Youth must be the top priority in the next EU budget

Brussels, 13th March 2013 // The European Parliament’s resolution on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2014-2020 today is a step in the right direction for young people.

The European Youth Forum concurs that the European Council’s MFF agreement does not reflect the priorities and concerns expressed by the European Parliament – notably in the resolution passed on 23rd October 2012.

“The European Parliament resolution sat in line with our demands on mainstreaming and prioritising youth issues in all relevant policies and programmes financed from the EU budget,” says Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum. “The European Council failed to provide a clear answer to this in its proposal”, he adds.

Furthermore, the Forum agrees with the Parliament that in order for the EU to survive the crisis and especially from young people’s perspective, we need a EU budget that can deliver growth and jobs to bridge the gap between the EU’s political commitments and budgetary means.

“We need more investment in cohesion policies, innovation, research and development, and youth, improving education levels and promoting inclusion, in line with the Parliament’s resolution”, continues Matjašič.

The Forum also strongly supports MEPs’ position on the importance of investing in the EU’s education and youth programmes. These investments are vital as such programmes produce noticeable leverage and spill-over effects, including significant economic results that generate clear and proven European added value by pooling resources, as well as encouraging mobility and active citizenship.

The Forum welcomed the European Council’s agreement to commit to specific financial allocations that aim to tackle youth unemployment, including the youth guarantee. The amounts and the targets foreseen in the 2014-2020 cycle as a follow-up to the Commission’s Youth Employment package however, are laregly insufficient and therefore will lack any real impact.

No EU programme can be agreed upon until the general MFF is agreed upon. “A financial instrument without any financial framework is meaningless”, says Matjašič. “Unless the demands of the European Parliament on youth mainstreaming and adequate funds for it are guaranteed, we will continue to create a lost generation in Europe…”, he concluded.

[ENDS]

Notes to the editors:

– Read the European Parliament Resolution on the MFF (23/10/2012): http://bit.ly/WHkO0K