Brussels, 15/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - At their meeting in Brussels on 14 February under the chairmanship of Juan Carlos Aparicio, the EU's youth ministers agreed on a working method for implementing the Youth White Paper adopted by the Commission in November 2001 (see EUROPE of 22 November, p.14) and adopted conclusions on its follow-up. They reached consensus on how young people from both the EU and candidate countries can participate in the implementation of the strategy and in developing an EU youth policy. They were unanimous in stressing the importance of exchanges between young people of different cultures in Europe and the utility of informal learning for young people which shouldn't be limited to the EU's education systems but should help improve knowledge and make better use of young people's experience, underlined Mr Aparicio, adding that for the first time, they were involved in a clear mechanism for cooperating with young people.
On the Youth White Paper, Commissioner Viviane Reding said that what young people wanted was a clear commitment by authorities at local, regional and national level and the ball was now in the Member States' court in terms of translating the ideas from the White Paper into action. She went on, we will see at the 30 May Youth Council how bridges can be built between young people in various countries. On life long learning, Ms Reding said that it would become a very important part of training in all Member States over the next decade. Young people's efforts should be recognised at European level, by rewarding young people involved in voluntary work, for example. The Youth Council will have an important role to play in this connection and Ms Reding said she would inform the education ministers of the pledges made by the youth ministers to this end.