Concerns raised over Youth Convention

Date: 08/05/02

PRESSURE groups are warning that a special Youth Convention being set up by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing risks becoming a mere 'public relations' exercise.

The body will include 210 young people, aged 18 to 25, and is due to convene for the first time at the European Parliament on 9-10 July.

Jean-Luc Dehaene, vice-president of the 'adult' Convention, has appealed to youth organisations to take part but, even before it meets, the body has come under fire from several youth groups. One organisation fears it will turn out to be no more than a cosmetic exercise while others express concern about the process for choosing its members.

'Until now, the European integration process has been lamentably bad at engaging the interest of the young citizens of Europe,' said Alison Weston of the European Youth Forum. 'The Youth Convention proposed by Giscard offers a real opportunity to open up the debate and bring young people into the discussion on the future of Europe.'

She added: 'It can only do that, though, if it is allowed to be more than a mere public relations exercise for Convention members.

'We have noted with some concern the attempts to sideline in the selection process existing youth groups and networks which represent tens of millions of young people.'

Kristian Groth, of Copenhagen-based 4Trend, voiced concern about the make-up of a selection board set up by the 'adult' Convention's European Parliamentary delegation to choose its representatives.

'The board has no members of the same age as the people they have to select and we fear that its members have no feeling of what goes on among people in Europe,' she said.

A spokesman for Young European Federalists said: 'If the Convention is to achieve its goal, it should make use of existing youth structures to maximise its impact.'

Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, spokesman for the full Convention, said: 'The Youth Convention is a real attempt to encourage debate on Europe's future among young people. The appointment of its representatives, however, is largely a matter for members of the 'adult' Convention in cooperation with national youth organisations.'

Pressure groups are warning that a special Youth Convention being set up by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing risks becoming a mere 'public relations' exercise.