Parliament’s Youth Intergroup meet for the second time

Yesterday (16th June) youth was a major focus in the European Parliament, kicking off with Commissioner Tibor Navracsics intervening on youth issues, followed by the second meeting of the Youth Intergroup.

Commissioner Navracsics, addressing the Education and Culture Committee, had an exchange of views which highlighted that in the past education policy has focused on the employability of young people, but that following the terrorist attacks in Paris, Copenhagen and Brussels, there is an increasing need to foster the democratic “socialisation” of young people through citizenship education and promoting democratic values through education institutions and school curricula. He announced that in line with the “Post Paris Process”, the meeting of EU Education Ministers in Paris on 17 March, the Commission will prioritise actions within the Erasmus+ budget to support initiatives on social inclusion and citizenship education.

The European Youth Forum fully agrees with the importance of tackling the root-causes of exclusion and extremism leading to violence or terrorism. However, we are concerned about the way in which this is becoming a main priority of European youth policy and that a negative view focusing on a very small minority of young people risks further stigmatising and discriminating against all young people.

The Youth Intergroup, composed of Members of Parliament, from various committees and political groups, met for the second time, along with youth organisations. The Intergroup, co-chaired by MEPs Eider Gardiazabal Rubial (S&D), Eva Paunova (EPP) and Terry Reintke (Greens/ EFA) discussed the work plan, focusing on Employment and Social Affairs, Education and Digital Agenda, as well as Investments. MEPs will form working groups – which will include youth organisations - on these topics. The working groups will work in parallel and feed into the Youth Intergroup’s work and will aim to impact the Parliament’s agenda. The Intergroup plans on – subject to financial support from MEPs - creating a full-time secretariat in due course.

The European Youth Forum is pleased to see the Youth Intergroup is moving ahead. This Intergroup, through the hard work and involvement of MEPs, is a vital way that by taking an approach across all the topics that affect young people, youth policy can be at the top of the Parliament’s agenda. The Youth Forum remains a fully committed partner of the Youth Intergroup. Finally, we hope that MEPs will give the financial support needed to create a Secretariat that will ensure the effective working of the Intergroup, making it become an engine for ideas, civil society engagement, policy discussions and agenda-setting on youth issues within the Parliament and beyond.