Parliamentary Assembly Assemblée parlementaire

RECOMMENDATION 902 (1980)[1]

on youth co-operation in Europe

The Assembly,

1. Having considered the report of its Committee on Culture and Education on youth co-operation in Europe (Doc. 4587) ;

2. Believing that the democratic principle of participation by the individual in the development of society should apply to young people, and that their involvement should begin in the home and continue throughout school and formal education ;

3. Recalling its Recommendation 758 and Resolution 590, of 1975, on group participation by young people, but stressing the importance, wherever and however possible, of also involving young people who do not belong to recognised youth organisations ;

4. Recalling its Recommendation 897 on educational visits and pupil exchanges, and wishing to extend facilities for international contact also to young workers and the young unemployed ;

5. Recalling its past opinions on the youth sector in the medium-term plan, in which it has repeatedly asked that all activities of the Council of Europe reflect the concern of young people ;

6. Welcoming and wishing to encourage the very positive contribution already made by the Council of Europe's European Youth Centre and European Youth Foundation in acting as a catalyst for promoting youth co-operation through European youth organisations ;

7. Drawing attention to the activities of national youth committees on the international level, and calling upon these committees to hold more bilateral and multilateral seminars on the lines of those organised by the European Youth Centre ;

8. Noting the increasing recognition of the representative voice of youth organisations through the Youth Forum of the European Communities, and expressing the wish for closer collaboration between the institutions of the European Communities and the Council of Europe on ways of improving the representation of young people's views on the European level ;

9. Inviting young people and youth organisations to take greater advantage of all organs of the Council of Europe as a sounding board for individual and collective opinions on the wider European level ;

10. Asking all its committees to seek more actively to reflect the views of young people in the preparation of Assembly reports, and to consider the organisation of debates for the international non-governmental youth organisations and other young people in parallel to those held in the Assembly, along the lines of those organised by the Nordic Council ;

11. Calling upon the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe to make a similar effort in its own work, and to draw the attention of local and regional authorities to the importance of encouraging closer contact with young people in community affairs,

12. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

a. ensure that all parts of the programme of intergovernmental activity in the Council of Europe properly reflect the views and concerns of young people, and take account where appropriate of the experience of the European Youth Centre and Foundation ;

b. make available to the European Youth Centre sufficient resources for making full use of its recently extended premises ;

c. ask the governments of member states to make greater use of the European Youth Foundation as a channel for subsidising youth activities on a European level ;

d. ask the governments of member states to provide more substantial funds for youth co-operation on national and European levels, in particular through :

- increased grants to local authorities for youth work,

- increased funding of national youth committees and other national co-ordinating bodies involving young people,

- development of the international activities of these bodies on the model of the European Youth Centre,

- increased funding of exchanges and study visits for young people, especially school children, young unemployed and young workers.

[1]. Assembly debate on 27 September 1980 (13th Sitting) (see Doc. 4587, report of the Committee on Culture and Education).

Text adopted by the Assembly on 27 September 1980 (13th Sitting).