Youth policy: Youth in action programme for 2007-2013

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Lissy GRÖNER (PES, DE)by 542 votes in favour, 76 against 12 abstentions and made some amendments to the proposal. (Please see the document dated 12/09/2004.) Parliament proposed EUR 1.128 billion as opposed to the Commission’s proposal of EUR 915 million budget. Parliament also called for the following:

-project funding to be paid within four months by the Commission as a rule;

-the programme is aimed at young people between the ages of 13 and 30, but Parliament felt that the main target group should be people aged 15-28;

-young people with disabilities must be included on equal terms so as to prevent any form of discrimination;

-the specific aims of the programme should be extended to include "encouraging the participation of young people in the democratic life of Europe" and opening up opportunities for the exercise of active citizenship. The promotion of language-learning should also be explicitly mentioned;

-to help reinforce social cohesion, the programme should also aim to "promote tolerance among young people in response to diversity";

-the programme must promote sport and cultural activities as a means of fostering social integration, tolerance and non-discrimination;

-it must also provide informal educational opportunities with a European dimension and open up innovative opportunities in connection with the exercise of active citizenship;

-the Commission and participating countries must consult the European Parliament, young people, youth organisations and other organisations entrusted with project implementation with a view to defining the programme's aims and its evaluation;

-the Commission must respect the principle of proportionality in determining the requirements in relation to the amount of financial support, taking account of the characteristics of the participants, their age, the nature of the action and the amount of financial support;

-the minimum annual funding for the European Youth Forum should be EUR 2.2 million rather than EUR 2 million as proposed by the Commission;

-Parliament proposed a different weighting of budget funds for the various actions and therefore inserted an indicative financial endowment of 30% (of the total costs for all five actions, for the period 2007-2013) for Action 1, 23% for Action 2, 4% for Action 3, 15% for Action 4 and 4% for Action 5;

-in the interest of the sustainability and continuity of youth organisations founded in accordance with Decision 790/2004/EC, the minimum annual allocation under Action 4.1 shall be EUR 2,6 million.

-in view of the success of European Youth Week, Parliament felt that this event should become an established part of youth policy, focusing on: information on the work of the European institutions, activities enabling young people to inform MEPs of their concerns and a prize-giving for the best youth projects promoted by the Youth programme;

-in order to present good practices and model projects, a database shall be established containing information about existing ideas concerning youth activities at European level.