Youth and European Social Work Forum - Encouraging young people

YES Forum 2017 Policy Event , 23-24 November “Reconciling the European project with youth – An open dialogue”

REPORT Even though the socio-economic situation in the has been improving, a crucial issue remains to be solved in order to secure the long term prospects of the EU: the “widened gap among youth” which has not left the European public scene for a decade. Despite new European Union initiatives for youth, 57% of young Europeans still report feeling excluded from economic and social life1.

This widening gap among youth represents a major blunt for the EU itself: an increasing proportion of youth, which the EU still fails to reach, is losing interest in, or turning its back to the European project and its values. This trend, if left unsolved, may very well prove fatal to the European Union in the long-term.

That is why the YES Forum organised its 2017 Policy Event in Brussels on 23rd November under the theme “Reconciling the European project with youth – An open dialogue”. Through this event, practitioners from the youth field, young people themselves and EU policy and decision-makers could share their respective views on the best way forward in the promotion of a more inclusive European Union for youth.

On 24th November, these discussions were followed by reflexions by YES Forum member and partner organisations focused on the future of the YES Forum, and its roles in overcoming the current challenges in the field of youth.

On the following pages, you can find a brief summary of the discussions that were held during these two days.

1 European Youth in 2016, European Parliamentary Research Service [Online].

Youth and European Social Work Forum - Encouraging young people

Panel Session 1 | Reaching youth in all its diversity How to reconcile the European project with all youth before it is too late?

During the first session, participants discussed the remaining gap between the European Union and a large proportion of youth, and the current and future solutions which could, by bringing European youth, the youth field, and the European Union institutions closer, improve this situation.

Guest speakers:  Adrian, young participant from YES Forum’s member organisation Nevo Parudimos (Romania)  MEP Rainer Wieland, Vice-President of the (EPP, DE)  Christina Altides, Acting Head of of the European Youth Event Unit, European Parliament  Christopher Glück, President of the Young European Federalists – JEF Europe  Annica Ryngbeck, Policy and Advocacy Adviser at Social Platform  Ronald de Haan, Board Member of the YES Forum and Director of Jongerenwerk Barkema en De Haan

The panel session began by involving the audience, composed by a large share of young Europeans. Introductory “Live Polls” revealed that even though most of the participants, young or “not-so-young”, feel they are European citizens and share a common destiny, an important generational gap remains: a large majority of “older” participants declared that they feel involved in EU politics, while the younger part of the audience disagreed. Tom, a young British participant under 18, explained that in his particular case, he was not able to vote for a crucial EU issue: the referendum on Brexit.

Afterward, the panellists were invited to express their opinion on this issue. MEP Rainer Wieland, Vice-President of the European Union (EPP, DE), explained that according to him, the responsibility for this gap between youth and the EU is shared: on the one hand, politics needs to go to EU citizens, but on the other hand, EU citizens have to go to politics too.

Different recent developements on the EU stage were then discussed. Annica Ryngbeck from the civil society organisation Social Platform, perceives a positive trend in that field: the European Union, together with the European civil society, has developped new methodologies to better involve youth and listen to young Europeans. Among these, Christopher Glück, President of the Young European Federalists (JEF Europe), talked in particular about the Structured Dialogue, a formal consultative process allowing EU decision-makers to listen to youth through conferences, meetings, debates involving civil society organisations. He added, however, that the process suffers an important deficit: it is not binding for the Commission, as it can also disregard these consultations’ results.

The discussions then shifted to another positive example of how the European Union can better reach youth: the European Youth Event. Christina Altides from the European Youth Event Unit of the European Parliament presented this still recent intitiative: every two years since 2014, the European Parliament invites thousands of young Europeans – with no need to be formally involved in a civil society organisation for instance – to discuss issues of common interest in , and suggest their own proposals on

Youth and European Social Work Forum - Encouraging young people

how to tackle these. She observes a growing interest since the first edition of the EYE, and explained that the European Parliament is willing to improve the EYE so that it can involve more young people. For instance, a new “Youth Outreach” Unit was created at the European Parliament, and a specific new idea emerged to help grassroot youth organisations promoting EU awareness: the European Parliament is now providing support to youth organisations across Europe to help them organising “Mini-EYEs” at the local level.

Ronald de Haan, Board Member of the YES Forum and director of a Dutch youth organisation, shared his enthusiasm in regard to the EYE, following his participation with a group of young people in 2016, and in reaction to the new “Mini-EYEs” possibility. To improve the inclusiveness of the EYE, and promote diversity among its audience, Ronald also suggested one specific solution: that the European Parliament could invite targetted youth organisations, especially those working with youngsters suffering of or at risk of exclusion, to ensure a better representation of youth in the EYE.

Finally, Ronald stressed on another aspect of the issue, following a reaction of the audience. Even though, as MEP Rainer Wieland explained, youth lacks interest in the EU, the status quo can be avoided: youth work can indeed play a crucial in arousing the interest in the EU of young Europeans thanks to its expertise in promoting EU and political awareness, but also needs the support of the EU institutions to be able to carry out this most needed mission. The lack of funding in the youth field, examplified by a large majority of non-approved quality Erasmus+ project applications but also observable at the national level, was raised as a clear obstacle to that mission.

Panel Session 2 | The European Solidarity Corps Part of the solution, future of the EU support to youth, or old wine in a new bottle?

The second panel session focused on the most recent initiative of the European Commission in the field of youth, the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), and its potential contribution to tackling the issues addressed during the first panel session by reaching more young people.

