Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-27-Speech-3-228"
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"en.19991027.9.3-228"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, on 28 August 1998, the Commission submitted a proposal for an order by the European Parliament and the Council to introduce the Community action programme, “Youth” for the period 2000-2004. The programme was passed on to the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport as the Committee in overall charge. The existing youth programmes, “Youth for Europe III” and “European Voluntary Service” were combined in the Commission’s proposal and their objectives given more concentrated form. Our Committee has worked very quickly and efficiently and, on 28 October 1998, it unanimously adopted the de Coene report with 61 amendments. The plenary sitting accepted this report on a first reading on 5 November.
We wanted to give equal status to the European Voluntary Service and “Youth for Europe”. The proposed amendments were to bring the programme closer to young people and so to the European Union. Our emphases were, and are, on increasing the budget resources for the programme – the Commission had proposed EUR 600 million and ourselves EUR 800 million – in order to double the number of young people who are being targeted. Through our amendments, we wanted to help simplify the structures, improve communication with the target group, make the implementation procedures transparent, increase the participation of disadvantaged groups, spread information about the programme more broadly in order to improve access to it and, finally, make the age limits for participants more flexible in order, through the commitology, to find horizontal solutions.
The proposed programme was then blocked in the Council until, under the German Presidency, it resulted in a Common Position’s being adopted on 28 June, based on a proposed five-year programme involving EUR 350 million. That corresponds to an expenditure of less than EUR 0.20 per citizen per year for the youth exchange programme and is in the region of a per mill of the overall budget. I cannot imagine a European family without young people, nor any programme which neglects significant sections of the young population. The European Parliament therefore welcomes the fact that the Common Position in the form of a number of amendments is being passed to ourselves. We have been able, through the programme, to implement respect for human rights and also to combat racism and xenophobia. We have created a situation in which attention has been given to removing discrimination in such a way as to promote equality of opportunity between girls and boys and, in implementing these measures in cooperation with the Commission, the approach is user-friendly and youth oriented. We have succeeded in guaranteeing that the European Voluntary Service does not take the place of any potential or existing paid employment.
If now, with the unanimous support of Committee 13, I am bringing in further amendments, these relate first and foremost again to funding, duration and prevailing upon Member States to remove obstacles to gaining access to the programme. As the very first priority, social protection and access to medical care for young people must be ensured. Regulations could be laid down in this area, as they have been for student exchanges. It is also a question of introducing a structure for gathering information about young people and for setting up an Internet website for “Youth in Europe” and “Youth for Europe” in order, on an interactive basis, to reach new strata of young Europeans.
In order to be able to address young citizens directly, the importance of this programme, which is to commence at the beginning of next year, must be clear to everyone involved in the process. The “Socrates” and “Leonardo” programmes have shown that a seven-year programme can be more effective than a programme which runs for just a few years. I therefore recommend that a period of seven years be proposed here and that the financial framework for implementing this programme be set at EUR 980 million. I propose a mid-term review for the middle of the seven-year period, together with an evaluation and reassessment of the youth programme. A prerequisite for the success of the programme is a method of disseminating information which is not only directed at the initiated. We must succeed in getting young people enthusiastic about Europe and helping, for example, to foster in them an appetite for Europe and to mitigate their social or financial problems or the effects of living on the periphery of things. Age limits ought not to be rigidly adhered. The potency and the wealth of Europe lie in its diversity.
I again appeal to the Member States to make commitments regarding social protection and medical care. We respect the principle of subsidiarity but, in this area, the responsibility of the Member States must also have an effect. It is now a matter of ensuring that deeds follow the fine words spoken at summits. Informal contacts with the Presidency of the Council and with the Commission provide hope of agreement here, for young people and their associations expect not bureaucratic but pragmatic action from the European institutions, as well as cooperation between the latter. As an elected Parliament, we bear a responsibility.
As rapporteur, I shall do everything humanly possible to find a sustainable compromise, and I urge the Council to approach us, above all when the budget comes round. Europe’s future begins with the youth of today. That must be the message on 1 January when, hopefully, the new programme can come into effect."@en1
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