parliament to adopt its negotiating position on this issue. According to the Austrian Presidency of the Council, the vote in the European Parliament on the report by Michaela Šojdrová (EPP, Czech Republic) is expected to take place in February 2019.
Youth strategy. It should be noted that the Youth Ministers also held an exchange of views on the Youth Strategy, which will enter into force on 1 January 2019.
Many of them welcomed the creation, within the Commission, of a position of coordinator responsible for youth dialogue and in contact with the Member States.
However, several States, such as Ireland and Luxembourg, lamented the fact that the objectives set were not included in the strategy itself, but only in the annex.
Finally, we highlight Belgium's proposal to create a European Youth Work Charter. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean, with Mathieu Solal)