The European Commission is organized by thematic Directorate Generals. The Directorate General for Education Youth Sport and Culture (DG EAC) is responsible for EU policy on education, youth, sport, culture and the related EU funding programs. DG EAC's youth activities aim to give young people a voice and a stake in society, strengthening dialogue with policy makers and ensuring they are represented in EU policy-making. Initiatives in support of this include the Erasmus+ program, which promotes the ideals of citizenship, solidarity, and tolerance among citizens from 13-30 through a variety of projects, voluntary activities, and exchange schemes. DG EAC's youth-related activities are framed by the EU Youth Strategy for 2019-2027 designed to promote the participation of youth in society, and ensure equal opportunities for young people in work and education. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvOmo4RGxU

Thus, the Commission proposes a new EU Youth Strategy to mark the joint commitment between the Commission and Member States to this policy in full respect of subsidiarity. To align youth policy even more effectively with EU funding supporting its objectives, the strategy should run until the end of the next Multiannual Financial Framework. Its priorities draw upon solid data sources11, an external evaluation12, positions expressed by European institutions and consultations carried out in 2017 as part of the 'Year of Listening'13 and the ‘New Narrative for Europe’14. These unanimously underline that EU youth cooperation has brought tangible benefits and point to its potential. The new strategy will build on the achievements of the previous one, improving its accessibility, visibility and impact to ensure a better participation of young people.

The aim of the 6th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue - Youth in Europe: What’s next? which took place in 2017/2018 – was to collect voices of young people and contribute together to creating the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027. As a result, eleven European Youth Goals were developed. These goals reflect the views of European youth and represent the vision of those active in the EU Youth Dialogue:

-Connecting EU with Youth

-Equality of All Genders

-Inclusive Societies

-Information & Constructive Dialogue

-Mental Health & Wellbeing

-Moving Rural Youth Forward

-Quality Employment for All

-Quality Learning

-Space and Participation for All

-Sustainable Green Europe

-Youth Organisations & European Programmes

The EU Youth Strategy should contribute to realising this vision of young people by mobilising EU level policy instruments as well as actions at national, regional and local level by all stakeholders.

The European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Mr Tibor Navracsics, provides the political leadership for the Education and Culture Directorate General (DG EAC), executing the mandate of the President and answering to the College of Commissioners, which is itself held accountable to the European Parliament.

The EU Youth Strategy provides the overarching framework for this cooperation amongst EU Member States and the European countries participating in the Erasmus+ programme. The Strategy identifies priorities and establishes instruments to reach the agreed goals.

The current EU Youth Strategy was agreed by Ministers in November 2018 and runs until 2027. 

The EU Youth Strategy has three overall objectives:

Engage – fostering a meaningful civic, economic, social, cultural and political participation of young people.

Connect – supporting connections, relations and exchange of experiences among young people also through mobility.

Empower – encouraging young people to take charge of their own lives through their engagement in quality youth work.

How the main objectives are achieved?

The EU Youth Strategy establishes several instruments to help national and EU authorities pursue the objectives of policy cooperation and progress. Among them, three are directly supported by the Youth Wiki:

Mutual learning between Member States, the European Commission and relevant stakeholders. By creating a space for sharing policy practices and national experiences, the Youth Wiki offers countries valuable knowledge of others' initiatives and actions and facilitates mutual learning amongst national policy-makers, experts in the youth policy field, and national and European stakeholders.

Targets of EU Strategy 2020 are:

1. Employment:

- 75% of people aged 20–64 to be in work

Research and development (R&D)

- 3% of the EU's GDP to be invested in R&D

2. Climate change and energy:

- greenhouse gas emissions 20% lower than 1990 levels

- 20% of energy coming from renewables

- 20% increase in energy efficiency

3. Education :

- rates of early school leavers below 10%

- at least 40% of people aged 30–34 having completed higher education

4.Poverty and social exclusion :

- at least 20 million fewer people in – or at risk of – poverty/social exclusion

Developing and implementing policies

The European Commission develops and implements EU policies by

 -proposing laws to the European Parliament and Council of the European Union

-helping EU countries implement EU legislation

-managing the EU's budget and allocating funding

-ensuring that EU law is complied with together with the Court of Justice

-representing the EU outside Europe together with the EU's diplomatic service, the European External Action Service

EU policies are designed to bring benefits to citizens, businesses and other stakeholders in the EU. Commission initiatives for new policies have to be agreed on internally according to a set procedure.

