Legacy of the European Year of Youth 2022: ENGSO Youth contribution and European Commission’s plans to give young people a stronger voice in EU policy-making
Following up on the objectives and achievements of the European Year of Youth 2022, the European Commission decided to implement several actions to give young people a stronger voice in EU policy-making. The actions put forward by the European Commission Communication on the legacy of the European Year of Youth 2022, which aims at developing the youth dimension in EU policies, include:
- The 2024 European Youth Week which will take place from 12 to 19 April 2024 and will focus on democratic participation ahead of the European Elections 2024. You can consult the activities developed all around Europe in the dedicated map of activities here;
- When designing EU policies, the European Commission will apply a ‘youth check’ which will ensure that their impact on young people is systematically taken into account. This will be done by making sure that the existing Better Regulation tools, including consultations and impact assessments, are used to their maximum potential. You might have crossed by a similar terminology, as the “EU Youth Test” was the name put forward by the European Youth Forum for this impact assessment tool as one of the main proposals for the legacy of the European Year of Youth 2022;
- Continuing with the implementation of policy dialogues between young people and Commissioners, which was initiated during the European Year of Youth 2022;
- A series of dedicated youth mainstreaming roundtables and a new youth stakeholders’ platform that will facilitate a continuous exchange with youth organisations, youth researchers, Member State representatives and other EU institutions;
- Also in line with one of the instruments of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027, the EU Youth Dialogue, the largest youth participation mechanism in Europe will be reinforced, ensuring its better alignment with the Commission’s work programme;
- The Commission has also put forward several concrete actions addressing young people’s concerns on topics such as health and well-being, environment and climate change, education and training, international cooperation and European values, and employment and inclusion. These include, among others, increasing volunteering opportunities for young people to address the green transition, prepare guidelines on well-being in schools, and a step closer to a possible joint European degree.
The European Commission’s Communication on the legacy of the European Year of Youth 2022 comes accompanied by a “staff working document” which provides a broad overview of the activities and achievements of the European Year of Youth 2022. We’re happy to share that within the staff working document, ENGSO Youth-led project “Sport for Sustainable Development” is mentioned as a good practice within the sustainable development area, one that can serve as a great example of actions contributing to implement the Youth Action Plan for EU External Action, since it included youth exchanges in Dakar and Tokyo, and a closing conference in Paris, thus covering a wide geographical area and building on the power of sports to connect youth from different continents.
Moreover, the document also considers the HealthyLifestyle4All Youth Ideas Labs as the “policy initiative of the year” in the area of mental health, an initiative to which ENGSO Youth actively contributed and from which the topics and recommendations put forward are being implemented through Eramus+ funded projects like ENGSO Youth-led project “HOORAY” (Youth for Youth’s Mental Health through Physical Activity).
ENGSO Youth compliments the actions highlighted in the Communication on the legacy of the European Year of Youth 2022 and the respective accompanying document and continues to strive to strengthen the cooperation between youth and sport sectors, ensuring the right to proper youth representation in sport governance.