The YOUTH Edition: New Europe

THE Youth EDITION

November 2011 | € 5.00 A New Europe Special EditionIssue # 963

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With contributions from 30 leading political, business, and civil society figuresFeaturing a special report on the EU-China Year of Youth

The technology

27 November 201102 NEW EUROPE

Age considers; youth ventures Youth comes but once in a lifetime

One of the signs of passingyouth is the birth of a sense of

fellowship with other human be-ings as we take our place among them

Whoso neglects learning in hisyouth, loses the past and is

dead for the future

Reason is a crutch for age, but you this strong enough to walk alone

We cannot afford to lose a genera-tion of young people not being

either employed, studying or in training

Making your mark on the world ishard. If it were easy, everybody

would do it. But it's not. It takes patience,it takes commitment, and it comes with

plenty of failure along the way

Youth is happy because it hasthe ability to see beauty. Any-

one who keeps the ability to seebeauty never grows old

Youth cannot know how agethinks and feels. But old men

are guilty if they forget what it wasto be young

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope

The duty of youth is to challenge corruption

Youth has no age

Almost everything that is greathas been done by youth

You are the most powerful culturalforce in the world

Older men declare war. But it isthe youth that must fight and die

As I approve of a youth thathas something of the old manin him, so I am no less pleased

with an old man that has somethingof the youth. He that follows this rule

may be old in body, but can never beso in mind

27 November 2011

03NEW EUROPEN

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16 Occupy Everywhere! 30The Youth Power

29Empowering our future leaders from an early age

28Technology for “Young Folks”

27Sochi 2014 reignites youthvolunteering in Russia

26Youth Volunteering For a Better Europe

25Countering extremism by empowering individuals in EU

24A game of thrones or an ideological revolution?

23Youth Engagement in the European Parliament

22Young, educated and working for free

21The Crisis We Can Solve

20Support call for International Day for the Girl

19Investing in adolescence and

promoting the voices of the

youth should be a priority

18Invest in Youth: It's Time to Act

15 Is Agency Work the Solution to “The Lost Generation”?

14 Generation Neither-Nor

13 Generation Euro Students Award

World Bank

12 The French education system in Europe

11 Trust in Young People

10 Preparing Students for the Professional Workplace

09 EU-China Year of Youth:Bridge, Platform and Journey

08 The Year of Youth - a Useful Start

07 Well begun is half done

06 Bountiful Harvest

05 A Passport to a Bright Prospect

of China-EU Relations

04 Young hopes, hard times

17Girls and young women are the real drivers of change

31They’re young, they’re inlove, and they make movies

EU-China year of youth

Volunteering

Editorial Global Youth

Technology

Cinema

Politics

Occupy

Work


his Youth Issue is published inone of the most remarkabletimes the European Unionhas seen since its inception,with the Eurozone in real

trouble, austerity beckoning for the half bil-lion EU citizens and serious concern on thefuture of the EU.

One adjustment on a global scale is tothe peaceful rise of China and its economicmight. The end of the EU – China Year ofYouth is discussed by two young Chinesestudents, Chen Jing and Fu Rao, who foundthe year to be of real value in bringingyoung people together. This important stepis also discussed by Wenwen Shen from theEU – Asia Centre.

As the world shifts and the balance movestowards Asia it is good to see the youthreach out to each other, we can only wishthem well, for they are the ones that will feelthe consequences, good and bad, of this newrelationship between Europe and China.

Youth, to misquote Dickens, can besummed up as, ‘it was the best of times; itwas the worst of times.’ Today’s youngpeople are the best educated, the healthi-est generation with established rights. Butnot everywhere, not evenly. There are stillmassive inequalities in the world and itcan be hard to see the gap narrowing.

As they leave education the coming gen-eration is also facing the worst of times.Austerity is being introduced in manycountries, often harshly, and it is the youthwho will feel it first.

Mattias Lundberg, Senior Economist atthe World Bank writes on unemploymentand Edouard de Mahieu on preparing stu-dents for the workplace. With jobs gettingharder to find, Ramona Manescu MEPspeaks about volunteering and the Presidentof the 2014 Sochi Games tells us aboutusing the sporting event to introduce a cul-ture of voluntary work to Russia.

One way of getting on the career ladder is

through internships and Luca Scarpiellofrom the European Youth Forum sets outthe concerns that such schemes are littlemore than cheap labour, at costs many canno longer afford. Dennis Pennel argues thatwell regulated agency work can help peopleget on a career path.

Benjamin Hermer looks at education sys-tems and how they can encourage youngpeople. Silvia Martinez and Marta Ex-tremera write on encouraging young entre-preneurs.

Technology is a growth area, bringing inpossibilities that were unimaginable a shorttime ago, so we have contributions from JanMuehfeit, Chairman of Microsoft Europe,on their partnerships to encouraging youngpeople. Huawei also tell us about their vi-sion for the future. Luis Obregon showshow IT has opened up opportunities andInes Riera says that we would all benefitwith more input from young people. TheWorld Bank introduce us to GenerationEuro.

Maria Copani from UNICEF explainsthe importance of youth in developmentand Karen Schroh shows how gender equal-ity is essential to reducing poverty. NeilDatta asks parliamentarians to support anInternational Day for Girls.

Brussels is a political city and the disen-gagement between young people and theEU is a growing concern. Eider GardiazabalRubial MEP writes on the efforts of theEuropean Parliament to include youth.Konstantinos Petrou talks about a youth lednew politics and Kaisa Penny says that wecan solve high youth unemployment withinvestment.

Finally, New Europe’s Online Editor dis-cusses young film makers.

We hope that this special edition helpsin the debate over fully including youngpeople in policymaking and recognizesthat the better we can serve the young gen-eration, the better prepared they will be tomake a better job of Europe than the cur-rent generation.

If youth be adefect, it is one

that we outgrowonly too soon.

James Russell Lowell

EDITOR

Dennis [email protected]

SENIOR EDITORIAL TEAM

Kostis Geropoulos (Energy & Russian Affairs)

[email protected]

Andy Carling (EU Affairs)

[email protected]

Cillian Donnelly (EU Affairs)

[email protected]

Ariti Alamanou (Legal Affairs)

[email protected]

Alexandra Coronakis (Columnist)

[email protected]

Louise Kissa (Fashion)

[email protected]

ONLINE EDITOR

James Drew

[email protected]

DIRECTOR

Alexandros [email protected]

MARKETING & ADVERTISING

Panos Katsampanis

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EXECUTIVE LAYOUT PRODUCER

Suman Haque

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EXTERNAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Signed Contributions express solely theviews of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of thenewspaper.NE is printed on recycled paper.

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© 2011 New Europe all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the permission of New Europe.

ISSN number: 1106-8299

27 November 201105NEW EUROPE

ear 2011 bears a particularsignificance to China-EUrelations as both have, forthe first time, held the firstthematic year event—the

Year of Youth. This event has opened upa fresh chapter in people-to-people ex-change between China and Europe.Through a diverse range of popular sup-porting activities, the Year of Youthevents have reached and impressed mil-lions of young people both in China andEurope.

The world is going through profoundchanges with major development oppor-tunities and unprecedented challenges.As two major international players,China and Europe should seize the his-torical opportunity, strengthen exchangesand cooperation, jointly meet global chal-lenges, and contribute to world peace,stability, and prosperity.

Through joint efforts, China and Eu-rope have in recent years established anall-directional, multi-tiered and extensive

cooperation pattern. Under such a frame-work, constant efforts have been made tofurther uplift our fruitful bilateral coop-eration to a new height.

Young people are the most importantfabric of our society. How they performin life and how they meet their challengesand responsibilities will relate closely tothe well-being of our two peoples and thefuture of our world. Our young peoplesmust make a correct decision and live upto it.

Young peoples should be pioneers tostrengthen mutual trust. Understandingand trust constitute the basis for China-EU relations. Young peoples in Chinaand Europe must overcome differences in

history, culture, and development levelsto build such trust with each other. Onlyby viewing each other in a fair and devel-oping perspective could we sustain thesolid popular support for China-EU re-lations in the long run with friendship,trust, mutual respect, and an open and in-clusive mind.

Young people should be proponents ofmutually beneficial cooperation. Practicalcooperation rests at the core of China-EU ties. Both sides are now in importantstage of development, and both attachgreat importance to green and low-car-bon emissions, science and technologyinnovation capacity, and sustainablegrowth.

The ideas and approaches we share to-wards development and common pros-perity offer us a massive space to growpractical cooperation, bringing about rareopportunities for our young people tomake a difference.

The youth should be facilitators ofchange. Reform and innovation are thedriving force for the China-EU relation-ship. Constant renewal, expansion andinnovation of our cooperation are essen-tial to the sustained growth of our ties.Young people have brave, active and in-quiring minds.

As in every country, they represent ourfuture. Our young people in China andEurope should make full use of theirknowledge and skills to inject new vigorand strength into China-EU relations.

While the exciting memories of the Yearof Youth are still fresh, the opening of the2012 EU-China Year of Intercultural Dia-logue is drawing near. We have full confi-dence that young people in China andEurope will continue to work as team andmake their friendship the fountain of youthfor the bright China-EU relations.

Young peoples should be pioneers to strengthen mutual trust.

Understanding and trust constitute thebasis for China-EU relations


ovember 2011, the inlandcity of China that I am inis already in late autumn.In traditional Chineseculture, autumn is a sea-

son of harvest. I think that for 2011 EU-China Year of Youth, now is without adoubt a moment of bountiful harvest.

2011 EU-China Year of Youth is a hu-manistic exchange event of the largestscale since the establishment of diplo-matic relations between Europe andChina. I was very honored to participatein the two Flagship Events at the begin-ning and the end of the Event. The ex-perience from the two events gave medifferent rewards and opportunities; theevents are very memorable and preciousto me.

In January this year, as a member ofthe China Youth Representative Delega-tion, I visited Europe and participated inthe opening ceremony of 2011 EU-China Year of Youth. This was the firstFlagship Event of the exchange year. Itwas also my first time stepping foot onthe continent of Europe. The images ofEurope that I had pictured in my mindunfolded in my eyes in reality.

In the first week of our visit in Europe,we visited institutions such as EU head-quarters, European Parliament, the Eu-ropean court of justice, etc. and talkedwith the officials and scholars there in aninformal discussion. This has given me a

more direct and profound understandingof the European Union and its importantinfluence. Wondering about the streetsand alleys in European cities, its rich cul-tural atmosphere and peaceful ambianceintoxicated me unconsciously. Whatmoved me most was our kind andfriendly European youths friends. At thewelcoming dinner of The EU mission inChina, after my friends and I performedthe traditional fan dance and Pipa per-formance, the European youngsters fromdownstage gave us an enthusiastic ap-plaud, I deeply realized that violin anderhu can perform a beautiful harmony aswell, and the Gothic steeples and the redwalls of the Forbidden Palace can alsoshine together.