Better regulation tools ensure that each new policy is based on evidence and best available practice.

3.1. Working across sectors

The situation of youth in Europe is diverse and marked by challenges to be addressed in different policy areas. Despite positive trends such as greater participation in higher education, a drop in the share of those leaving school early and decreasing (though still high) youth unemployment rates29, big challenges, often inter-related, persist. Among these are very high youth unemployment in certain Member States, regions and groups, growing youth poverty, precarious employment, unequal access to quality education or health issues.

In this context, tackling youth unemployment and high rates of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) has been an EU priority, supported by specific initiatives: more than 3.5 million young people have benefitted each year from the Youth Guarantee launched in 2013. The European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative together invest €14.5 billion directly in youth employment measures from 2014 to 2020. Despite progress, the EU Youth Strategy and the evaluation report on the Youth Guarantee implementation in Member States emphasised the need to build bridges between the youth and employment sectors and to reach out more effectively to NEETs facing multiple barriers. In addition, the Action Plan on the integration of third-country nationals30 and the Communication on the protection of children in migration31 acknowledged the importance of supporting the integration of young migrants and refugees.

Not all eight fields of action32 delivered similarly positive results; according to the evaluation they were too broad. No Member State addressed all of these fields, as they did not have the same relevance across the board.

To increase effectiveness, the Commission proposes a two-fold approach:

1) Strengthen the youth perspective across policy areas at EU level, by:

- Ensuring the concerns of young people are heard in EU policy making, notably through an EU Youth Coordinator who would be a European Commission contact and visible reference point for young people. The EU Youth Coordinator's mission would be to provide advice on youth policy to the Commissioner in charge; to help ensure coordination and coherence, and raise awareness of the EU's action in the area in close co-operation with EU institutions and agencies as well as with Member States; and to share outcomes of the EU Youth Dialogue and give feedback to young people, including via the European Youth Portal and the EU Youth Strategy Platform

- Enhancing transparency on EU action for young people, including tracking of EU spending on young people;

- Promoting participatory models of policy-making involving young people, such as Youth Policy Labs;

- Supporting Member States in developing youth policies, through gathering evidence, mutual learning and sharing good practices, including new tools such as peer reviews and peer counselling;

- Contributing via youth cooperation instruments such as mutual learning, evidence, the Coordinator or the Dialogue, to cross-sectoral initiatives for youth, such as the Youth Guarantee, the European Apprentices Network and the Tartu call for a Healthy Lifestyle

2) Sharpen the strategy's focus: the Commission invites Member States to concentrate on targeted actions translating EU priorities into the national context, to be identified in National Action Plans.

Summary

Young people have legitimate ambitions for their future in Europe. In turn, Europe needs to offer them better life chances and act upon their concerns.

The strategy will forge a stronger link between the EU and young people through inclusive and digital ways of dialogue, bring effective results through focused priorities and actions, and provide a more effective structure to capture and transmit young people's ideas and share information about actions taken in their favour.

All this will be supported by stronger links to EU funds. The Youth Strategy will also seek greater ownership by stakeholders through more youth involvement and new platforms at EU level and beyond. Flexible setting of priorities and implementation at EU level will make it more relevant for local realities, while respecting the competences of every level of governance, and with the support of the European Commission.

The Commission invites the Council to endorse the proposed EU Youth Strategy for 2019- 2027, building also on the Youth Goals proposed during the EU Youth Conference in April 2018.

The Council is further invited to adopt a Work Plan for 2019-2021, taking into account the measures proposed in this Communication and elaborated in the Staff Working Document on the results of the open method of coordination. 

Open ended questions

1. Find out how your country contributes to implementing the EU Strategy.

2. How do youth organizations contribute to EU strategy in your country?

3. What are the challenges of implementing EU Youth Strategy in your country?

4. Research the achievements of contributing to implementing EU Youth Strategy in your country for 2010-2018.

5. Describe how you personally can contribute to EU youth Strategy.