Brussels, 22/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - Marie-Hélène Descamps (EPP-ED, France), Ramona Nicole Manescu (ALDE, Romania), Marie Panayotopulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, Greece), Christa Prets (PES, Austria) and Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Belgium) presented, on Tuesday 22 April in Strasbourg a written declaration calling on the European Commission and the member states to devote more attention to youth empowerment in EU policies. This initiative is a response to the request put forward by the European Youth Forum, which considers it is essential to adopt a more determined and across-the-board policy in favour of youth. The position enjoys the consensus of national youth ministers, who set out such a policy in their key messages adopted with a view to the latest European Council. The Youth Forum, however, bemoans the fact that their endorsement has not yet been translated into concrete action by the Commission. The declaration thus calls on the Commission to consider and incorporate the impact on youth and the results of the structured dialogue with youth organisations when preparing legislative proposals concerning, in particular, education, lifelong training, employment, social integration, health, youth autonomy, mobility, fundamental rights and non-discrimination. The member states, for their part, must focus on youth when implementing national reform programmes in the context of the Lisbon strategy and take youth into account in related policies. Practical solutions must be found, via implementation of the European Youth Pact, commented Ms Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, who mainly notes the need for urgent action regarding youth employment. Ms Prets and Manescu stress for their part the need to include young persons in political dialogue, as they are the best placed to define priorities for action and will be tomorrow's adults upon whom the responsibility of Europe will lie. Too many young people are today unemployed and live in precarious situations, Bart Staes said. Ms Descamps considers there is still much to be done to improve the situation of young people in many areas but also, more generally, when it comes to respect of fundamental rights and non-discrimination. (I.L.)