Getting a youthful perspective on life

Date: 04/09/1997

IF EU leaders feel weighed down by the knotty problems of intergovernmental cooperation, they should turn to young people for a shot of enthusiasm about European integration.

While much of their idealism is motivated by the prospect of broader horizons and easier travel around Europe - 'mobility' in Commission-speak - several youth organisations in Brussels are dedicated to influencing EU policy in other areas.

Unemployment is top of the list of young people's concerns, with joblessness rising rapidly in all member states except Denmark and Ireland.

The Brussels-based European Youth Forum, which represents around 100 youth organisations in the EU and beyond, says that youth unemployment runs at double the global rate of joblessness.

Young people have grown up with the problem and are sacrificing financial independence by staying in education to try to delay their entry into the world of work and increase their employability.

But the forum points out that, despite this overall trend, more than 14 million have no qualifications beyond compulsory schooling and 5 million of these have not even completed that education.

It has launched a campaign to highlight how the EU has failed the one in five young people who cannot find work.

Bénédicte Walter, of the forum, says that while the 318- million-ecu programme Youth Start - which funds training, acquisition of skills and job creation for the under-20s - works well, it is still quite small and little-known. And while employment is a key issue, what is needed is an all-encompassing youth programme at European level, extending beyond education and training.

Walter feels that European decision-makers do not always understand the role young people want to play. “They think in terms of doing something for them, not about how to involve them. Let us say from the beginning that we know what is good for us,” she insists.

She believes there is not a single Union policy area that does not affect young people. “There is no global youth policy at EU level and this is what we are desperately trying to get,” she says, pointing out that young people do not even get a mention in the treaty.

Walter complains that, for instance, the European Commission did not take on board the forum's comments on second-chance schools, which they fear could be divisive. “The idea is nice, but it could split students according to their money possibilities. We are very afraid about the way it could be implemented.”

In general, says Walter, policy-makers lump together young Europeans in the age group of 18 to 25, instead of recognising their diversity.

“Often young people are categorised as unemployed, dangerous or lazy.”

The forum itself represents a wide range of very different members from youth clubs and gay and lesbian groups to political organisations such as the Young Socialists.

It receives around 2 million ecu of EU money but is now facing a cut of 25&percent;. “There is a proposed reduction being discussed at the European Parliament,” says Walter.

“It is quite terrible and is going to reduce a lot of the work we do.”