If the set-sail voyage at the beginningof the year rewarded me with a more sen-sual “first experience of love”, the lastFlagship Event held in October in Bei-jing – the EU-China Youth LeadersSummit was a real test of brainpower be-tween the youths of China and Europe.During the three-day event 200 youths ofdifferent backgrounds from China andEurope carried out discussions on impor-tant issues relating to the development ofEU-China and even the world such as theWorld multi-polarity and the role of re-gional organizations and the Youth entre-preneurship/ Business Leaders of theFuture. We have drafted, discussed, mod-ified and passed the EU-China YouthLeader Statement. The process of discus-sion is a process of seeking common

ground while reserving differences. It wassparkling with flares and full of wit andhumor; it was brisk and pleasant but atthe same time efficient and pragmatic.

Although the 2011 EU-China Year ofYouth is about to come to an end, in fact,its influence is still lasting. Through par-ticipating in the events of the year of ex-change, the SICA (Student InternationalCommunication Association) that Iwork in established a relationship withESTYE of Estonia and we collaboratedtogether as partners in submitting theproject plan of Youth in EU and China:Working Together to Common Chal-lenges and were successful in applyingfor the Youth in Action event fundingunder the framework of the 2011 EU-China Year of Youth. At the end of thisyear, the delegation of the association inwhich I am a member will meet with theEuropean delegation of this project inBeijing. We will carry out the prelimi-nary planning and discussion regardingthe one-year event that is about to belaunched. I think that there must bemany other concrete and fruitful resultslike this. In this sense, the 2011 EU-China Year of Youth is only a beginningof communication and collaboration be-tween the youths of Europe and China.

The power of youths is the motor of anera, the voice of youths is the voice of theworld’s future. Hand in hand, shoulderby shoulder youths from China and Eu-rope will make a difference together ---we are on our way!

The power ofyouths is the motor

of an era, the voice ofyouths is the voice of the

world’s future. Hand inhand, shoulder

by shoulder youths fromChina and Europe

will make a differencetogether


n January 2011, together withover a hundred of Chinese youngpeople, I visited Brussels in Bel-gium, “the Capital of Europe”, toattend the opening ceremony of

EU-China Year of Youth. In February,the European young delegates of almostthe same number paid a return visit toBeijing. By communicating with eachother, our friendship was consolidatedand both of us got a better understand-ing of each other’s cultures. Here aresome stories I want to share.

Before my visit to Europe , I hadlearned Taijiquan, a kind of traditionalChinese shadow boxing. When I noticedthat I should be welcomed to give a per-formance of it in the Mission of China tothe EU, I decided to do it. I am deter-mined to do this because for me it repre-sents China’s traditional culture of“harmony”, and that it ’s also popular allaround the world. To make the show per-fect, I practiced it at the tea breaks ofsome meetings, which interests some Eu-ropean young people who happened tosee it. They asked me to teach them somegestures of it, and I saw it as a good op-portunity to communicate our culturalessence across to them. They learned re-ally hard. When we take breaks duringthese “Taiji lessons”, they showed greatcuriosity about this traditional boxing.Some of them even described it as “a kind

of dance”. I believe, though misunder-standings of Taijiquan among theseyoung people do exist, these Taijiquanlessons could at least evoke their interestin Chinese Kungfu, and make them knowmore about Chinese history and people.

In the workshop of "Access of YoungPeople to Culture and Creativity", I wassurprised by the great extent to whichsome European young people knowabout China. One of them had been avolunteer in some rural area of China foryears, and another had lived with a Chi-nese student for months. A Hungarianyoung man wanted to know somethingabout the academic burden of students atChinese primary schools and highschools. My answer is that, as China hasa large population and the distribution ofeducation resource is uneven in someplaces primary and secondary studentshave to study hard to pass some criticalexams. Also I said that, since the govern-ment had promoted “quality education”for years, we paid more and more atten-tion to upgrading the overall quality ofprimary and secondary students.

European young people are also con-cerned about whether we know their his-tory and culture or not. One German girlasked me whether history textbook inChina recorded German history inWorld War II. She was glad to know thatwe had a fair record about that. By visit-ing the EU Parliament, the EU Court ofjustice, and the EU Institute, we knew

more of the political systems, legal sys-tems and academic development of EU.Although it was not my first visit to Eu-rope, it made me understand much moreabout EU than I did 4 years ago when Icame to Europe for the first time.

In February, European and Chineseyoung delegates together visited the Chi-nese People's Political Consultative Con-ference (CPPCC) of Shunyi District ofBeijing, attended the EU-China YouthForum for Culture. What impressed usmost was the Chinese Opening Ceremonyof EU-China Year of Youth. After the cer-emony, Marzia Conte, the program man-ager of "Youth in Action" and EuropeanCommission Derectorate General for Ed-ucation, told me that she felt it was an in-teresting event with fantastic theatricalperformances and in a creative form. An-drea Ferjencikova, the Managing Directorof Slovak Association for Science and Ap-plicated Research, was most impressed bythe scene in which Premier Wen pressedthe button of a device to start the officialwebsite of EU-China Year of Youth. Shesaid that the device looked like a bridge aswell as a rainbow, connecting the youngpeople of EU and China.

By attending these activities, I mademany new European friends, such as Ar-naud Favry from France and Jan Trnka fromCzech. Both of them are living in Chinanow. We often talk with each other onFacebook. Although 2011 EU-China Yearof Youth is about to end, our friendship is

just beginning. “Well begun is half done”, asI said at a conference during the openingweek of 2011 EU-China Year of Youth,Brussels, I think EU-China Year of Youthstarted a brand-new phase in EU-Chinayouth communication, and will build a solidfoundation for a good relationship betweentwo sides in the future.

I was surprised by

the great extentto which some

European youngpeople know about

China. One of themhad been a volunteerin some rural area ofChina for years, and

another had livedwith a Chinese

student for months


hen Hans Bloch fromLeipzig and HuaChungquin fromChenghu travelled toBeijing in February

for the opening of the EU-China Year ofYouth they could not imagine that fatewould throw them together in the sameworking group, that they would fall inlove, and are now planning to get married.This was a real happy ending for one cou-ple in a year-long extravaganza of eventspromoting closer youth ties.

When you read the official aim of theEU-China Year of Youth, it sounds likeapple pie and motherhood. Both sides arecommitted to ‘promoting and deepeningpartnership by strengthening cooperationand people-to-people contacts’. Whowould object to that?

At the opening ceremony in Beijing inFebruary opened by Premier Wen Jiabao,there was a palpable feeling of enthusiasmin the air as the young Chinese star ZhouXun expressed her environmental con-cerns for our planet - reaching out to thehearts of her vast fan base. This was fol-lowed by young Europeans from all 27member states sending their wishes forthe success of the Youth programme,many in faltering, some in fluent Man-darin. The rest of the youth representa-tives came from very diverse backgrounds:language students; Europeans of Chineseorigin; musicians; young footballers;colourful folk singers, dancers and elegantChinese choreographed dancers, ideal for

putting on a cultural extravaganza. Itmight be somewhat artificial and yet un-derstandable for such a policy initiative tobegin with superficial exchanges. How-ever, both sides need to envisage how tocreate the momentum to facilitate bettercooperation between youth organisationswith or without official stakeholders.

At least two aspects are worth contem-plating as to what we should expect fromthe multitude of events that have takenplace during the past nine months. Inother words, does such cooperation nec-essarily lead to ‘mutual understanding andfriendship between the young people ofthe EU and China’? The answer is ‘yes’and ‘no’.

First, in future, China will have a grow-ing and significant influence in the world,including Europe. It is therefore impor-tant for European youth to explore howChina works and what makes it tick. ForBritta Heidemann, the goodwill ambassa-dor to the Youth programme, a GermanOlympic fencing champion and fluentMandarin speaker, ‘the Chinese put

meanings to everything.’ Why? Britta re-called her early experience in China whenshe brought German clocks as gifts to herChinese friends, only to realise later that‘sending a clock as a gift ’ as ‘songzhong’[送钟] in Chinese has the samepronunciation as ‘song zhong’ [送终]which means attending one’s funeral.

Another participant, a young ChineseTaiji expert, struggled to explain why‘Taiji is more than Taiji’.

To better understand China, such pro-grammes should emphasise enhancingcultural and historical awareness. InChina, despite its 5000-year history, athird of its high school compulsory courseon history is systematically devoted toEuropean history starting with the Refor-mation. In European schools, MandarinChinese is booming, particularly in theUK, but much less so in other Europeancountries. Chinese history, both ancientand contemporary, deserves more than pe-ripheral attention, not just studying itsporadically because of European colonialconnections.

Second, so as to address common chal-lenges, youth is undoubtedly crucial forboth sides to come to terms with thechanging dynamics of their future rela-tionship. To that end, it was promising tosee the young ‘leaders of the future en-gaging in talks about their roles in ageingsocieties, the development of EU-Chinarelations in a multipolar world, climatechange and sustainable development,youth entrepreneurship, and businessleadership. However, none of thesetouched upon the issues that perhaps re-quire more ‘mutual understanding’ thanothers, namely, democracy and humanrights.

Underneath these friendly events lie thefundamental differences in the value sys-tems in which these participants werebrought up. Surely there could have beensome emphasis on the fundamental polit-ical differences between Europe andChina? Why are issues such as Tibet por-trayed so differently in the Chinese andEuropean media? Curiously, the only ‘po-litical talk’ as part of the Youth pro-gramme will take place in Berlin later thismonth in the margins of the 150 years ofthe Japan-Germany friendship festival.

If these enthusiastic youth participantsare to become the leaders steering the fu-ture of EU-China relations, they shouldbe encouraged to embrace and discusstheir differences openly, rather thanavoiding them. Otherwise, today’s sourceof confusion will be tomorrow’s bone ofcontention and ‘promoting mutual under-standing’ will be forever on the policyagenda as empty rhetoric.

China will have a growing andsignificant influence in the world,

including Europe. It is therefore important forEuropean youth to explore how China works

and what makes it tick


paid a visit to Brussels with 100Chinese youth representativesthis January, and attended theopening ceremony of the EU-China Year of Youth. During the

ceremony. I witnessed the signing of ajoint declaration by Androulla Vassiliou,European Commissioner for Education,Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, andWang Xiao, President of the All-ChinaYouth Federation, which opened a seriesof rich and colorful activities for the EU-China Year of Youth.

The EU-China Year of Youth is thefirst thematic year held since China andthe EU established diplomatic relations.It opens up a new chapter in a people-to-people exchange between China andEurope. During the year, China and theEU carried out hundreds of activities foryouth exchange between the two, whichincluded flagship and priority events,partnership events and a joint mediacampaign. More than 10,000 Chineseand European young people were in-volved directly in these events, and an ad-ditional 160,000 participated by means ofsocial media. Those activities spanned alarge number of Chinese and Europeanyouths and had a positive impact on

them.In my opinion, the EU-China Year of

Youth is meaningful, valuable and fruit-ful. In this year, Chinese and Europeanyoung people communicated with eachother, showed variety and expanded con-sensus.

