Youth participation: What would the EU ministers do?!

Monday 18th May: follow the ministers debate & react live using #YouthParticipation!

Invite your friends to our Facebook event.

For the first time ever, the 28 EU Ministers responsible for youth will meet to publicly discuss youth participation. The good news is that YOU can be part of it! The Youth Forum invites YOU to tune in to the livestream of the EU Ministers’ High Level Policy Debate (HLPD) on “Empowering young people for political participation in the democratic life in Europe” on Monday 18th May between 3.30pm and 5.3 pm and to comment on it live via social media.

Since July 2014 - within the context of the Structured Dialogue - more than 40,000 young people from all over Europe have been discussing with decision-makers how to empower young people for political participation in democratic life. In two successive EU Youth Conferences, youth representatives and decision-makers jointly transformed the vast amount of input received into a set of concrete proposals such as the implementation of voting at 16, the reinforcement of citizenship education and the need for alternative and innovative forms of political participation. The ministers will discuss way to address the challenge of youth empowerment for political participation.

Young people must have a voice in this debate! The Latvian Presidency and the Youth Forum invite YOU to react live on the debate of the Ministers with the hashtag ♯YouthParticipation.

To give the opportunity to more young people to take part in the debate, please promote it in your own networks and on your social media accounts via our Facebook event.

We will also be covering the debate:

Follow the Youth Forum on Facebook & Twitter.

Follow the Latvian Presidency on Facebook and Twitter. (accounts dedicated to the EU Youth Conference):

Read more:

- The Structured Dialogue:

The Structured Dialogue with young people originates from the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field adopted in 2009. Since then, this tool of joint reflection on the development of youth policy, which is meant to engage equally young people and decision-makers, has been repeatedly revised. The current Team Presidency of Italy, Latvia and Luxembourg decided to further strengthen the link between Structured Dialogue and processes taking place in the Council.

As a part of this initiative, Ministers responsible for youth will come together for a HLPD and discuss on the theme of Structured Dialogue, thereby providing political directions and feedback on the proposals jointly drafted by young people and decision-makers. Eventually, the draft proposals will be refined in the light of the feedback provided and they will be adopted as joint recommendations during the final EU Youth Conference in Luxembourg, concluding the 4th Cycle of Structured Dialogue.