by Melissa Vermeulen
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel referred only recently to today’s youth as the ‘lost generation’. Europe is taking measures to solve the crisis by putting aside six billion Euro for a Youth Guarantee that will be used to support several youth programs. We have seen protests in Greece and Spain, because people weren’t happy with the policy decisions. But it stops there. It is very difficult to say why and if the youth is not more listened. We can’t lump the youth together; it is a very big and diverse group. Some of them will not be interested in European politics at all, some are, on the contrary, very political engaged, and others maybe just haven’t find their way to this different organisations.
ThinkYoung is a think tank that lobbies for the presence of young people in European decision-making. From the research and surveys they do, they try to make ‘Europe’ aware of what young people think. There’s also the European Youth Forum (YFJ), which represents the largest platform of youth organisations in Europe, including different student organisations. The idea is to have the young and youngsters together as associations, not as individuals, in order to have a united voice when advocating towards the EU, the UN and the Council of Europe. “The Forum works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations to the politicians”, says a representative.
The federations in the European Parliament have their own Youth wings. “One of our main objectives is to maintain good contacts within our political family, provide ground for training, discussion and cooperation and prepare the younger generation to lead tomorrow’s Europe” says Federico V. Potočnik of YEPP. “YEPP and the EPP are trying to pass this good cooperation on to the EU level, where much more can be achieved, provided we work with synergy.” On youth involvement Potočnik says “everybody should be as involved as much as they care about their future. But sometimes the numerous possible addresses can be confusing. However, there is not only one way to have your voice heard.”
The European Commission offers different programs for the youth, for example, Youth in Action, a programme that promotes mobility within and beyond the EU borders, or EURES job, a programme that makes it easier to find your first job abroad. In addition, the Erasmus+ is the new European mobility programme that will be launch this November. Lieven Cosijn, the Belgium press officer of the European Parliament says that the information centre does its best to inform about Europe and the programs they offer by sending information to schools, which might not be enough, but then he asks: “How would you reach the youth otherwise? It is a difficult question, because it is a two way street.”