The Year of Youth is a bridge of com-munication. There is an old Chinese say-ing that the relationship between twocountries is based on the affection be-tween the two countries' civilians. TheYear of Youth is based on a people-to-people exchange, and hosted thematic fo-rums on culture, employment,entrepreneurship, sustainable develop-ment, youth participation and volunteerservice. Based on rationality, Chinese andEuropean young people launched anequal and deep dialogue and discussionon topics which impact youth. They dis-cussed the mutual challenges faced bothby China and Europe, looking into thefuture of China-EU relationship devel-opment. In these fields, they made somepositive and valuable exploration, andbuilt a bridge for deep communicationbetween young people from both sides.

The youth forum is a platform of vari-ety. In a series of experimental, participa-tory and interactive activities, Chineseand European young people fully dis-

played their youthfulness which is full ofpassion and energy. Their excellent lead-ership, salient spirit of collaboration, per-fect ability to structure, and deepresponsibility further strengthened ourconfidence in China-EU relations devel-opment in the future.

The Year of Youth is a journey of ex-panding consensus. Both China and Eu-rope are now in the pivotal period ofdevelopment, which requires young peo-ple from both sides to have the will to co-ordinate their action on some vitalproblems, and to make a unique contri-bution to the overall situation of China-EU relations. In the EU-China Year ofYouth, young people from both sidesreached a broad consensus on further im-provement of China-EU relations, deep-ening people-to-people exchange,common concern of some global issues,achieving some institutional results andopening the new level of bilateral ex-change and cooperation.

We are happy to see thenpeople-to-people exchange dialogue between Chinaand Europe is coming to being. Underthis framework, the All-China YouthFederation would like to work closelywith our EU counterparts to jointly pro-mote new development of China-EUyouth exchange.

Firstly, we must continue to work onthe long-term mechanism of China-EUyouth exchange. Regularly hold China-EU youth policy dialogue, undertake cer-tain projects like a youth leadersexchange and hold an internationalforum on China-EU youth organizations’development.

Secondly, we need to devote ourselvesto establishing an open, interactive, co-operative platform which would encour-age more young people and youthorganizations from China and the EU tofind their partnership, to start friendlycooperation and to advance such ex-change at higher levels and in widerfields.

Thirdly, the media needs to play a fullrole in spreading the fruits of communi-cation activities, through positive and at-tractive ways of communication, so moreChinese and European young people canhave a more overall, rational and objec-tive point of view.

2011 witnessed the intelligence, wis-dom and the value of life which was em-bodied in the exchange between Chineseand European youth. We have every rea-son to believe that the angle of view,courage and exploration of youth willhelp to write a more glorious chapter inChina-EU relations.

The medianeeds to play a

full role in spreadingthe fruits of

communicationactivities, through

positive andattractiveways of

communication, somore Chinese and

European youngpeople can have a

more overall, rationaland objective point

of view


xperience is an invaluable assetin today's business world.Right away, recruiters are ask-ing newly graduated studentswhat sort of work experience

they have. Even for internships and ex-change programs, they inquire about it.Today, a student must not only be able toacquire strong academic skills during hisstudies but he must also find a way and thetime to gain experience through internshipsand other activities. An excellent way of get-ting this valuable experience is by workingfor a Junior Enterprise. But what exactly arethey and how do they help youth acquirethe skills necessary to be efficient in today'sworkplace?

A Junior Enterprise is a fully operatingfirm but there's one small quirk: everyoneworking for it is still a student at the hostuniversity. Each JE offers different servicesbut they all have the same common goal,which is to prepare their members for theprofessional workplace. They do this by al-lowing their members to put their skills touse in the field as well as teach them thesoft skills needed to transition from collegeto a business environment.

The first part of this extremely rich yetchallenging experience takes place insidethe JE themselves. Learning how a firmworks in an economic class is one thing,taking part and voting in a General As-sembly is an entirely different experience.

As a student, you are usually workingalongside students from the same studieswith similar ways of thinking. On theother hand, in a JE, members must learnhow to work alongside others from differ-ent backgrounds, whether they are fromlaw, economics, engineering or other fieldsof studies to reach their goals. Everyonewill have a different perception on how todo things in the business world and team-working skills are brought to a whole newlevel because of this. As members evolveover time in their JE, they also take onmore responsibilities, pass on their knowl-edge to the newcomers while receivingthose of their predecessors, in whateverdomain they interest themselves inwhether it be project management, ac-counting, marketing and so on. Strong or-ganizational and communication skillsdevelop as well. However, this 'career' onlylasts for a few years, the time of their stud-ies yet it is a very intense learning experi-ence in how to work, organize and behavein a firm.

The JADE Network as well as profes-sional partners also come in to help by pro-viding valuable training that students willnot find in their curriculum and give thema head start in learning professional skills.Thanks to all of these elements, there is astrong culture of learning, sharing andteamwork within the movement as a wholewhere everyone is always trying to im-prove. Moreover, international meetingswhere JEs from around Europe gather to-gether for training, team-building and net-

working are incredibly enlightening expe-riences that bring a strong international di-versity to the movement where membershave the chance to meet other youth fromacross the continent. However, there'smore to Junior Enterprises than simplytraining.

The second, most challenging part of theadventure is going out into the field withall these newly acquired skills and accom-plishing something with them. Junior En-terprises face the same cut-throatcompetition for clients as any other firmwould and it takes a special kind of bravery,motivation and determination to go outinto the business world so early. Essentialskills such as negotiation or networking areput to the test right away and membersquickly learn and improve them by experi-ence and trial and error. Thankfully, younever go out alone and there are many pro-fessionals you meet along the way that willhelp and support you.

Sadly, Junior Enterprises are still a ratherunknown project in the business world butthey are always welcomed as they bringyouth and dynamism to the work environ-ment. Once a project is launched, membersface the challenging mission of meeting a

set of objectives and deadlines and there'smore in jeopardy than a simply collegegrade now. Learning how to work underpressure while facing the real consequencesof your team's actions is another strongskill junior entrepreneurs will learn overtime. Managing and assuming one's re-sponsibilities correctly under strainstrengthens an individual.

The Junior Enterprise adventure is trulya trial by fire challenge. It's by jumpinghead first into the fray that is the businessworld that students learn the vital skills towork effectively in the workplace. Suchskills are valued by potential recruiters asthey take interest in a student that will beable to adapt right away to the professionalworkplace. They will not have to teachthem the basic soft skills needed to workefficiently and their new employee will getdown to business right away. This is an in-valuable advantage for job seeking studentswhen facing competition for a highlysought after job offer.. These skills willprove useful right away in many other sit-uations that you can imagine. Participatingin a Junior Enterprise takes a lot of timeand energy, but the adventure and payoffare more than worth it.


he lack of employment andprecarious working conditionsaffect the life of all individualsand youth is especially vulner-able in this regard. According

to figures of the European Commission, inrecent years there has been a leap both inunemployment for the whole populationand in youth unemployment in EU-27.Nevertheless, the percentage of young peo-ple between 15 and 24 unemployed in theEuropean Union reached 21.4% in Sep-tember 2011 and more than doubled theunemployment rate. The highest rates wereobserved in Spain, where almost one out oftwo young people are unemployed. For thisreason, in this age of recovery, many Euro-pean governments struggle to create qualityjobs and to promote young people’s en-trance in the labor market.

However, the main group affected by thissituation is hardly involved in this debate.Indeed, young people are almost never in-vited to contribute with their point of viewin this matter and often have to organizestrikes and protests to make sure their voiceis heard. Young people, though, have some-thing to say and should be given the oppor-tunity to speak up about youth employmentand other issues.

On a similar note, too often politiciansand business men seem to be willing tochange everything by themselves and to for-get the power of youth to drive change ineconomy and society. Nevertheless, in thesetimes in which politics and business are stillbased in traditional concepts dating frombefore the recession that invaded Europe in2008, young people are the only ones notbadly influenced by these conceptions andthus, the most likely to find innovative so-lutions to the new global problems we haveto face.

As formal education is still based in oldbooks that do not consider yet the recent situ-ation, students all around Europe are startingto use the “learning-by-doing” methodology todevelop themselves. This enables youth to fos-ter their entrepreneurial mindset: they becomemore creative and proactive, they put ideas intopractice, they spot opportunities more easilyand they take calculated risks. Therefore, youngpeople with this entrepreneurial spirit are muchmore prepared and flexible to face our currentand future challenges in a successful and sus-tainable way.

Moreover, the “learning by doing” method-ology promotes youth entrepreneurship andthus, makes a three-folded contribution to eco-nomic and social health. Firstly, it is beneficialfor youth employment rates as it encourages the

creation of new companies and new jobs. Sec-ondly, it is a key driver for creativity and long-economic growth as it boosts innovationamong new enterprises developing new tech-nologies or services, as well as among alreadyexisting firms in which intrapreneurship is fos-tered. Thirdly, youth entrepreneurship is a co-hesion tool for young people as it develops anindividual’s social interaction, his engagementin society and his professional inclusion. Finally,entrepreneurship offers a chance FOR youngpeople to pursue their interests and dreams and,hence, to be happier and more likely to be so-cially included.

Furthermore, youth feels much more com-fortable in the current era of information tech-nology and is much more likely to adapt to newtechnologies and to promote innovation in thisfield. Indeed, according to the “Digital Diaries”study from Internet Security Company AVG,there has been an important generational shift.More kids can play a computer game than ridea bike and while 19% of kids aged 2 to 5 knowhow to play with a smartphone application,

only 9% of kids these age know how to tie theirshoelaces. Additionally, many of the most suc-cessful technological innovations come fromyoung entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg(Facebook), Naveen Selvadurai (Foursquare) orDaniel Ek (Spotify).

Finally, while high-school teachers still talkabout the globalization era in a surprised tone,their students can barely imagine themselvesnot eating a Big Mac and drinking, not buyingproducts “Made in China” and having to travelaround Europe with a passport and a visa, in-stead of taking just their ID. Youth speaks manymore foreign languages, is more willing to travelaround the world to go work abroad than itsparents and understands the current world dy-namics much better.

All in all, just as worried parents have to learnto let their kids go and take responsibility fortheir own actions, older generations should letyoung people be more involved in the currentglobal issues and trust better in their judgmentand preparation.

