The Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council of the European Union are meeting today and are expected to adopt a partial general approach on the  “ERASMUS for All” proposal and to adopt the Council conclusions on fostering the creative and innovative potential of young people. The Conclusions will highlight the need to foster young people’s creative and innovative skills through entrepreneurship and enhance young people’s competences and skills for employability through the addition of non-formal and informal learning. The conclusions will include several joint recommendations finalised at the EU Youth Conference.

Alongside the Council meeting, the European Youth Forum attended an Informal Forum on the Structured Dialogue today. Youth Forum President, Peter Matjašič, discussed the progress of the Structured Dialogue with Ministers responsible for youth, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassilliou and National Youth Councils under the current trio of Presidency countries (Poland, Denmark and Cyprus) as well as Ireland, which will hold the Presidency of the EU Council in 2013. The agenda included discussions on how to prevent the marginalisation of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) and how to utilise young people’s creativity, innovation and talent in this process.  

Read more about the Structured Dialogue on the website of the European Youth Forum and watch the live streaming of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council here!

Today the European Youth Forum launched the new Vote at 16 website! The reality that young Europeans now live in has triggered the debate around lowering the voting age to the age of 16. The Youth Forum is calling for the lowering of the voting age to 16 in conjunction with compulsory civic education within the formal education system throughout Europe. 

This website has been created by the European Youth Forum to further the platform and the work of its Member Organisations on the issue of lowering the voting age to 16. Voteat16.eu serves to provide information on the legal situation on the European level, as well as comparative data on the national contexts across Europe.

The website marks the first step in the Youth Forum’s 2012 Vote at 16 campaign. Following the two-day Kick-Off Advocate Meeting on Vote at 16 in Brussels that ends today, the European Youth Forum and its Member Organisations will launch an ambitious pan-European campaign in September 2012. The campaign calls on Members of the European Parliament to take a stand and push the European Institutions to lower the electoral age to 16 and promote citizenship education.

Check out the website today and don’t forget to like us on Facebook!

The European Youth Forum and European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL) have signed a partnership agreement to reinforce their cooperation on lifelong learning policy issues. The Youth Forum’s President Peter Matjašič and EUCIS-LLL’s President Gina Ebner officially signed the agreement on 18th April. The partnership will allow the two organisations to develop their cooperation by exchanging knowledge and experience and sharing good practices and information on events and activities. The ultimate aim of the partnership is to strengthen the position of education, training and youth stakeholders on the European Level, by for example, creating a structured Dialogue in Education and Training. 

EUCIS-LLL and the Youth Forum will invite each other to relevant internal working groups and external events on the topics of education and training. The organisations will consult each other on topics concerning lifelong learning to ensure that youth and non-formal education approaches are represented. Cooperation also be strengthen on the informal working group on future programmes for education, training and youth, which was jointly established by EUCIS-LLL and the Forum in 2010. Furthermore, in this context, other avenues for cooperation will be explored in the future.  

Learn more about EUCIS-LLL on their website!