Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-12-Speech-3-333"
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"en.20000412.13.3-333"2
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"Mr President, I would like to join all those who have congratulated the rapporteur, Mrs Gröner, who has produced an excellent report, full of commitment, on behalf of young people. In her task she has enjoyed the very strong support of the members of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport. I offer them my thanks for their work.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a considerable amount of work to be done, but it is exciting. As many of you have pointed out, we are not working for politics here, but for the future of our Union, and I hope that the debate launched by the publication of the White Paper will enable us to strengthen our capacity for joint action in order to implement a genuine strategy for developing the talents of these 80 million young citizens in the European Union, towards whom we have a great responsibility.
The Youth programme is crucial to the European Union, as you have all already said, because it is a unique programme, in which all young people, without distinction, can participate. I would like to reassure all Members who have spoken about possible sanctions. In the Youth programme and in the way it is implemented, there will be no sanctions against anyone, and that includes young Austrians, who will not be discriminated against. The programme has ambitious objectives, which are essential to the development of the idea of European citizenship.
This programme will encourage and consolidate the continuation and development of innovative actions at Community level and will help to improve the quality of the action undertaken on behalf of young people. It therefore represents a useful instrument in assisting a policy of cooperation and will contribute to the process of European integration. In addition to ensuring that the programme is effectively implemented, I wish to make a commitment before this House that I will encourage a process of structured and regular cooperation with Member States, in order to work towards drawing up action plans that are up to the task of the challenges, and without which the programme would be less effective.
Mr President, I wish to take this opportunity to talk about the youth policy of the future. In fact, I stood before you for the first time last September. I spoke of the White Paper on the European Union’s youth policy, which is a priority. I would now like to clarify the role of this White Paper and the role of political catalyst that youth policy must play in the future. I hope to prepare the White Paper on the basis of broad consultation with the different parties concerned and when I say the parties involved I mean above all young people.
That is why, at the Youth Council on 23 November last year, I proposed to the Member States’ Ministers for Youth that they hold national meetings of young people during the first half of 2000. This proposal was very warmly received by all the Member States and these meetings are being organised at the moment. Most Member States have already set dates for them and most of them have also assured me that these meetings will be open, with the participation of all possible parties including, of course, Members of the European Parliament.
These meetings must allow young people to play an active role and to assert their aspirations, their expectations and their opinions, but also their recommendations for political action in the areas that affect them. The various national meetings will culminate in a huge European meeting which will be held at the beginning of October, under the French Presidency.
At the same time as consulting young people, the Commission hopes to consult those responsible for youth policy at national level. The Commission hopes that these national authorities will be able to incorporate into their contributions the opinions and expectations of local administrations, which play a considerable role, I believe, in youth policy. In order to achieve this, the Commission will be holding bilateral meetings with Member States, followed by a discussion seminar with youth leaders. We will also rely on the various studies on young people, which will be financed under the Youth programme, and the study, already underway, on the status of young people and the situation of youth policy in Europe.
Lastly, I would like to include the European Parliament in this exercise. The cooperation methods still have to be worked out, but I can assure you as of now that you will be invited to take part in the European meeting of young people and that I will keep you informed on a regular basis on progress in this matter.
To conclude, I would like to emphasise the fact that the consultation process, particularly with regard to young people, will not be a one-off exercise, because the publication of the White Paper will constitute the second stage of this dialogue with the parties involved, and this is a dialogue that I would like to see established on a more permanent basis."@en1
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