Indeed, young peopleare almost never

invited to contribute withtheir point of view in thismatter and often have to

organize strikes and proteststo make sure their voice is

heard. Young people,though, have something tosay and should be given the

opportunity to speak upabout youth employment


he French National Confed-eration of Junior Enterprises(CNJE) has decided to or-ganize a one year discussionabout the current educa-

tional system in France.Through the organization of three

events which aimed at gathering politi-cians, specialists of the educational worldand students, the Junior Entrepreneursmovement hopes to take a role and toraise the question of the place of Youthand education in Europe. Regarding thecurrent financial and economic situation,the European students hope to see a pos-itive involvement of the European Unionin favor of a qualitative educational sys-tem.

In order to propose, to act and to de-bate about the future of the Europeanschools and universities, the Junior En-terprise movement plans to take a role byraising questions and encourage the in-volvement of students.

This social initiative aims at giving achance to any students in France and inEurope to have the opportunity to bemore directly involved in its environmentand to start becoming an actor in thisglobalized world.

Because they are directly concernedwith those issues, because their ideas canbenefit from our continent and becausestudents want to prepare the future inthis context of uncertainty and instabil-ity, these student associations, called Jun-ior Enterprises, which are implanted in alot of French universities and privateschools are motivated to get involved inthis problematic.

A Junior Entrepreneur is, by definition,a student who is working in a Junior En-terprise.

This concept, born in France in 1967,defines these student-run businesses

which aim at proposing to students toput directly into practice their learning’sthrough the realization of market studies,communication plans, marketing analy-sis, creation of Website, launch of Webapplications, or other engineering serv-ices for SMEs, multinational companies,and public institutions. Thus acting likeyoung consultants for companies.

Following the motto “learning-by-doing”, these students bring the gap be-tween academia and real business world.

With more than 160 associations,

17,000 students and €8 million annualturnover, the French confederation aimsat playing a role in the question of highereducation in France.

2012 will be a presidential election year,that ’s why this question will probablytake an important place in the politicaldebates. How to dynamism the educa-tional system of a country?

How can we judge the educational sys-tem in France?

What are its strengths? Its weaknesses?

What about the other systems, particu-larly in Europe?

To try to answer to some of these ques-tions, the CNJE is inviting personalitiesfrom the educational and political world.With ministries, directors of schools oruniversities, the question of the educa-tional system in Europe will be analyzedby specialists but also by students and es-pecially by Junior Entrepreneurs.

Thanks to a national survey and theparticipation of Junior Entrepreneurs, theredaction of a White book should allowbringing the opinion of the new genera-tion and today’s actors directly to theleaders of our planet.

The first round of discussion will startby analyzing the specificities of theFrench model compared to the rest ofEurope and especially the question ofthis dual system, unique in the world:universities vs private engineering orbusiness schools.

The second round deals with the posi-tion of French students in Europe re-garding different program such asERASMUS program or the evolutionseen since the signature of the BolognaProcess. The third and last round finallyraises the question of professional inser-tion of the new generation. How can weadapt the educational system regardingthe professional world? What king ofbridge can we build between these twoworlds?

The Junior Entrepreneurs movement isin favor of an easier way to move fromone country to the other to benefit froma multi-national education.

This is why the concept of Junior En-terprise exists in more than 15 countriesin Europe. Under the European Organi-zation, named JADE ( Junior Associationfor Development in Europe), these newgeneration of European students try tobuild bridges across borders and collabo-rate directly on projects for their clients.They all hope that their nations will con-tinue to understand that an adapted edu-cational system is a key element for theEuropean Union in terms of growth, pro-ductivity and a message of tolerance andexchange.

Through the globalization, the way tosee the education today is far differentfrom what it used to be.

To rebuild our model, to adapt and tocontinue to work on it, to make directand concrete proposals, Junior Entrepre-neurs hope now that they can be heard inthe future.

Taking into account new generation’sexpectations and vision can be a way toovercome today’s difficulties and to pre-pare the future.

Interesting in taking part to the discus-sions? [email protected]

The JuniorEntrepreneurs

movement is in favorof an easier way to

move from onecountry to the other

to benefit from amulti-national

education


he tenth anniversary of theintroduction of euro ban-knotes and coins is ap-proaching. Millions ofteenagers in the euro area

have forgotten – or don’t know – whatthe national currencies, such as the franc,the mark, the lira – were. The only moneythey are familiar with is the euro. Theyreceived their first pocket money in euro,they may have bought their first mobilephone or sports shoes with that money,and their savings are in euro. In short, theeuro is in fact ‘their’ currency. Thisthought gave rise to an initiative aimedat the first euro generation – they use theeuro, but do they know the central bankbehind it? In their lifetimes they haveonly experienced a moderate rise in prices– but do they know that the EuropeanCentral Bank’s main goal is to keep pricesstable? And do they understand the link

between interest rates and the value ofmoney? That’s why the ECB and 11 na-tional central banks in the euro arealaunched a competition for secondaryschools students on 1 October 2011 – theGeneration €uro Students’ Award.The idea is not entirely new: several cen-tral banks around the world havelaunched similar initiatives for this group,such as the Bank of England’s ‘Target 2.0’competition, the Reserve Bank of NewZealand’s ‘Monetary Policy Challenge’and the Banco de España’s ‘Aula virtual’.The Generation €uro Students’ Award,however, is somewhat different, as it is aninternational competition and involves

various euro area countries.The competition seeks to balance out

differences in national curricula and edu-cation systems, i.e. to be both uniformand flexible. It consists of three rounds.The first one is a quiz and the second oneinvolves essay-writing by a team. Thethird, and final, round resembles othercompetitions: the teams have to give pre-sentations to a jury of national centralbank experts. The element of suspense comes with theeducated guesses the teams have to makeabout the ECB’s interest rate decisionsnext year. The team members learn byhaving to explain the predictions theymake. They don’t become monetary pol-icy experts overnight; the differentrounds leading to the presentationsstretch over a full academic year. A lotdepends on the teachers, who in turn aregiven guidance and background materialby the national central banks. The Stu-dents’ Award is a long-term projectwhich aims to enhance the economic lit-eracy of teenagers and to give them a bet-ter understanding of the role of a centralbank in the economy.“It made students think.” (a teacher fromBelgium)“These are subjects that they knew noth-ing about at all, that aren’t usually in thecurriculum, and so it was a chance to findout things that are important to everyone

in everyday life.” (a teacher from Italy)

“If we’re going to university we wouldwant to use it to show that we gained avaluable learning experience.” (a studentfrom Germany)The national central banks are organis-ing the competition at national level,while the ECB, for its part, is organisingthe competition for international andEuropean schools. The three rounds rununtil the end of the school year 2012,with a final European award event beingheld in June 2012 at the ECB in Frank-furt. Further information on the compe-tition can be found atwww.generationeuro.eu

or requested by writing to [email protected].

It made students think (a teacher from Belgium)

If we’re going touniversity we

would want to use it toshow that we gained a

valuable learningexperience

(a student from Germany)

These are subjects that they knew nothing about at all, that aren’t

usually in the curriculum, and so it was achance to find out things that are important to

everyone in everyday life (a teacher from Italy)


owadays, Spain faces one ofits worst recessions, making itvery difficult for jobseekers tofind work. No other countryin Europe has so many young

people out of work: almost 37 percent of peo-ple under 25 and a quarter of those under 30(Der Spiegel 27.09.2011).

It is amazing how young people are notmotivated neither to study for a Degree norwork because they cannot get excited aboutit. It is like a zero generation: zero jobs, zeroprospects… Teenagers think seriously whythey should go to the University if they aregoing to be unemployed… So, thousands ofthem are currently without motivation: theydon’t want to study and it is hard to find a job.Why don’t we try to find a motivation forthem?

In this paper, we are going to present aninitiative that was born in France in the late60s . This is not a solution, but at least is a waythat helps the students to find a stimulus andwhy not to create his/her own business.

First of all, we must define this kind of ini-tiative called Junior Enterprises (hereafterJE). As JADE (European Confederation ofJunior Enterprises) defines it, a JE is a localnon-profit organization entirely managed bystudents who want to get practical experience

this could be a target for graduates to becomenot only experts in a specific theme, but alsopeople who apply their knowledge to the realbusienss world.

This is an opportunity for students to de-velop self-confidence and experience in entre-preneurship at an early stage in their universitystudies, to add, as I mentioned before, practicalexperience to the theoretical skills and to pro-vide private businesses with state-of-the-artknowledge from universities.

Due the particularity of the Junior Enter-prise work, the students distinguish them-selves, by their soft skills, such asentrepreneurial spirit, team-working, creativ-ity, presentation skills, public speaking, net-working, intercultural understanding, workexperience and project management.

As everybody can see, it is a good proposal.The JE are growing all around Europe. InSpain we already have 30 of them about dif-ferent specialties: Translation and Interpret-ing, IT, Communication, Pedagogy… But ifwe compare it with other countries such asFrance, we can see that we are poor in thisarea, maybe because we have a conservativeattitude towards entrepreneurship. But why?One of the main obstacles could be the edu-cation, because it is still the most importantissue for promoting entrepreneurship. Such athing is not included in the national curricu-lum of primary and secondary education andit is very hard to implement it in the univer-sities.

Now, in Spain has undertaken some policymeasures at this level with the development inelementary education and in universities ( JE).

So, we could say that there is a political, socialand intellectual change that favors the mod-ifications in entrepreneurial norms and val-ues. Luckily, the spread of information isrising and sensitizing society to entrepre-neurship.

While the government takes care of theentrepreneurship education, the universityteachers have to motivate their students tofind inspiration to finish university studiesand find work or create a business forthemselves.

Also the figure of the teacher can generatean entrepreneurial culture in his/her classes.We think that the teacher should openhis/her mind and not only teach theory, theyshould transmit values and attitudes.

Why is an effective way to motivate stu-dents to reach a goal? Should the use of aca-demic expectations be employed to involvestudents in goal-setting and in generating akind of sense of personal excitement for newideas? We think that if teachers set a goal, thiscould be a target to aim not only graduatedpeople that are experts in a theme, but peoplewho apply their knowledge to the real busi-ness world. In this case, the teacher may becalled “leader”.

Being a leader is a complex task. Accord-ing to Goleman (2002) there are five steps inorder to be a leader:

1. Who are you and who do you want to be.Who you are as a teacher, how you act, howyou transmit the knowledge and how youwant to transmit it?

2. Know your weaknesses and strengths.3. Turn your weaknesses into strengths.

4. Create habits.5. Be open to receive feedback from the

people. At the same time, a teacher must cre-ate dreams in their students, desires that theyreally want to have in their lives. In otherwords, they must try to generate excitementand freedom in their decisions.

As Linskie (1977) pointed out, motivationis generally described as a desire to achieve agoal that has value for the individual. So, thisis a process which leads students into experi-ences in which they can learn, that energizesand activates them. Enthusiasm also keepsthem focused on a specific task and helps tofulfill their needs for immediate achievementand a sense of moving toward larger goals. Itis true that students are interested in thethings that they haveplanned themselves andthe work much harder on self-made goalsthan they ever would on expectations ofsomeone else.

