The European Parliament adopted by 604 votes to 25, with 68 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European Year of Youth 2022.
The European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amends the Commission's proposal as follows:
Objectives
The overall objective of the European Year will be to boost the efforts of the Union, the Member States and regional and local authorities, together with civil society actors, to empower, honour, support and engage with young people, including those with fewer opportunities, in a post-COVID-19 pandemic perspective with a view to having a long-term positive impact for young people.
In particular, the European Year should aim to:
- renew the positive perspectives for young people, with a particular focus on the negative effects that the COVID-19 pandemic had on them, while highlighting how the green transition, the digital transition and other Union policies offer opportunities for young people and for society at large;
- empower and support young people, including through youth work, especially young people with fewer opportunities, young people from disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds, young people belonging to vulnerable and marginalised groups, young people from rural, remote, peripheral and less-developed areas and young people from outermost regions, to acquire relevant knowledge and competences and thus become active and engaged citizens and actors of change, inspired by a European sense of belonging, including additional efforts at building capacity for youth participation and civic engagement among young people and among all stakeholders that work to represent their interests and involving the contribution of young people from diverse backgrounds in key consultation processes, such as the Conference on the Future of Europe and the EU Youth Dialogue process;
- support young people to acquire a better understanding of, and actively promote the various opportunities available to them from, public policies at Union, national, regional and local level;
- mainstream youth policy across all relevant Union policy fields in line with the 2019-2027 European Union Youth Strategy to encourage the bringing of a youth perspective into policy-making at all levels.
Types of measures
The measures to be taken to achieve the objectives should include, inter alia:
- organise conferences, events, both cultural or otherwise, and policy initiatives targeting young people to promote an inclusive and accessible debate on challenges, that young people, including those with fewer opportunities and belonging to vulnerable groups, face, such as their social situation, access to education and training, and working conditions;
- promote youth participation and enhance the use of existing and new innovative tools, channels and programmes that enable all young people to reach policy-makers by identifying, collecting and sharing experiences and good practice and raising awareness among policy-makers of those tools, channels and programmes;
- create spaces and tools for exchanges on turning challenges into opportunities and ideas into actions in an entrepreneurial spirit, while fostering creativity, community and cooperation;
- undertake studies and research on the situation of young people in the Union, paying particular attention to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, producing and using harmonised European statistics and other relevant Union-level data, and promoting and disseminating those results at the European, national or regional level;
- promote programmes, funding opportunities, projects, actions and networks of relevance to young people, including through social media and online communities.
The Commission and the Member States may identify other activities which could contribute to the objectives of the European Year and allow references to the European Year to be used as label in promoting those activities in so far as they contribute to achieving those objectives. The institutions and bodies of the Union and Member States may also identify such other activities and suggest them to the Commission.
Coordination at national and EU level
The national coordinators should ensure that young people, youth organisations and civil society organisations, including, where appropriate, national youth councils and other relevant actors, are actively involved in the co-creation, implementation and monitoring of the implementation of the European Year activities at national level.
The Commission should convene joint or separate meetings with stakeholders and representatives of organisations or bodies in the field of youth and national coordinators to assist in co-creating and implementing the European Year at Union level. It should establish strong links with the Council of Europe's 'Youth for Democracy - Democracy for Youth' campaign and with international youth organisations and networks.
Budget and co-financing
The European Parliament and the Council agree that the minimum operational budget for the implementation of the European Year of Youth (2022) shall be set at EUR 8 million. Of that amount, EUR 3 million will come from the annual budget for 2022 of the European Solidarity Corps and EUR 5 million will come from the annual budget for 2022 of the Erasmus + programme.
The Commission does not exclude that additional contributions from other EU programmes and instruments could be added to this amount of EUR 8 million.
The co-legislators are committed to ensuring that the European Year leaves a legacy beyond 2022. Without prejudice to the powers of the budgetary authority, any additional funding beyond 2022 should be identified within the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027.