Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a interim agreement on the evening of Monday 6 December on the modalities of the European Year 2022, which will be dedicated to Youth (see EUROPE 12791/9).
As the expectations of the two institutions converged on a number of points (see EUROPE 12834/15), a single political inter-institutional (‘trilogue’) meeting was sufficient for the co-legislators to reach agreement.
The main issue that remained to be decided was the budget (see EUROPE 12842/24). On this point Parliament and the EU Council finally agreed on unblocking a minimum of €8 million in new money and to draw, in addition, on the budgets of the Erasmus+ programme and the European Solidarity Corps to cover the operational costs of the initiative.
A recital requiring that funding for the European Year “should not undermine the funding of projects in existing programmes” of the EU was added to the final text, an institutional source confirmed to EUROPE.
Parliament had hoped that €2 million could be mobilised for 2023 to support the activities that will continue that year and “to create a lasting legacy for the European Year”. The idea was accepted. However, no amount has been decided.
The negotiators simply stated that a “sustainable legacy” should be ensured beyond 2022 and that the financing of this legacy “should be identified” in the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework.
Implementation. TheEuropean Year of Youth will be implemented in the Member States under the leadership of the European Commission, with the help of regional and local authorities and 27 national coordinators.
This will be done through conferences, events and information campaigns on various youth-related issues. The co-legislators are also counting on this initiative to promote youth participation in policy-making and to ensure that youth issues are taken into account in all EU policies in the future.
The Parliament and the EU Council also expect the Commission to involve young people closely in the deployment of the initiative.
Continuation of the procedure. The text finalised on Monday will be submitted to the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) for approval on Wednesday 8 December. This should enable the European Parliament as a whole to take a decision at the next plenary session, to be held from 13 to 16 December.
The EU Council is also expected to give its formal approval shortly, so that the initiative can be officially launched in January.
The full programme of activities for the European Year of Youth will be available at: https://bit.ly/31BIFHB (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)