It is very effective to motivate the studentsto grow, therefore, let's allow students to setgoals and involve them in establishing an ob-jecting: ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

References:Der Spiegel onlinettp://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,638981,00.html 05.11.2011]Goleman, D.; Boyatzis R. and A. Mckee(2002). The emotional reality of teams. Journalof OrganizationalExcellence, 21(2), 55-65.JADE http://www.jadenet.org/html/jadenet/index.php [07.11.2011] Linskie, R.(1977). The learning process: Theory and prac-tice. D. Van Nostrand Co. New York

It is like a zerogeneration: zero

jobs, zero prospects…


abour markets around theworld are being trans-formed. Deep structuraleconomic shifts have cre-ated a period of unprece-

dented complexity and rapid change,fuelled by globalisation, demographicchange, technological evolution, sectoraland geographic shifts and new attitudesto work. As a result, people are left grap-pling with a series of labour market chal-lenges; persistently high levels ofunemployment, particularly amongyoung people, is one of the most worry-ing. Amid fears of a “lost generation” ofyoung people scarred by long-term job-lessness and its associated social and eco-nomic alienation, the race is on to find asustainable, long-term solution to reen-gaging our youth and building a health-ier, inclusive, economically viable labourmarket.

The reality is that there is no silver bul-let. The factors contributing to this prob-lem are complex and the situation isserious. Latest statistics for the EU showthat while unemployment overall is eas-ing, one in five young people is still out ofwork, representing 5.1 million young Eu-ropeans.. Figures from the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO) show thataround half of all those unemployedaround the world are aged under 24 - justunder 80 million people. Nevertheless,statistics can mask the depth of the crisisand as long-term unemployment be-

comes the norm, many young people be-come discouraged, lose hope and may optto drop out of the labour market alto-gether. These discouraged youth who arenot actively seeking work are not countedin unemployment figures.

In Europe the issue of youth unem-ployment is compounded by demo-graphic shifts leading to a decline in thenumber of young people and an ageingworkforce. Yet despite this millions ofyoung people are still not engaged in thelabour market as they should be. In manycases, where there is work available,young people do not havethe skills andexperience required and organisations areunwilling to risk hiring someone who isnot a perfect fit for the role.

So what is the solution? A raft of meas-ures have already been implementedacross the EU27 including a series ofYouth@Work events for job seekers thisautumn, European Job Days in Brusselsand the Youth on the Move initiativelaunched last year. Extending collabora-tion between governments, educationalinstitutions and business is essential ingetting young people into the job marketas is the training elaborated in the NewSkills for New Jobs programme whichhas run successfully for three years andaims to equip workers to take up the jobsavailable.

A further measure should be to en-courage appropriately regulated agencywork as a stepping stone to long-termemployment. Private employment serv-ices can help to provide a bridge foryoung people to labour market participa-

tion. They can offer young people theirfirst exposure to the world of work, pro-viding easy access to the labour marketand enabling organisations to hire youngpeople with a relatively low risk. A re-cent report Adapting to change from Eu-rociett, the European Confederation ofPrivate Employment Agencies, revealsthat some 35% of agency workers in Eu-rope are under the age of 25. This givesyoung people a valuable opportunity togain real work experience and increasetheir employability through on-the-jobtraining. Eurociett’s findings reveal thatmore than €500 million pa is invested byspecific agency work’s bipartite trainingfunds in 7 European countries.

The range of job opportunities thatagency work provides is another key ad-vantage for young people. Appropriatelyregulated, agency work can protect themby providing decent work that they canfit around their studies and other inter-ests, so that when their studies end theywill be more likely to have the experience,skills and awareness needed for the worldof work. In many countries, agency workis a common rite of passage for studentswho can comprise up to one third of theagency worker population.

Moreover, agency work often leads di-rectly to permanent work with one thirdof agency workers getting a permanentjob 12 months after entering a privateemployment agency.

Private employment services are notthe only answer to the youth unemploy-ment crisis, but they should be part of thesolution. Regulators need to recognize

the important role the sector can play inthe economy and in society. EU memberstates have until 5 December to transposethe 2008 Agency Work Directive intonational law. As countries across Europeseek to reduce unemployment and boostlabour market participation following therecession, the flexibility afforded by thedirective offers an attractive incentive forboth employers and employees in provid-ing secure, quality jobs.

The road ahead is long, and it will takecollaboration between all labour marketparticipants - governments, workers, in-dustry and intermediaries such as privateemployment services - to adapt to thesenew conditions, create better labour mar-kets and ultimately a productive, hopefulfuture for young people.

In Europe the issue of youth

unemployment iscompounded by

demographic shiftsleading to a decline inthe number of youngpeople and an ageing

workforce


f there has been one iconic image of ‘youth’ this year,it is of Lt. John Pike, casually walking down a line ofseated, peaceful protestors, squirting them with pep-per spray, with the rest of the police looking on, doingnothing to stop him.

We have seen the frightening responses by the regimes tothe growing protests in Tahrir Square, in Tunisia, in Libyaand in Syria, a violence that shocked and propelled the inter-national community into action.

But, while the West thought it was a mere spectator in thegrowing demands for a fairer world, the protests suddenlytook off all over the globe, most notably in Wall St, with thecry of “We are the 99%”. There’s another large camp outsidethe European Central Bank, another outside St Pauls’ cathe-dral in London.

The peaceful nature of the protest and their yearning for afairer world has struck a chord, and baffled the political es-tablishment who have been unsure how to react. But somehave acted.

In Wall St, the authorities cordoned off airspace, forbid thepress and SWAT teams stormed through the occupy campin the middle of night, leaving the impression that MayorBloomburg was closer to Assad and Gadaffi than the USconstitution.

In Brussels, a group of ‘Indignados’ were invited to the Eu-ropean Parliament by MEPs, but the Parliament authoritiescalled the riot police, who forbid them entry and forced themaway. We can only ask how the European Parliament can de-mand far distant governments respect human rights whenpeaceful protestors are ejected from their doorstep.

The growth of the Occupy Everywhere movement is a signof what the youth can provide in our current climate. Theyoffer energy, peacefulness and passion. They are, in the oldtradition, speaking truth to power.

How will power respond? The signs so far are not too good,but as the protesters say, you can destroy a camp but not anidea, you can imprison people but not an idea.

For too long, the world has been run for the benefit of the1%, but with the financial crisis and the great and good look-ing ill equipped to deal with the catastrophe, it is the youthwho have stepped forward with the simple idea that we can,and must, build a better and fairer world.

Occupy Everywhere!

Australia

Berlin

Brussels

Chile

Yemen

London

Spain

New York

Rome

Oakland


n increase of only 1% ingirls’ secondary educationattendance adds 0.3% to acountry's GDP. An extrayear of school for girls will

increase their lifetime income by 10-20%.Investing in girls has been proven to bethe key to breaking the cycle of poverty,yet the European Union (EU) lags be-hind in promoting gender equality in ameaningful way as a driver for develop-ment.

European Commissioner for Develop-ment and Cooperation, Andris Piebalgs,recently launched his ‘Agenda forChange’ to increase the impact of EUDevelopment policy. The Communica-tion also acknowledges that developmentand human rights are inextricably linked,that young people need to be at the heartof our development response, and thatgender equality needs to be part of theEU’s approach. The ‘Agenda for Change’calls for inclusive growth and commits20% to education and health.

These are all very welcome commit-ments, but to implement these commit-ments in a meaningful way requires afundamental change in how the EU ap-proaches development policy. Thischange is not apparent in the Commis-sioner’s vision. Where will the EuropeanCommission (EC) spend their money?That’s where the rubber hits the road.The Communication shows that the

focus will continue to be on traditionalareas of infrastructure, energy, and finan-cial systems. These are very importantareas for investment, but if young peopleand gender are to be at the heart of thisnew approach, there needs to be a com-mitment to looking at the impact of eachpolicy area from a gender and child rightsperspective.

What does this mean in practice?When the EC decides to invest in energy,will they consult with women and youngpeople to find out what their needs are?Will they consider the household levelneeds, such a cooking fuel and the elec-tricity necessary for studying, or will theyrespond primarily to the needs of the pri-vate sector? When building a road willthey consider the gender differences interms of access to markets, will they in-clude facilitating girls access to schools intheir planning? If the EC is going to takeseriously their commitments to gender,and to young people, they need to looknot only at what they are doing, but alsohave new answers to the questions of why

they are doing it. The 2012 World Development Report

‘Gender Equality and Development’specifically notes that income growth byitself does not deliver greater genderequality on all fronts and that closing dif-ferences in access to economic opportu-nities and the ensuing earnings andproductivity gaps between women andmen should be a priority.

If the EU’s response is to be consistentwith this analysis, then they will need totake an approach to development that ispeople-centred, and rights-based. The in-creased emphasis on the importance ofsocial and human development issuessuch as education and health, and thecommitment to meet the 20% target, is astep forward.

Considerable research demonstratesthe transformative power of secondaryeducation, especially during the transi-tional life stage of adolescence: if adoles-cent girls stay in school and obtain realskills, research shows that they will earnmore income in the future, marry later,

and have fewer and healthier children. Inthe longer term, secondary educationprotects girls against HIV and AIDS,sexual harassment and human trafficking.

Again, investing in girls, investing intheir education and their health, will givethem the power to break the inter-gener-ational cycle of poverty; they will flour-ish and go on to improve the lives ofthose around them. For each year a girlstays in school, her income will rise sig-nificantly. With opportunities to earn aliving, she will pull herself out of poverty,and bring children along with her. Shewill invest what she earns in their health,education, and futures.

The EU should not miss this opportu-nity to support girls in gaining theirrightful place in society and be a force forchange. Therefore, the EU needs to thinkabout more than just numbers, and en-sure they are providing quality pro-grammes which strengthen systems andensure fair access. The alleviation ofpoverty will likely follow an eradicationof gender inequalities.

The EU should focus on eliminating gender inequality, if it wants to eradicate poverty

...that youngpeople need to beat the heart of our

development response,and that gender

equality needs to bepart of the EU’s

approach


ver the space of a few shortyears, the world has becomean undeniably differentplace for young people, andthe pace of change appears

to be growing. YouTube was created in February 2005

and by May of this year, was capturingthree billion views a day, and 48 hours ofnew video were being uploaded eachminute. In December 2006, Facebook hadmore than 12 million active users. Almostfive years later, it has more than 800 mil-lion active users – an increase of more than6,000 percent. Earlier this year, an Egypt-ian man named his newborn daughter‘Facebook.’

