European Parliament adopts positive though limited investments for young people in 2014-2020

Strasbourg, 19 November 2013 // The European Parliament has voted today in favour of two important tools for young people in the next budget period covering 2014 to 2020. The European Youth Forum welcomes the European Parliament for its inclusive process regarding the Erasmus+ programme and the Multiannual Financial Framework reports. It remains concerned however by some of the measures adopted which remain limited in scope and require an on-going participation of youth organisations in order to be successful.

The approval of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) paves the way for effective European funding programmes directed at youth, in particular with the adoption of the new Erasmus+ programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, the initiatives regarding youth employment, including the Youth Employment Initiative and the €6 billion for the EU Youth Guarantee scheme or national measures related to youth employment. However as Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum, comments “the current agreed support for the Youth Employment Initiative is only assigned €6 billion over 7 years, well below the €21 billion per year required for an effective Youth Guarantee according to the International Labour Organisation.”

On the Erasmus+ programme, Matjašič points out that: “The Committee for Culture and Education has delivered a balanced text, of great quality, taking stakeholders’ concerns into account”. The addition of a Youth Chapter and its budget line is a great victory for youth organisations and the European Parliament. It acknowledges that investing in youth is not limited to the employment field and that the inclusion of a structural support for European civil society organisations is a leap forward compared to the Commission’s original proposal. We are certain that the work youth organisations have done so far under former EU programmes has been politically recognised and will be sustained. Among other crucial elements; the European Parliament has also supported the recognition of non-formal education and the acknowledgment of an individual, organisational and systemic impact of the programme .

By allocating only 0.8% of the total budget to education and youth-related issues, investment remains nevertheless timid within the current MFF. “It is disappointing to see that youth mainstreaming is not mentioned in financial terms in the MFF regulation,” the President of the European Youth Forum added.

ENDS