The European Commission announced on Tuesday, 1 June, that it has appointed Biliana Sirakova as the first EU Youth Coordinator. She will be “a point of contact and a visible reference point for young Europeans and the organisations that represent them”, summarised European Commissioner for Innovation and Youth Mariya Gabriel during a press conference.
Ms Sirakova will thus be responsible for, as she herself put it, providing “a connection between entities, people, and ideas”. She is committed to strengthening the dialogue with youth organisations and relevant stakeholders, both locally and internationally.
The new coordinator will also have to ensure that young people are properly included in European initiatives that concern them—Conference on the Future of Europe, New European Bauhaus—and to give visibility to their contributions.
Mariya Gabriel indicated, “They now have a face, a telephone number to turn to” to submit their ideas to the European Commission, specifying that, for Biliana Sirakova, it would thus be a matter of “[ensuring] that two or three ideas identified are not only taken into account in our initiatives but, more importantly, implemented”.
The commissioner added, “And this will mean being in constant contact with Member States, as many competences remain national”.
Ms Sirakova’s role will also be to promote young Europeans’ expectations in policies developed at the EU level and to ensure better coordination among policy-makers in different areas related to youth: employment, education, health, climate, culture, and even democracy.
Positive reactions from Member States
The European Commission had suggested appointing a dedicated EU Youth Coordinator when presenting the 2019–2027 EU Youth Strategy in September 2018. The idea had been welcomed and approved by the EU Council a few months later. Ms Gabriel insisted that it has now become particularly important, recalling that young people have not been spared the economic and, notably, the social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The commissioner also told the press that Member States had informally renewed their support for the creation of the coordinator position during a working lunch with European youth organisations “just a fortnight ago”.
She referred to “very positive reactions” and was pleased that this meeting had also been an opportunity to discuss best practices already implemented in some Member States. These include creating an indicator to ensure that youth interests are properly taken into consideration in every legislative or policy proposal.
To consult the EU Council’s resolution on the new EU Youth Strategy: https://bit.ly/3g0lkT5 (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)