Extraordinary change has also been in-curring in the global economy. In 2006, theinvestment firm Lehman Brothers reporteda net income of $4 billion, on assets worthmore than $500 billion. Several years later,the firm declared bankruptcy. Lehman’sNorth American holdings were purchasedby Barclay’s for $1.3 billion; its assets inEurope and the Middle East were pur-chased for $2 by Nomura Holdings ofJapan. Lehman’s assets in 2008 were worthless than one-half of one percent of theirvalue just two years earlier.

These are fundamental changes to theway the world and the global economywork, especially for young people. Mes-sages, democratic ideals, information andmisinformation can travel across bordersand spread across populations far morequickly and efficiently than in the past.Think of the role of social media IN theevents of the Arab Spring.

Reports of joblessness and disaffectionamong young people are growing through-out the world, from China to Egypt toLondon to New York. There are growingpopulations of “ninis” (ni trabajar ni estu-diar), “hittistes” (a portmanteau word fromFrench and Arabic meaning those who leanagainst a wall), or “NEETS” (the Englishterm for “not in education, employment, ortraining”). Does this mean that unem-ployed young people are prone to violenceto achieve their goals and redress griev-ances?

Frustration and anxiety yes, but in spiteof the popular conjecture, there is no evi-dence that youth unemployment necessar-ily leads to violence. So why is it soimportant that young people have jobs? Itmatters hugely for welfare, for equity, forproductivity and growth, and for personaland collective identity, and for social cohe-sion. These are some of the profound rea-

sons why governments, employers, devel-opment partners, and others must spur op-portunities for the millions of young menand women around the world who haveproblems negotiating their transition toadulthood and joining their local commu-nities.

The costs of prolonged unemployment inyoung people are potentially enormous interms of lifetime earnings. In the MiddleEast and North Africa, there are countlessstories of unemployment leading to delayedmarriage and staring families, delays inachieving the productive identity whichmarks the successful transition from youthto adulthood.

How is the World Bank responding tothis crisis? Bank financing for children andyouth development work tripled in the tenyears from 2000 to 2010. The value of thatloan portfolio grew from $950 million in2000 to over $4.8 billion in the same pe-riod. There are now youth employmentand empowerment projects in every region– even in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,where the share of young people in thepopulation is declining.

The World Bank has joined forces withthe Nike Foundation and other donors toset up the Adolescent Girls Initiative to pi-oneer employment projects for girls inpost-conflict and fragile environmentsaround the world. The Bank is also prepar-ing large youth development programs incountries as diverse as Mexico, SierraLeone, El Salvador, Papua New Guinea,and Nepal to enhance the opportunitiesavailable to young people and the employ-ability of young people who enter the labormarket.

The Bank is also working in partnershipwith the International Labor Organisa-tion’s (ILO) Youth Employment Network,

with leading NGOs and Civil Society or-ganizations, and with the broader donorcommunity to improve our global knowl-edge on effective youth employment inter-ventions that will succeed even after thecrisis has subsided.

We know that countries that invest intheir young men and women end up withgreater economic growth and social cohe-sion. Governments that encourage theirstudents to stay in school see significant na-tional returns on each additional year ofschooling. This is especially true whencountries invest in educating their adoles-cent girls to secondary school level and be-yond. Governments are working moreintensively with the international donorcommunity, NGOs and corporate sponsorsto champion new models of youth employ-ment programs that focus on a more com-prehensive market-driven approach – withrelevant job and life skills training, intern-ships, and job placement opportunities.

Governments are also forming partner-ships with private companies to finance andexpand effective job-training programswhich can groom young people for the de-mands of a global economy that requiresmore highly skilled workers.

For example, in the Dominican Repub-lic’s Juventud y Empleo project, compre-hensive job training has increased youngpeople’s salaries by as much as 10 per cent.The returns on the investment in the youngbeneficiaries are expected to exceed theprogram costs within two years of their

graduation. Such returns are observed inyouth employment programs around theworld.

To be sure, the global recovery is takinglonger than anticipated. It will take timefor countries to restore confidence and en-courage trade and investment, to createjobs, enhance productivity and spur re-newed growth. But we cannot wait untilthe crisis ends to pay serious attention tothe plight of today’s young people.

Young people today constitute the largestyouth population in human history – morethan one billion people between the ages of15 and 25 – the vast majority of them indeveloping countries. Sub-Saharan Africa,according to the US-based Population Ref-erence Bureau, is home to the world’slargest population of young people and isprojected to stay this way for decades.

If we do nothing to address these issues,the consequences will be severe. Even ifthere is no violence, too little investment inyoung people costs countries as much as 2per cent of their GDP every year, even atthe best of times.

As a result, fewer young people will beable to contribute to the economic growththat will fuel a widespread and sustainableglobal recovery. Now is the time for gov-ernments and donors to act. Young peoplemust be empowered to take charge of theirown lives and discover their full potential.Whether they succeed has everything to dowith whether we succeed as a world, and asa society. But they cannot do so alone.

Young people today constitute the largest youthpopulation in human history – more than one

billion people between the ages of 15 and 25 – the vast majority of them in developing countries


rom August 2010 to August2011 the world celebratedthe International Year ofYouth (IYY), an occasion forthe UN and particularly

UNICEF to strongly reaffirm the imper-ative of investing in adolescence as themost effective way to consolidate the his-toric global gains achieved for children inearly and middle childhood since 1989.UNICEF also dedicated The State ofWorld’s Children 2011 - Adolescence anage of opportunity to young people.

We should never forget that 80% of theUN Convention on the Rights of theChild (1989) applies to young people andthe Convention on the Elimination ofAll Forms of Discrimination againstWomen applies to all adolescent females.Likewise, the Charter of FundamentalRights of the European Union dedicatesArt.24 to the rights of the child, guaran-teeing child protection by EU institu-tions and EU countries, while the Treatyof Lisbon introduced the clear objectivefor the EU to promote children's rights.UNICEF often works in partnershipwith the European Union promotinghuman and children's rights, includingthose of adolescents, and together achiev-ing greater results for the most vulnerableones.

Currently, the world is home to 1.2 bil-lion individuals aged 10-19 years, themajority of whom live in developingcountries. Adolescents are the next gen-eration of actors on the social and eco-nomic stage, and societies would benefitfrom harnessing their energy and skills inorder to accelerate the fight againstpoverty, inequity and gender discrimina-tion, by breaking related negative circlesbetween generations.

UNICEF works in 150 countries withand for adolescents, both in so-calledthird countries and industrialized coun-tries. Around the globe UNICEF leads

and sponsors programmes with localand international NGOs as well as na-tional governments, while in industrial-ized countries UNICEF directly engagesyouth in awareness raising and volun-teering activities.

Recent UNICEF reports and surveysshow that all over the world youth facenumerous challenges and dangers.Among those, early marriage and preg-nancy, sexual exploitation and violence,child labour, as well as education andhealth including HIV/AIDS are still themost urgent.

Today 700 million adolescents are outof school, which prevents not only theirown future development, but directly in-fluences the social and economic devel-opment of their countries. Often girls arethe most overlooked. It is a known factthat the more education a girl receives,the more likely she is to postpone mar-riage and motherhood, and hence themore likely it is that her children will behealthier and better educated as well.That is why UNICEF continues to raiseawareness in third countries on the rightof every girl to a normal childhood, edu-cation and to make her own decisions.For example, in 23 schools of the IndianPurulia district, UNICEF created groupsto educate students about their rights andimprove leadership, communication andproblem solving skills.

By knowing their rights, girls oftengather the strength to say no to earlymarriage and to proceed with their edu-cation. UNICEF has a long-standingcommitment to ensure ethical and mean-ingful participation of children is a guid-ing principal in all its work. Participationenables adolescents to make a significant

contribution to their families, communi-ties and society as a whole. It happenedin Nigeria, where since 2003 youth vol-unteers at the Nigerian Youth ServiceCorps work together with UNICEF,combating HIV/AIDS by raising aware-ness and bringing valuable life-skills totheir villages. These are two of numeroussuccess stories UNICEF can tell; how-ever, too many adolescents are still notreached and in need.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia con-tinue to see rapid increases in numbers ofHIV infections among children youngboys and girls, mostly caused by few ed-ucational and employment opportunities,as well as weakening family and socialsupport structures.

Nowadays, the economic crisis maysimply and further deteriorate states’ andinternational organisations’ capacity torespond to big challenges not only inthird countries but also in the EU, as theglobal economic outlook remains highlyuncertain, with corresponding seriousnegative implications for social and eco-nomic progress. Public finances havetightened everywhere and social spend-ing, together with investments in child-related areas, has come under greaterscrutiny.

However, UNICEF is firmly convincedthat investing in adolescents is a worth-while pursuit and calls on the EU, na-tional governments and local andinternational actors and authorities tofulfil their obligations to prepare adoles-cents for adulthood and active citizen-ship. It is not only right to meet thechallenges that adolescents face and givethem the opportunities to actively partic-ipate in their societies, but it makes eco-

nomic sense as well.Europe is indeed an old continent but

with young challenges, such as social in-clusion and integration of migrants. Afterthe Arab Spring, it is expected that moreyoung people from the other side of theMediterranean will try to find jobs inEurope - in North Africa in the next 10years, 65 per cent of the population willbe 24 years old or even younger. Migra-tion, poverty and social exclusion areoften interrelated, and the well-being ofmany children and youth living in Eu-rope, particularly those who come fromlow or middle income countries, remaincritical in several domains, includinghealth, education, economic security,housing, and work opportunities.

25 UNICEF National Committeesbased in the European Union are con-tributing more and more to advocacy forchildren’s rights and equity, particularlyto the fight against poverty and social ex-clusion outside and within Europeanborders. Young Europeans have the op-portunity to become UNICEF volunteersin many countries and to play an activerole in decision making in families, com-munities and societies for their ownrights and the ones of their peers.

Anthony Lake, UNICEF ExecutiveDirector, says: “We need to focus moreattention now on reaching adolescents,especially adolescent girls, investing ineducation, health and other measures toengage them in the process of improvingtheir own lives”. Adolescence is an age ofopportunity and a pivotal time for all ofus to build on their development and setthem on the path to fulfilling their po-tential while creating a more peaceful,tolerant and equitable world.

Nowadays, the economiccrisis may simply and

further deteriorate states’and international organisations’

capacity to respond to bigchallenges not only in third

countries but also in the EU, asthe global economic outlook

remains highly uncertain


o far 295 MEPs have signed thedeclaration, which must receivethe signatures of over half of allMEPs by 15th December. Dis-crimination is a part of life for

the majority of girls and young womenaround the world, and it is often accompa-nied by violence and exclusion. Girls areamong the most disadvantaged people onthe planet, and yet they are its most valu-able asset. Across the world research hasshown that they are less likely to be en-rolled in school, have less access to medicalcare and are more likely to suffer from mal-nutrition. And as they reach adolescence,girls experience multiple forms of gender-based violence, including sexual harassmentand abuse, female genital mutilation, forcedmarriage, and forced underage pregnancy -the single greatest threat to any woman’shealth in the developing world. Further-more they are barely involved in decision-making and are less protected by social andpolitical systems than their male counter-parts, and yet as the producers and nurtur-ers of future generations they are also itsmost valuable asset.

