European Youth Forum Gathers Support for Youth Rights at Party of European Socialists Congress

Today (1 March 2014) the European Youth Forum gathered support from more than 30 Party of European Socialists (PES) MEPs and candidates for its LoveYouthFuture campaign, which aims to get candidates for May’s elections to sign up to the Youth Forum’s pledges committing the next European Parliament to ensuring youth rights.

The European Youth Forum attended the PES Congress in Rome and received strong support for its election campaign “LoveYouthFuture”. LoveYouthFuture aims to get candidates for the European Parliament to commit to push for youth rights and make Europe a better place to live, study and work for young people. The Youth Forum has already signed up more than 70 candidates to its pledges from all the main political parties.

The European Youth Forum firmly believes that the EU has a crucial role to play in improving the lives of young people. Young people’s rights have been overridden during the economic crisis and the prolongation of the austerity measures. Therefore the upcoming elections and a new Parliament represent a great opportunity to ensure a Europe which is truly pro-youth and to make sustainable investments in measures which will give young people full access to their rights.

Rather than turning to inward-looking nationalism, Member States should seek to solve Europe-wide problems, such as unemployment, job security and mobility through Europe-wide solutions. That is why we are now urging MEPs and candidates to sign our pledges and to commit to ensuring the rights of young people to have access to jobs, quality education and free movement, in a Europe where they can define their own future.

The LoveYouthFuture campaign includes pledges on protection for young workers, volunteers and interns; quality education; the implementation of the Youth Guarantee; reducing barriers to the mobility of young people; as well as encouraging Member States to lower the voting age to 16.

Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum, comments:

“We are thrilled to have received such strong support from PES MEPs and candidates for our LoveYouthFuture campaign. We firmly believe that this coming Parliament will have the opportunity to create a sustainable future for Europe’s young people, through investing in youth rights. It is a sad reality that almost one in four young Europeans are unemployed and many others struggle to access to quality jobs. Solutions for Europe-wide problems such as these, have to be found at a European level.”

In the most recent European elections in 2009, youth absenteeism was very high – almost 65 per cent – even though young people feel more European than the older generations. According to a recent League of Young Voters report[1] this absenteeism is mainly due to the fact that European political parties do not focus enough on young people in their campaigns and do not put forward policies related to youth issues. In order to tackle this youth issues need to be given more prominence during electoral campaigns and that is why the Youth Forum is urging MEPs and candidates to sign up its LoveYouthFuture pledges and make this a reality.

Emer Costello, MEP, said: “I am delighted to welcome the European Youth Forum to the PES Congress. This forum plays a vital role in voicing the concerns and issues that face young people in Europe. As an MEP I have worked hard with the PES political family on campaigning for a European Youth Guarantee. The single greatest crisis facing Europe is youth unemployment. The Youth a Guarantee will help tackle this problem and provide the 5M young unemployed people in Europe with hope and certainty of a better future. I look forward to seeing the European Youth Forum continue on with its important work of seeking a better Europe for young people. I support their pledge for the European elections and encourage all other PES MEP candidates to sign it.”

At the PES Congress, the European Youth Forum also launched an animated video clip, which was viewed by MEPs, candidates and party activitsts during the event. To see the video go below.

[ENDS]

Notes to the editor:

About LoveYouthFuture

LoveYouthFuture is the European Youth Forum’s campaign to get MEPs to sign up to 11 pledges which outline how the European Parliament can show its love for young people, both now and in the future. More information on LoveYouthFuture can be found here www.loveyouthfuture.eu

About the European Youth Forum

The European Youth Forum is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Independent, democratic, youth-led, it represents 99 National Youth Councils and international youth organisations from across the continent. The Forum works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations towards the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. For more information, visit www.youthforum.org

[1] “Addressing Youth Absenteeism in European Elections” (Feb, 2014) http://www.youthforum.org/publication/adressing-youth-absenteeism-in-european-elections/