With a view to the meeting of the EU Council Working Party on Youth on Wednesday 2 September, the German Presidency forwarded the revised version of a draft set of conclusions to the national delegations, a copy of which was sent to EUROPE.
The text, dated 26 August, deals with “fostering democratic awareness and democratic engagement among young people”.
Given that “youth is a defining stage of life which merits special attention from a political perspective”, the Presidency believes that every young person should be able to take part in decisions concerning themselves and calls for political measures to be taken to this end.
Thus, Member States are first of all invited to ensure the implementation of long-term funding programmes to support youth organisations.
Civic engagement. Governments are also called upon to “acknowledge the particular interest and active civic engagement shown by young people” in areas such as the environment or gender equality.
“Young people’s engagement at local level, such as in student councils, local youth organisations should be supported”, the text emphasises.
The European Commission is further requested to take into account the interests of young people and their commitments to European programmes and processes. The Conference on the Future of Europe and the European Green Deal, for example.
Furthermore, the draft conclusions urge the Commission and the EU-27 to develop the participation of young people in political processes.
Digital. Finally, there is also a focus on digital media and technologies. According to the Presidency, the latter have “great potential” for strengthening young people’s confidence in democracy, provided certain abuses are avoided.
The draft conclusions therefore call for an “active and self-reflective manner” in online communications. It calls on States to promote digital and media literacy among young people, in particular to increase their capacity to deal with information overload, disinformation and hate speech. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)