In September MEPs Edite Estrela,Véronique Mathieu and Catherine Stihlerorganised and hosted a European Week ofAction for Girls, with support of the Eu-

ropean Parliamentary Forum on Popula-tion and Development (EPF), Plan Europeand the World Association of Girl Guidesand Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). The goal ofthe week was to draw the European Parlia-ment’s attention to the injustices and in-dignities facing girls and young womenacross the world. And a central element ofthe week was to launch a declaration forthe European Parliament to declare its sup-port for an upcoming Canadian resolutionat the UN General Assembly to declare 22September as the ‘International Day of theGirl.’

It is hoped that an ‘International Day ofthe Girl’ will be a powerful way to highlightthe particular needs and rights of girlsacross the world, and to advocate forgreater action and investment to enablegirls to reach their full potential and toenjoy the same status and quality of life astheir male counterparts.

It has been proven that investing in girlsis key to reducing global poverty, and thisday will serve as a useful way to spread thismessage. For one of the best investmentswe can make is in educating girls to realizetheir full potential and contribute to in-

crease economic growth, agricultural devel-opment and reduce hunger and poverty.

Edite Estrela, Vice-Chair of the Com-mittee on Women’s Rights and GenderEquality, summed up the MEPs’ hopes suc-cinctly, saying that “an International Dayfor the Girl will create a foundation for ad-vocacy in the EU and beyond to ensure thatgirls get the investment and recognitionthey deserve as citizens and as powerfulagents of change within their own families,communities and nations.” Estrela’s fellowinitiators of the declaration included MEPsfrom the EPP, S&Ds and the Greens:Roberta Angelilli, Jean Lambert, KaterínaNeved’alová, Véronique Mathieu andCatherine Stihler.

At a hearing on Girls and Migration or-ganized by MEP Mathieu at the week,Mamadian Diallo (19) testified about whatmade her leave her native Guinea-Conakry.Subjected to female genital mutilation atthe age of 5, she pursued her schooling as-piring for a career in IT.

When her father died last year, her uncle‘inherited’ Mamadian’s mother andpromptly decided to take her out of schooland marry her off to a man three times herage in exchange for money, a man who wasabusive. She recounted with sadness her de-cision to leave a country and society thathad no place for her saying “I was forced todo things against my will… my refusal waslike being disowned by my family.” She hasrecently been granted asylum in Belgium.

The Day of the Girl will make girls likeMamadian feel respected, recognised andtheir contributions valued in the society.

For more information please contact VincentVilleneuve: [email protected]

Since September agroup of MEPs from

across the politicalspectrum have been calling

on all members of theEuropean Parliament to

continue their philanthropictradition and support an

upcoming Canadianresolution at the UNGeneral Assembly to

declare 22 September as the‘International Day of the

Girl’. All MEPs, regardlessof their political allegiance

or religious convictions, arestrongly encouraged to sign

a declaration confirmingthe European Parliament’s

support for the initiative

We thereforestrongly urge MEPs

to sign ‘Written MEPdeclaration 39/2011’ for the

UN to inaugurate 22ndSeptember as the

“International Day of theGirl”, which they will find

in front of the plenarychamber at upcoming

sessions. Their signaturewill help the European

Parliament to continue tobe a powerful and

progressive global force forhuman rights


he figures of youth unem-ployment in Europe arestaggering. There is noneed to repeat them again,because we hear them often

enough - on the news, in the speeches ofpoliticians, and from young people drivento protest for the first times in their lives.But the response to this 'crisis within acrisis' is too often one of despair - andnot one of urgency.

This is understandable, to some degree.Every single period of unemployment is agenuine tragedy for the individual. Butfor young people the effects are multi-plied. The first step into the labour mar-ket is especially important in cultivatingambition and aspiration - not to mentionthe feeling of being valued in society. In-security and poor work at the start of acareer is strongly linked to lower skillslevels and income across life. And with-out previous experience, periods out ofwork are particularly damaging to youngpeoples' chances of finding employment.More young people are graduating withmore skills and society is benefittingfrom this resource less and less.

Perhaps the cruelest fact though is thatas the time of unemployment grows, sotoo does the risk of long term social ex-clusion. Every day of this youth-crisis thatpasses sows the seeds of more personal

and social hardship for years to come.The European Youth Forum has calcu-

lated that the cost of youth unemploy-ment at current levels is over 140 billioneuros a year for the European states. Thecost for the society is not simply the costof unemployment benefits and welfaresupport, but also the loss of revenue fromtaxation, from investment in education,the costs of re-training, and increasedhealth and mental health services.

Although youth unemployment is aproblem in all of Europe, it is particularlyacute in the member states hit hardest bythe economic crisis. The countries that areat the receiving end of the bail-out pack-ages, or at the risk of slipping in the samedirection have nearly one in two youngpeople out of work. And these same coun-tries face more of the bitter medicine ofcontractionary austerity that prevents anysocial policy responses to the problem.

But youth unemployment is not lim-ited to the European 'South'. Levels inthe North are shameful as well, not leastbecause cuts in social and employmentservices are being borne out of ideology,rather than necessity. The economic crisisis often being used to finish the processof irresponsible marketisation whichcaused it in the first place.

But dwelling on the problems is lessimportant than finding solutions. Andthere are solutions available - both na-tional and European. What we lack is theleadership to put them into place.

We need investment in youth. We needthe creation of a European Youth Pactthat consists of two parts. First the cre-ation of a European youth guarantee - alegal commitment to guarantee eachyoung person a job, training, or place ineducation within four months of becom-ing unemployed. This guarantee already

exists in some European countries, withimpressive results. Austria has it, and canbe proud of its single digit youth unem-ployment figures, compared to those inelsewhere in Europe.

Secondly, we need the creation of a Eu-ropean Youth Fund - which would fi-nance youth employment across thecontinent. A fund receiving 1 billioneuros a year from the EU budget wouldbe able to offer flexible resourcing forprojects across Europe and in the regionssuffering most from youth unemploy-ment. This may seem unrealistic whilstthe Eurozone itself is under threat - butsocial crises are every bit as serious as fi-nancial crises. And whereas bailouts forstates carry a great deal of risk, 1bn Eurosto help tackle youth unemploymentwould pay itself back many times overacross an entire generation of Europeans.

Austerity in Europe has not worked,this much is evident. We have minimal orno growth, high unemployment and ris-ing welfare costs as a result. Investment inthe economy, and particularly jobs is thesolution to all three of these problems.Europe has faced more than its share ofcrises and hardship, and it has alwaysovercome them by getting Europeansworking, by making society stronger, andby making the economy work for all citi-zens. Tackling youth unemployment isonly a part of this solution, but there canbe no solution without it.

The European Youth Forum hascalculated that the cost of youth

unemployment at current levels is over 140billion euros a year for the European states


he most educated genera-tion is experiencing todaythe endemic diffusion ofinternships. It is work, butnot a job. It is often under-

paid or not paid at all. Internships havebecome the norm for European youthwho wish to traverse the job barrier, andthe high costs associated with complet-ing an internship are generally acceptedby European youth, and seen as a neces-sity to ensure future employment, espe-cially in times of crisis where theemployment opportunities for youngpeople are getting less and less. This iswhy we decided to address one of themost hidden and widespread form oftransition of young people from educa-tion to the labour market. A transitionthat could be useful if quality driven, buthide many traps and precariousness with-out clear criteria and rights for youngpeople

The first important goal for us is tobring the situation of the interns at thespotlight in Europe: In 2011, the Euro-pean Youth Forum conducted a pan-Eu-ropean survey to gather data on thesituation of young interns in Europe. Ac-cording to the results, internships haveincreased more and more in an age ofeconomic uncertainty, and have led to thecontinued use of interns as replacementsfor actual, paid workers. The continuedpractice of requiring applicants for actual,paying jobs to have completed several in-

ternships before being marketable seemsto be leading towards a 'lost generation'of workers who will never be able to fullyenter the wider job market.

The competition for jobs has becomemuch more intense in the past 10 yearsin Europe. Whereas previous generationscould make a relatively straightforwardstep from education to working life, thishas become a giant leap for young peopletoday. Internships were relatively un-known in Europe until around 10 yearsago. To a certain extent the concept of in-ternships is imported from America andtheir rapid development in Europe, par-ticularly in creative industries and inmulti-national companies, has caughtpolicy makers and labour rights organi-sations off guard.

As a half way house between educationand employment, internships have thepotential to help young people deal witha rapidly changing, and arguably volatile,labour market by offering first hand ex-perience of working environments in acontext that is geared towards educationand the development of skills. But weneed to avoid that they become a form ofexploitation or replacement of paid jobs.

Nowadays, the transition from educa-tion to employment is long, marked withlittle stability, low income and tasks thatrarely correspond to acquired knowledgeand skills. The practice of internships isspreading in many countries, and is oftenused by industries with very healthyprofit margins. Young people are queuingup and competing for 3-month unpaidinternships, usually with no prospects of

a permanent contract. And after one in-ternship there will have to be another andthen another. For many young people thisis a sacrifice leading to nowhere, not serv-ing as a stepping stone and not offeringthem a (dream) job.

Amongst the nearly 4,000 internsacross Europe who took part in the sur-vey, only 25% said they received adequateremuneration, and 37% said they hadcompleted three or more internships.One of these, who had completed a totalof four internships, summed up the expe-rience, 'Employers know they can getaway without paying interns a thing be-cause graduates "need" the experience,and as a result employers expect someonestarting an entry level job to know every-thing on their first day.' Such a quote re-veals the alarming fact that theentry-level positions so coveted by grad-uating students of the past may have allbut disappeared. Internships are now amust-have to enter the labour market, butsome fear that internships may be turn-ing into a sub-labour market of theirown, where cheap (even free) labour isnot only accepted, but desired by thoseapplying for it.

Clearly precarious internships are nota sustainable solution for the autonomyand future of young people. They canserve as a temporary solution – but ac-cepting such offers only aggravates nega-tive trends.

As the European platform of youth or-ganisations in Europe, the EuropeanYouth Forum considers quality intern-ships as one of the key generational de-

mands to improve the situation of youthemployment in Europe. Our actions, in-cluding the call for a European QualityInternships Charter (www.qualityintern-ships.eu) show a good example of howyoung people can contribute to the EUdiscussion on how to fight precariousnessand bring a concrete answer to the in-crease demands of thousands of youngpeople in Europe.

