Experts meet for Youth Forum discussion on free movement for youth

© Caitlin Regan

A group of experts, policymakers, NGOs and youth representatives met in Brussels this week (Tuesday, December 2nd) to debate barriers to youth mobility.

The panel discussion, organised by the European Youth Forum, brought together key stakeholders to discuss ‘Free Movement for Youth: Knocking Down the Barriers’. Mobility of young people and the freedom to move across borders are key priorities for the European Youth Forum, which advocates for easier, less restrictive EU regulations on youth mobility.

The panel discussion included, Ilze Briede, from the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs in Latvia, Sebastien Stetter, the European Commission and Brian Jurczik-Arnold, from exchange organisation, EEE-YFU. Central to the discussion was the Revision of the Visa Directive, which sets the conditions for how non-EU nationals can come into the European Union for research, study, exchange, training, volunteering or au-pairing.

Cecilia Wikstrom, MEP, commented: “We are still waiting for the Council to finalise their position in order to enter negotiations, and we are concerned with the development in the Council where it seems several member states would be in favour of deleting the additional categories and only keep students and researchers. I sincerely hope that we can find an agreement on this directive in not too long and that the result will make young people all over the world feel welcomed and wanted in Europe, because we need them!”

EU Commission representative Sebastien Stetter agreed: “This has been ongoing for more than a year and a half, which indicates how difficult the talks are on this. Discussions are highly political, not just technical… but the Commission will under no circumstances lower the scope of what’s already been agreed.”

A clear consensus emerged from the floor as to the benefits of youth mobility, and the Youth Forum strongly agrees. Free movement of young people provides a vital contribution to employability, development of skills, improvement of educational curricula and intercultural understanding both in Europe and internationally. EU member states must act quickly to reduce the overly bureaucratic restrictions that still act as barriers to youth mobility, and ensure that Visa regulations are modernised, reflecting the needs of all the target groups, including volunteers, pupils, and trainees.

As part of our ongoing advocacy on this issue, the Youth Forum was also happy to launch our ‘Freedom of Movement’ website, which provides detailed information on the state of current EU legislation, as well as testimonies of young people’s personal experiences. Secretary-General Allan Päll argued that it was important that “discussions on mobility were not always too abstract – we need to include the human element to these stories.”

Share your story online and find out more about the European Youth Forum’s work on mobility and free movement, here.