Guest speakers:  Pleun, young participant from YES Forum’s member organisation Stichting Go (Netherlands)  Robert France, European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Head of sector “Erasmus+: Youth”  Frédérique Chabaud, European Parliament, Political Adviser, Greens/EFA  Matteo Adduci, European Parliament, Assistant to MEP Brando Benifei (S&D, IT)  Pavel Trantina, EESC, President of the Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship

The session was introduced by Robert France, Head of the sector “Erasmus+: Youth” in the Directorate-General “Education and Culture” of the European Commission. He started by presenting the state of the art: the ESC started through a single online platform matching young interested Europeans with already existing mobility opportunities (EVS and internships through Erasmus+ for instance), and a legislative proposal is now being negotiated by the European Parliament and Council of the EU in order to provide a legal basis and own funds to the ESC. More details on the framework proposed by the European Commission can be found here.

Youth and European Social Work Forum - Encouraging young people

Robert France then presented additional details of this initiative through which the EC aims at reaching 100 000 placements by 2020. He explained that, following a public consultation, two main concerns were included by the Commission: Quality placements and Inclusion. To make the ESC inclusive, and build upon the European Voluntary Service implemented through Erasmus+ so far, several innovations were included: the ESC will for instance fund volunteering teams, and not only individual mobilities, and will also dedicate a budget to fund initiatives of young Europeans at the local level, without necessarily a transnational aspect. Moreover, he stressed on one key ambition of the Commission: bringing “fresh money” to reach a budget of EUR 341.5 million between 2018-2020. Thanks to 25% of such “fresh money”, the Commission hopes to increase the number of opportunities created by the ESC compared to its predecessors by 40%.

Then the panelists expressed the positions of the other EU institutions in regard to the ESC. Pavel Trantina, from the European Economic and Social Committee, explained that his institution regrets a lack of prior consultation by President Jean-Claude Juncker among the European Commission itself before announcing this initiative. He added that the EESC would like to clearly distinguish the ESC in two strands: volunteering on the one hand, and employability on the other hand. The EESC also wants to complement the ESC with further initiatives for the establishment of a coherent eu volunteering policy, which would promote not only “full-time” volunteering through funded placements, but also local volunteering for a few hours a week by all EU citizens, a much more common way of civic engagement.

Both presenting the discussions currently undergoing on the ESC in the European Parliament, Frédérique Chabaud, Political Adviser for the Greens/EFA and Matteo Adduci, Assistant to MEP Brando Benifei (S&D, IT), the on the ESC in the EMPL Committee, shared common concerns about the quality of the placements which will be implemented through the ESC. For instance, how to guarantee that volunteering placements will not replace potential jobs? The EP is also pushing for a more ambitious budget, beyond the announced 25% of “fresh money”.

Asked about her needs if she was preparing to become an ESC volunteer, Pleun, a young participant from YES Forum’s member organisation Stichting Go (Netherlands), explained that she would need real support: she would expect to meet a youth worker and be accompanied in the various steps involved in preparing such an experience, from the logistics (e.g. checking the itinerary, buying her tickets) to the psychological support (e.g. preparing for the intercultural shock, to integrate in a new country). To be really inclusive for all youth, the ESC should provide such support to the young applicants needing help to get involved.

Frédérique Chabaud added that MEP Helga Trüpel (Greens/EFA, DE), the rapporteur on the ESC in the CULT Commission of the European Parliament, would like to dedicate the programme to young people with less opportunities, in need of being accompanied. Still regarding the inclusiveness of the future ESC, Robert France pointed out that the European Commission is willing to make the reimbursement of actual costs for future inclusive ESC projects easier than it was with EVS.

Regarding the timing of the legislative procedure, the European Parliament scheduled a committee vote during the second half of January 2018. Upon its final adoption during the following plenary session of the European Parliament, and provided the Council of the EU doesn’t modify the EP’s position, the ESC could be implemented later on in 2018.

Finally, concluding the two Policy Event sessions on 23rd November, Pleun advocated for more investment in European youth: “A little bit more money is worth it. We [Young people] are the future”.

Youth and European Social Work Forum - Encouraging young people

Party | YES Forum’s 15th Anniversary

Following the panel sessions, YES Forum members, partners and youngsters were all invited to celebrate the network’s 15th Anniversary in the evening of 23rd November.

It was the perfect opportunity to take stock of the last 15 years and look back at past achievements and developments in the YES Forum, but also to prepare the next 15 years by collecting ideas for future developments.

24th November | YES Forum’s own “Transition to adulthood” – Preparing the next 15 years

On 24th November, YES Forum member and partner organisations also gathered to focus on the future of the YES Forum.

Following a 2 years process of discussion on how to create more financial stability for the YES Forum, the new, additional, legal entity YES Innovation and Research, was presented to all participants, and officially founded, followed by the election of its Board of Directors and Steering Committee. It will complement the YES Forum’s work by providing a new, innovative and more flexible toolbox for future projects in the field of youth. First ideas on this issue were discussed with the members at the GA in Finland, 2016. Based on the members’ feedback and taking legal advice from a law firm, the board together with secretariat staff elaborated several options. At the GA in May 2016, the concept of founding an additional legal entity was presented and agreed by members.

In addition, participants prepared the YES Forum’s future developments. They reviewed the ideas collected the day before during the party to turn them into concrete plans for the future, and discussed potential future projects, project ideas between the YES Forum Secretariat and its members, as well as possible collaborations among member organisations themselves. All these results will, moreover, feed into the YES Forum Strategy for the upcoming years.