Opinion: Europe can teach many valuable lessons

Yet both the Council of Europe (48 countries) and the European Union (now 25 countries) have been beavering away on youth policy questions for some time. With regard to the EU, the pivotal moment was the launch of the New Impetus for European Youth white paper towards the end of 2001.

That document was some two years in the making, involving consultations with youth researchers and young people.

Almost three years on, there is a need to renew the impetus, especially when a new cohort of MEPs is about to take office. When it was launched, the white paper established something called the "open method of co-ordination" - a classic, somewhat vague process within the European Commission on matters that are essentially the remit of national competence and over which the EU does not have any real control. What it meant in practice was a process by which the commission consulted all member states on what were identified as the four priorities for the youth field: participation, information, voluntary service and a better understanding of youth. The member states provided their account of what was happening on these fronts in their respective countries and data that was then synthesised by the commission, leading to "common objectives" being established.