Thursday 25 April 2002, Youth Forum Council of Members

45 persons representing more than 35 organisations constituting the Interest Group on the “Future of Europe”, convened for about two hours to discuss the EU Convention and the future of Europe in general.

In the light of the European White Paper on Youth Policy and the Laeken Declaration where the framework was set up for the participation of youth on the local, national and European level, the following issues were brought up in the discussion:

* The process of involving young people and youth organisations in the debate on the future of Europe is a necessity. The fact that the youth Convention will take place was welcomed as having been initiated by the European Youth Forum. However it was also noted that since the youth Convention is a one-time event, the selection process is ambiguous, the content and outcome are vague, and there was concern that the Convention might not prove to be as successful as the member of the European Youth Forum would like it to be.

* There was also the concern about the democratic representation of the members of the Youth Convention because very few National Youth Councils are being involved in the selection process; indeed many are side-stepped with the selection being left to the actual members of the Convention. Since the NYCs are the most representative and democratic bodies of youth in the countries, they deserve the mandate to choose the widest representative group of youth to the Youth Convention.

* Furthermore, although the European Youth Forum is being given the mandate to recognise the Youth Convention, it might not be recognised as the authoritative body to determine the political content of the event.
Moreoever, because the Youth Forum has been given a tight budget line it might not be able to achieve the fullest potential of the event.

* The Youth Convention is only one event in the whole process which should be much more extensive and transparent in the involvement of young people and youth organisations in the shaping of the future of Europe.
Several events will be organised for youth during the Danish presidency and the resolutions from such events should be taken into account by the Convention.

* The importance of sharing information between the National Youth Councils and the INGOs was recognised. The interest group pointed out that the Youth Contact Group is the most important platform for this to take place.

* In addition, the Youth Contact Group should work together with all interested partners in trying to facilitate the debate where as many young people as possible are given the possibility to participate in determining the outcome of the process.