Brussels, 18/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - Shocked by the riots "fermented by some professionals in provocation" on the occasion of the Gothenburg Summit, Viviane Reding, European Commissioner responsible for education and youth, declared to the press on Sunday: "European youth in no way corresponds to this pictures of gratuitous violence. The great majority of the young who were demonstrating in Gothenburg clearly wanted to do so peacefully. Because European youth is critical but positive: they want to participate in the construction of a Europe that respects freedom and diversity". Ms. Reding took advantage of the opportunity to recall that, a year-and-a-half ago, the European Commission launched broad consultation with young Europeans, initiative that led to the adoption, by 450 of their delegates meeting in Paris in October, of twenty-four priority proposals to change European policies. She said that, on the basis of these proposals, she was preparing a White Paper on the future of youth policy and said she was determined to pursue and intensify the dialogue begun with the young.
Commission spokesman Jonathan Foull recalled on Monday that the European Commission deplored the violent confrontations that occurred in Gothenburg and led, according to the daily Svenska Dagladet, to the admission of 86 people to emergency.