Council resolution

of 25 November 2003

on common objectives for participation by and information for young people

(2003/C 295/04)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES, MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL,

Whereas:

(1) The Commission White Paper entitled "A new impetus for European youth" presented on 21 November 2001 sets out a new framework for European cooperation on youth affairs.

(2) In its conclusions of 14 February 2002 the Council (Education and Youth) recognised the White Paper as the starting point for the establishment of a framework for European cooperation on youth affairs.

(3) When it established a new framework for cooperation in the youth field, in its Resolution of 27 June 2002, the Council adopted the open method of coordination, calling in particular on the Council to establish, taking into account a Commission draft, the common objectives and a timetable for follow-up reports from the Member States for each priority, as appropriate. It also stressed that those policies and initiatives that affect the young people both at national and at European level take into consideration matters such as the needs, the situation, the living conditions and the expectations of youth.

(4) Further to the consultations carried out under the open method of coordination, the Commission communication [COM(2003) 184 final] of 11 April 2003 proposed a set of common objectives for participation by and information for young people,

NOTE that the Council of 5 May 2003 confirmed the importance of the priorities of participation by and information for young people,

AGREE the following common objectives for developing these priorities,

CONCERNING PARTICIPATION to develop participation by young people, by introducing and supporting action to encourage them to exercise their citizenship actively and by enhancing their effective participation in democratic life:

1. increase the participation by young people in the civic life of their community;

2. increase participation by young people in the system of representative democracy;

3. greater support for various forms of learning to participate,

CONCERNING INFORMATION to develop information for young people, by improving access for young people to information in order to increase their participation in public life and facilitate the realisation of their potential as active, responsible citizens:

1. improve access for young people to information services;

2. increase provision of quality information;

3. increase participation by young people in youth information, for example, in the preparation and dissemination of information.

A non-exhaustive list of the possible lines of action for the above common objectives is set out in the annex hereto,

THE IMPLEMENTATION AND FOLLOW-UP OF THE COMMON OBJECTIVES:

RECALL that implementation must be flexible, incremental and appropriate for the youth field, must respect the powers of the Member States and the principle of subsidiarity,

INVITE THE MEMBER STATES TO

- specify implementing and follow-up measures, in the light of their particular circumstances and their national priorities with regard to those common objectives,

- submit reports on the national contributions to the implementation of both priorities, participation and information, by the end of 2005, after consulting young people, their associations and, if appropriate, national and regional youth councils via the channels they consider appropriate,

NOTE THAT THE COMMISSION INTENDS TO:

- prepare, on the basis of the reports on national contributions to the implementation of the common objectives, a progress report for submission to the Council in order to encourage mutual exchange of information and good practice concerning those two priorities, after consultation of the European Youth Forum, while not excluding other forms of consultation, and propose, if appropriate, amendments to the common objectives for participation and information,

- suitably inform the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions,

INVITE THE COMMISSION TO: convene, when appropriate representatives of the national Administrations dealing with the youth field, in order to promote the exchange of information on the progress made and on best practice,

TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE:

The Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council will adapt or amend the common objectives, on the basis of the progress report and the amended drafts submitted by the Commission, and when appropriate take the necessary initiatives within the framework of the common objectives, in order to facilitate their implementation.

ANNEX

MEASURES FOR ACHIEVING THE COMMON OBJECTIVES FOR PARTICIPATION BY AND INFORMATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

In the light of the actual circumstances and the priorities of each Member State, the following non-exhaustive list of lines of action may be pursued:

PARTICIPATION

1. Participation by young people in civic life

(a) promote the involvement of young people in participatory structures, for example NGOs, associations, voluntary work, local youth councils, and encourage the activities of youth NGOs, while respecting their independence and autonomy;

(b) encourage the development of activities, initiatives and projects intended to involve young people directly at regional and local level;

(c) publicise and show greater recognition of the outreach work done by parents, youth workers and other persons;

(d) identify more clearly the obstacles in the way of participation by specific groups and by disadvantaged young people and encourage measures and mechanisms capable of overcoming those obstacles, in particular by making allowance for their diversities and priorities (cultural or ethnic background, disabilities, socio-economic factors, gender, etc.);

(e) examine qualitative evaluation methods of participation for young people.

2. Greater participation by young people in the system of representative democracy

(a) encourage and develop, [...] at all appropriate levels, a regular, structured dialogue between the public and/or government authorities and young people and their representative structures (national, regional and local youth councils, youth organisations, the European Youth Forum, etc.);

(b) ensure that such dialogue can also include young people who are not members of organisations and that their concerns are taken into account;

(c) promote and develop this dialogue, so that young people can be more involved in public life;

(d) identify more clearly and study the obstacles in the way of participation by young people in the system of representative democracy and encourage measures and mechanisms conducive to the inclusion of all young people in all their diversities (cultural or ethnic background, disabilities, gender, socio-economic factors, etc.).

3. Support for various forms of learning to participate

(a) further develop and extend training for participation within formal education systems (in conjunction with the objectives approved under the open method of coordination as applied to education);

(b) encourage the development of activities in the field of non-formal and informal education that promote the active participation of young people;

(c) further develop interaction between formal, non-formal and informal education;

(d) foster the development of experience of participation where young people live their lives: in particular within the family, at school, in youth organisations, at university, at other places of education or training and at work, in sporting and leisure time contexts;

(e) recognise the important role of persons working with young people and facilitating their learning to participate and develop training actions in this field;

(f) promote and increase awareness of the benefits to all of the participation of committed young people and combat prejudices against young people which prevent them from playing an effective part;

(g) analyse more carefully the phenomena which lead to the civic exclusion of certain groups and encourage approaches focused on prevention.

INFORMATION

1. Access for young people to information services

(a) promote, at the appropriate levels, the development in Member States of comprehensive, coherent and coordinated information services which take account of the specific needs of young people and are as youth friendly and economically accessible as possible;

(b) facilitate equal access of all young people to information, while avoiding any form of discrimination or exclusion based on economic, social, gender, cultural or geographical grounds;

(c) encourage the development of national, regional and local youth portals linked to the European Youth Portal.

2. Quality information

(a) monitor the quality of youth information, taking existing instruments into account (e.g. good practices and the ERYICA's European Youth Information Charter);

(b) improve the education and training of those working in the field of youth information;

(c) improve the link between information and counselling, with the aim of encouraging a learning and capacity-building process among young people on how to obtain, select and evaluate information in order to become informed users of information;

(d) promote the dissemination of specific information for young people through all information channels, particularly those most frequently used by young people, such as the Internet, mobile phones, video films and cinema.

3. Participation by young people in information

(a) promote the participation of youth organisations and people working in the area of youth information at European, national, regional and local level in the preparation and implementation of youth information strategies;

(b) promote involvement by young people in the preparation of understandable, user-friendly, targeted information products, so as to improve the quality of the information and access for all young people;

(c) encourage greater involvement by young people in the dissemination of information and advice (particularly in youth information centres, schools, youth organisations and the media), in order to help all young people to access information.