EUROPEAN YOUTH POLICIES

The Treaty of Maastricht extended the competence of the EU to the youth field thanks to Art. 149 § 2 which states that the EU should "…encourage the development of youth exchanges and of exchanges of socio-educational instructors…".

Until 2001 the activities of the Commission in the youth field mainly focussed on the implementation of specific programmes.

In order to widen and deepen the political debate and to go beyond the existing EU programmes, the Commission considered the development of a genuine co-operation policy for future decades. In that context, the White Paper on Youth Policy (adopted in November 2001) proposed to the Member States to develop cooperation in 4 youth priorities - “participation”, information”, “voluntary activities” and “a greater understanding and knowledge of youth”, and to take the youth dimension more into account in other relevant policies.

On the basis of the White Paper, the Council of Ministers in the Resolution of 27 June 2002, established a Framework for European cooperation in the field of youth. This Framework was updated by a Resolution of the Council in November 2005, in particular to take into account the European Youth Pact.

The Framework for European cooperation in the field of youth now comprises 3 strands:

• YOUNG PEOPLE'S ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP (open method of coordination)
• THE EUROPEAN PACT FOR YOUTH
• INCLUDING A YOUTH DIMENSION IN OTHER POLICIES

In addition to these three strands, the European Union also contribute to the development of the mobility of young people and recognition of their experiences.

In this respect specific tools are needed to develop more knowledge-based youth policies.