Once upon a time...
In
the last ten years, many things have evolved in the Youth
sector, at the European level. During the 1990s, the implementation
of the " Youth for Europe " and " European
Voluntary Service " programmes made the mobility of young
people throughout Europe much easier. The new " Youth
" programme was adopted in order to strengthen these
initiatives. An important amount of knowledge has thus been
acquired and the foundations of Community co-operation were
set.
Therefore,
the Commission thought that the moment had come to widen and
deepen the political debate, to go beyond the current EU programmes
and to consider the development of a genuine co-operation
policy for the future decades.
The
White Paper on Youth Policy published in the second semester
of 2001, fits in with this will. Its objective is to "deepen
the Community co-operation to the benefit and with the involvement
of young people, as a specific and essential element of a
policy which is resolutely directed towards the future."
The Commission thus indicated its will to make this policy
acquire a genuine Community dimension in complementarity and
close co-operation with the local, regional and national authorities
of the Member States.
The
White Paper covers not only the situation of young people
but also studies their concerns and desires. It attempts to
draw action lines in order to answer the former and satisfy
the latter. This White Paper is in no way a purely programmatic
document which would merely aim at packaging, simplifying
or arranging existing programmes.
It
represents an answer to the expectations of young people,
but also to the demands of the Member States (cf. Council
of Ministers held under Luxembourg presidency in October 1998)
and the European Parliament (cf. Ms Guinebertière's
own-initiative report on a Youth policy for Europe, February
1999).
The players...
From the beginning of the White paper process, the Commission
has made a point of insisting that the drawing up of such
a document should not be done behind closed doors. That is
why a wide-ranging process of consultations has been launched
at all levels:
- with
young people themselves (national meetings, European gathering
and a Eurobarometer on young Europeans to be available in
May 2001)
- with
national officials in the Youth field,
- with
researchers,
- and
with civil society (non-governmental organisations).
This
consultation mechanism aims to ensure that all the important
actors involved in youth policy have been consulted and heard.
