The Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, participated, on Tuesday 10 January, in a policy dialogue on current and future economic challenges (‘Supporting People Now & Repowering our Economy for the Future’) with representatives of European youth associations.
Faced with a population hit by rising prices, the priority for him is to “address the root cause of today’s high inflation, which is high energy costs”. In 2023, the Commission’s priorities will therefore be “securing the EU’s energy supplies and tackling high energy prices”, “making sure that the cost of the crisis is shared fairly and the most vulnerable are protected” and “finding the right mix of macroeconomic policies to tackle high inflation”, all with an eye on the digital and ecological transitions, he said.
While young people mentioned the precariousness of the population, the Vice-President insisted on the need for targeted measures. “70% of Member States measures are not targeted which leads to […] fiscally costly measures that fuel inflation, not providing enough support to those who really need it and not providing the right price to incentivise energy reduction”, he defended.
Representatives of youth organisations also expressed concern that Member States may not make the necessary investments in the green transition due to overly strict EU fiscal rules or lack of political will. Mr Dombrovskis recalled that the reform of the European economic governance framework (see EUROPE 13060/1) would allow Member States to “have a more progressive [debt] adjustment path, if their investments align with the EU priorities as well as the digital and green transition”.
Finally, young people stressed the need to involve youth organisations more in the decision-making process, and even to subject European policies to a “EU youth test”.
This debate is part of the European Year of Youth 2022 (see EUROPE 13070/25) and the 9th cycle of Youth Dialogues (see EUROPE 12015/18). This cycle will run until mid-2023 with the theme “A Sustainable and Green Europe”. The Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU intends to have a resolution on this issue approved at the ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council in May 2023. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)