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European Parliament
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General Programme "Fundamental rights and justice": specific programme "Fundamental rights and citizenship", 2007-2013

2005/0038(CNS)

The Council adopted a resolution on European citizenship. It states that the opinions and concerns of young people should be taken into account through both bottom-up and top-down dialogue processes, in order to ensure the inclusion of those aspects of young people's lives which they themselves consider relevant. It suggests that an informal forum composed of representatives of young people, the current and future Council Presidencies, the European Parliament and the Commission should be set up and should meet regularly, in order to ensure consistency and continuity between agendas in the youth field. The priority themes to be discussed until 2009 within this structured dialogue are social inclusion and diversity in 2007, intercultural dialogue in 2008 and perspectives for continued cooperation in the youth field in 2009. These issues should be discussed in parallel with the priority themes tackled under the Youth OMC and the European Youth Pact, as well as with horizontal priorities agreed upon in the youth field, such as antidiscrimination and health. These themes would be further defined by the Presidencies in accordance with their particular agendas.

For their part, the Member States are invited to:

  • identify, by the end of March 2007, those lines of action for participation and information on which they intend to concentrate and to define concrete measures and/or action plans for their implementation;
  • set up preparatory and follow-up mechanisms to ensure the effective implementation of the common objectives in cooperation with the relevant actors, inter alia young people, youth organisations, youth researchers and local and regional authorities;
  • promote the common objectives for participation and information amongst regional and local authorities, youth organisations and young people and closely cooperate with regional and local authorities in order to ensure the fullest possible implementation of those objectives;
  • indicate, when reporting on the common objectives for greater knowledge and understanding of youth at the end of 2008, how the identified lines of action for the common objectives for participation by and information for young people have been implemented.

The Council takes note that the Commission intends to launch a youth-specific Eurobarometer; mobilise European youth information networks1 to support the structured dialogue; further develop the European Youth Portal; organise together with relevant partners in the participating countries, and on a regular basis, a European Youth week with the participation of Commissioners and representatives of the other European institutions, preceded by a European youth portal consultation whenever possible;

arrange encounters with young people who do not usually have contacts with the European institutions.

The Council invites the Member States and the Commission to:

  • ensure that the process of the open method of coordination remains open and transparent and that the best possible use is made of the information provided by that process;
  • develop and support a continuous and structured dialogue aimed at ensuring a timely and effective contribution by young people and other relevant actors in the youth field towards the formulation of policies relevant to young people's lives;
  • collaborate with the relevant actors, inter alia local and regional authorities, as well as with educational institutions and non-governmental organisations, in setting up this structured dialogue;
  • endeavour to ensure that the structured dialogue brings together those involved in youth issues either directly or indirectly, in order to develop a more coherent and cross-sectoral approach to such issues;
  • encourage an inclusive approach to this dialogue involving young people engaged in various and innovative forms of active citizenship, non-organised young people and young people with fewer opportunities and create conditions for the equal participation of all young people;
  • encourage peer learning activities on information for and participation by young people, where appropriate involving European countries which are not members of the EU;
  • set up on a voluntary basis a working group at European level to consider practical means of assessing the impact of implementation of the common objectives for participation by and information for young people. The Commission is invited to report back to the Council on the results achieved by this working group;
  • make the best use of the 2007 – 2013 "Youth in Action" programme to support this structured dialogue;
  • discuss the implementation of this structured dialogue at national and European level in the context of the evaluation of the framework of European cooperation in the youth field in 2009.