First meeting of Intergroup on Youth in the European Parliament
Fabruary 17, 2010
An Intergroup on Youth has been created in the European Parliament and held its first constitutive meeting on 11 February during the Plenary Session in Strasbourg. The Intergroup, established by a decision of the Conference of the Presidents on 10 December, allows the building up of a truly cross-sectoral policy approach to youth issues. So far, the priorities of the Intergroup are to deal with the four themes of youth autonomy and social inclusion, mobility, education and active citizenship.
Intergroups in the European Parliament are an increasing important platform for consultation between Members of Parliament and interest groups. They are an informal part of European legislative mechanisms, bringing together Parliamentarians from different political groups who share common interests. They also serve as crucial fora where Parliamentarians can gather information on the rising developments on the issues of common concern and coordinate political campaigns. Most intergroup meetings take place in Strasbourg Plenary week, are open to the public, and deal with a wide range of different issues, from Baltic Europe, to disability issues, to Tibet or Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.
The Intergroup on Youth aims to bridge the gap between young people and the European Union, in line with Written Declaration 33/2008 on devoting more attention to youth empowerment in EU policies, and will gather MEPs across parties and committees. During its first meeting, members elected Damien ABAD (PPE) as Chairman of the Intergroup and 4 Vice-Chairmen in charge of the specific priorities of the Intergroup: active citizenship - Ramona MANESCU (ADLE); education - Pablo ZALBA BIDEGAIN (PPE); mobility - Franziska Katharina BRANTNER (GREENS/EFA); youth autonomy and social inclusion ;- Eider GARDIAZABAL (S-D). Amongst the around 20 MEPs who joined the Intergroup, there are: Sidonia JEDRZEJEWSKA (PPE, former Vice President of the European Youth Forum 2001-2002), Katarina NEVEDALOVA (S-D, Vice President of ECOSY), Silvia COSTA (S-D) and Georgios Papanikolau (PPE).
The European Youth Forum warmly welcomes this move towards a stronger involvement of the European Parliament in youth policies, as Giuseppe Porcaro, Secretary General of the European Youth Forum, declared: “Finally, youth issues will have an arena to be discussed in the European Parliament."
Useful links:
- European Youth Forum -11/02/2010 - Launch of European Parliament Intergroup on Youth
- Eurotribune - 11/02/2010 - European policies regarding youth is now at the centre of a new intergroup
- European Parliament – 19/03/2007 – Intergroups: MEPs unite on single issues accross party lines
- Europolitics - 14/12/2009 - List of 28 thematic intergroups agreed in European Parliament
