Spring Paper 16 EN | springeurop.eu

Springeurop Paper 16

Why should Europe listen more and invest more in young people ?

On the eve of the important European elections in the spring of 2024, all candidates for the European Parliament and the parties and fractions they represent must ask themselves one overriding question: how can we ensure that these elections inspire young people, who represent the future of the Union, and foster a true tide of enthusiasm and a greater conscience of what is at stake?

Let's start with an observation that has been confirmed by numerous sources and analyses.

The Eurobarometer «Youth and Democracy in the European Year of Youth- May 2022» confirmed that young people’s most common expectation is for decision-makers to listen more to their demands and act on them (72 %). Multiple surveys carried out by the Commission among young people have also revealed the following main concerns in order of priority :

1. The fight against poverty and social exclusion;

2. Better coordinated management of public health and pollution issues;

3. A more determined and effective fight against climate change;

4. Developing a stronger economy that creates jobs and prosperity;

5. Defending democratic values, freedom and the rule of law;

6. The defense of peace and security and better international defense cooperation;

7. The promotion of education and culture and better supervision of education and sports.

But what do we see in the face of these priorities?

1)Youth unemployment is still too high. This is not due to a lack of job vacancies, but to the mismatch between education and vocational training and the needs of the job market. Another cause is the general decline in the quality of education throughout the Union, and the rigidity of the European education system, which does not promote talent and mobility.

In reality, the most important thing is to make young people understand that most of their priorities are linked. By preserving freedom and the rule of law, which are the only bulwarks against corruption and the constraints of totalitarian states, we can promote a healthy, free and undistorted economy, creating jobs and reducing unemployment, the only effective way to combat poverty and exclusion.

Similarly, if we promote high-quality, demanding education, the alignment between available jobs and qualifications will automatically be restored. Young people will also be better equipped to face the challenges of today’s world. One should also rehabilitate the humanistic values of effort and strive for quality, in an environment that fosters competition, excellence, and sharing, while respecting differences.

2) Furthermore, young people also need to be made aware that freedom and democracy are not just insignificant achievements and that in order to defend them in today’s complex and multipolar world, future generations must be given both the desire and the structures to enable them to defend them.To this end, as laid down in the Treaties, Europe must contribute to the development of quality education and ambitiously integrate the European dimension into it.

3) Europe, and in particular the Commission and Parliament elected in 2019, have made laudable efforts to establish new economic and climate norms and to generate impressive recovery budgets but what the new Parliament will need is the awareness that it is necessary to re-enchant the common house by giving it back the momentum that has made its strength and appeal since the origins of European construction.

There are 70 million young people in Europe, all of whom are calling for better information on the workings of its institutions and for the simplification of its procedures.

4) To stimulate European consciousness, the Erasmus + initiative should be more widely promoted and its extension to vocational training and education should be better known and supported. The emphasis should remain intra-European rather than developing the Erasmus

Mundus variant.

5) European civic education should be a compulsory subject from secondary level onwards, in the spirit of the European Treaties.

6) The Conference on the Future of Europe recognised the central role of young people in shaping the future of European integration. It is regrettable that the current European Parliament has rejected the idea of creating two youth agoras proposed by the Conference. Many other concrete proposals were made to increase the participation of young people in the decision-making process at all levels, but these ideas have largely remained unheeded at this stage. In particular, the idea of establishing a "Youth Test” which would measure the impact on young people of any future European regulations should be re-examined favourably in the course of the next legislature.

By investing more in young people and taking on more ambition and initiative in the areas of employment, training, education and high-tech to motivate youngsters, the European Parliament will be able to once again instill in them the awareness of its usefulness and faith in the future of the European construction.

This is our message that should guide all those who stand for European suffrage, if they want to put young people at the centre of their concerns.

January 2024