The Charter lays basic quality princi-ples for internships and apprenticeshipsto become a valuable and quality experi-ence across Europe. It sets a basic frame-work of rights and responsibilities forboth the employers and employees, aswell as a clear monitor system. In ouropinion, first and foremost, internshipsshould have clearly set learning objectiveand interns should be provided the ap-propriate insurance and be reimbursedfor all costs, including travel costs, in-curred during the internship.

When not taking place outside of for-mal education, a different set of princi-ples are required, particularly to ensurethat the intern is treated fairly in theworkplace and that the internship is notdesigned to replace a fully paid position.

As European Youth Forum we try tolead by example, committing to qualitystandards and applying a clear and co-herent code of conduct for our own in-ternships. To avoid a 'lost generation' ofinterns for life, we need to start saying noto unpaid internships and ensure qualityinternships for young people. We need totell them that they are not second orthird class workers, but citizens withrights that can make the difference righthere and right now!

Clearlyprecarious

internships are not asustainable solution

for the autonomy andfuture of young

people. They can serveas a temporarysolution – but

accepting such offersonly aggravatesnegative trends

27 November 2011

23NEW EUROPE

owadays young Europeansenjoy better opportunitiescompared with young fromothers parts of the world.However they also face dif-

ficult challenges. They are one of the mostvulnerable groups in society, especially inthe current economic and financial crisis;they suffer from difficulties in education,unemployment, problems in finance, inhousing or they are threatened by povertyand social exclusion.

They are the generation of Europeanswith the highest level in education everyet, with lower future expectations. Lifechances of many young people areblighted.

Youth policy as such is decided by eachEU country, but together they set com-mon goals and share best practices. In ad-dition, the EU provides funding andgrants for a broad range of projects andprogrammes allowing its citizens to makethe most of their personal developmentand the EU’s economic potential bystudying, training or doing voluntary workin other countries.

Europe should create favourable condi-tions for youth to develop their skills, ful-fil their potential, work, activelyparticipate in society, and engage more inthe building of the EU project.

Europe's youth must also be empoweredto benefit from opportunities such as civicand political participation, volunteering,creativity and entrepreneurship, sport andglobal engagement.

Young people are not a burdensome re-sponsibility but a critical resource to soci-ety which can be mobilised to achievehigher social goals; especially importantin an ageing society as ours.

Despite a strong interest for the projectof Europe, nowadays young people show asignificant mistrust towards political in-stitutions and their leaders. This distancebetween young people and the EU hasclearly been expressed in the last Euro-pean election’s record low turnout in 2009and in the latest months with the differentdemonstrations in lots of countries.

Young generation is at a key political mo-mentum. Young Europeans expect the institu-tions to address the challenges they face.

The European Union (EU) has deep-ened its commitment by passing from asingle approach on Students mobility -such as the Erasmus program- to a cross-

sector perspective with the White Paperon Youth (2001). This new comprehensiveapproach was enhanced by the EuropeanYouth Pact (2005).

In 2008, the European Parliamentadopted a Written Declaration (33/2008)on devoting more attention to youth em-powerment in EU policies, highlightingthe need for a mainstreaming approach toyouth policies.

The New EU Youth Strategy, presentedby the Commission in 2009, was also ex-pected to acknowledge the importance ofsuch an approach when dealing withyouth issues and also the necessity of astructural dialogue.

And a great step forward last year, wasthe decision to dedicate one of the Europe2020 Strategy flagship initiatives to youth,education and training.

Continuing to design policies for youngpeople is no longer enough: it is crucial todevelop youth policies with young people.

Looking towards the future of the Eu-ropean Union, a group of Members of theEuropean Parliament ought seize the op-portunity offered to us with the politicalrenewal of the institutions in the begin-ning of this Legislature ( June 2009) andbring the issue of youth policies to thevery heart of the European Parliament.

We thought the establishment of an in-tergroup on youth issues would be a veryimportant tool to implement such an ap-proach.

With our different meetings and ac-tions we try to send a strong political sig-nal on the commitment of the Membersof the European Parliament to improvethe quality of life of young people acrossEurope.

Our main objectives are: 1) Encourage youth active citizenship:

promote stronger participation, from localyouth organizations to the Europeandemocratic processes;

2) Improve youth autonomy: a smoothtransition from education to the labourmarket is crucial to avoid youth poverty,and should be achieved implementing theEuropean Youth Pact;

3) And above all, propose new Euro-pean initiatives and increasing funds forcurrent programmes.

Thanks to the work of a group of MEPsstrongly engaged with youth issues, andabove all, to rapporteur Sidonia Jędrze-jewska's work, the European Parliamentidentified youth as one of its keyproiroties for the 2011 budget.

So, despite the current economic crisis,

we have achieved an increase of morethan 200 million Euros in the last twoyears for the European Social Fund(ESF), the main instrument for invest-ment in education and training under Co-hesion Policy.

Others budgetary instruments provid-ing support to youth, education and mo-bility such as Lifelong Learning, ErasmusMundus, Youth in Action or People (aspecific programme for mobility re-searchers) have increased by 8.2%, with atotal amount of €2.183 million plannedfor 2012 EU Budget.

The economic crisis has made impera-tive the need to support young people.

In this context, youth should be per-ceived as an EU cross-cutting theme, de-veloping synergies between differentpolicy areas relating to youth, educationand mobility, facilitating and encouragingsocial inclusion, empowerment, skills de-velopment and mobility of young people,regardless their educational background.

Youth instruments have an unquestion-able European added value contributingto the creation of a strong European civilsociety and the fostering of a Europeanidentity.

From the European Parliament we areworking in a greater youth engagement.Europe's future depends on its youth.

Young generation is at a key political

momentum. Young Europeans expect the

institutions to address the challenges they face


shall either find a way ormake one” said Hannibalto his generals, when theytold him that it was im-possible to cross the Alps

by elephants. In modern Europe, wherethe debt crisis dominates, especially inthe Southern region, the way towardsprosperity and stability is at stake. More-over, the confidence in the traditionalpolitician caste is questioned, especiallyin countries such as Greece or Italy. As aresult, the solution is a new way, in orderthe European integration to be achieved.

The European Union is currently un-dergoing a major crisis, which is not onlyfinancial but also political and ideologi-cal. The idea of European integration,which dominated last decade, has gone bythe wayside taking into considerationthat most states act according to theirown internal policies and values. Fur-thermore, Europeans are divided betweenthose who live at the northern region andthose who live at the southern region ofthe European Union.

The first ones believe that the south-ern states waste Union’s money irrespon-sibly, while the second ones believe thatthe northern states can’t realize theirproblems.

Furthermore, there is a lack of newideas and policies from the leaders of theEuropean Union, who continue applying

outdated programs and failed policies. Greece is also struggling to recover

from a deep economic, political and so-cial crisis.

This is the result of a political and ide-ological stagnation that took place dur-ing the last two decades.

Huge scandals between politicians andbusinessmen or media owners have beenrevealed. The Greek people used to votetheir representatives based on patron-client relationships without evaluatingpoliticians’ abilities and political plat-forms.

The Greek governments have alwaysbeen indecisive concerning the promo-tion of social and economic reforms be-cause they don’t want to assume anypolitical cost.

Even in the same party there are politi-cians, who struggle for power whereas theideological gap between the two mostpopular Greek parties has vanished.Eventually, two questions arise: Is thesalvation of Europe possible? Is someoneable to make a new way in order to leadus in our European promised land?

I strongly believe that pioneers towardsthis new direction should be the Euro-pean young people, whose role is the cre-ation of movements, which will influencedeeply both society and politics.

Just like in France in May 1968, whenthe police invasion in Sorbonne provokeda series of student occupation protests,which concluded to the uprising of a

wide range of social groups, and ulti-mately generated an enormous social im-pact.

The final outcome of this ideologicalrevolution was the transition from thelast decades’ conservatism to the liberalideas -on which the western society wasbased in the second half of the 20th cen-tury-, and the evolution of the socialistictheory.

Therefore, the so-called ideological in-novation, which leads to the evolution ofour society throughout the human his-tory, is often a privilege of youth, whoseinvolvement in politics is necessary andindisputable.

As in Greek mythology Hercules hadto choose between the Virtue -who of-fered him a severe but glorious life- andPleasure -who offered him a pleasant andeasy life-, so the European youth mustchoose between the road of an ideologi-cal revolution, which will lead them to anera of change, progress and prosperityand the road of participation in games ofthrones, among the traditional politicalleaders, which led earlier generations topolitical and ideological stagnation.

Therefore, when we talk about politi-cal action of the new generation, weshould understand that we mainly meanthe political debate, the development ofinnovative ideological movements andthe continuous effort to improve the ex-isting situation.

The ultimate goal should be the ideo-

logical confrontation (even in the sameparty), through which we will be led tonew governmental policies. The sterilepolitical debate and participation ingames of thrones, which mainly aim atpreserving the balance and the correla-tion of political factions, is perhaps themost serious fault.

In conclusion, young Europeans, whowant to engage in politics, must firstmake a decision about the role that theywant to play.

They should struggle either for manorsand coalitions of power or for the renewalof the political scene through the ideo-logical conflict.

From our side, we must understandthat politics is not just a field, where so-cial conflicts and rivalries are carried outin order to gain governmental power, butrather an area, where ideologies areclashed. We should go one step further.

We must leave behind the outdatedpoliticians as well as the ideas they repre-sent. We have to form our political andideological style, which will distinguishus from the previous generations and willbe the trigger for a new start.

The youth of Europe must act towardsthe European integration and cohesion.They should develop and apply the ideaof the European solidarity.

The decision is certainly hard and theimplementation of the specific decisionis even harder but eventually the outcomeof such a painful process will reward us.

We have to formour political andideological style,

which will distinguishus from the previousgenerations and will

be the trigger for anew start


ver the past ten years,significant efforts havebeen made globally toidentify and understandthe root causes of ex-

tremism. In Europe, national govern-ments and the EU institutions haveworked closely with counter-terrorismexperts, law enforcement agencies, faith-based groups and Muslim communityleaders with a view to understanding andpreventing the phenomenon of home-grown extremism and radicalisation lead-ing to terrorism.

It has become increasingly evident thatrecruitment, particularly - but not exclu-sively - of young people, is often the re-sult of longer-term, and sometimesundetected, radicalisation processes.

The factors contributing to radicalisa-tion are manifold, complex and often notcompletely understood.

Extremist propaganda diffused throughthe media and particularly the internet,the preaching of radical individualswithin communities and the use of reli-gious-based arguments to foment vio-lence are contributing factors.

Additionally, discrimination and mar-ginalisation combined with the lack ofaccess to liberal religious and other role-model figures contribute significantly bycreating a fertile ground for extremism tospread and have an impact.

Within this context and as part of ourwork at the European Foundation forDemocracy (EFD) in Brussels, we havecome across a number of inspirational in-dividuals - European citizens of Muslimand/or immigrant backgrounds - con-cerned by the polarisation of the broader

debate across Europe. They are frustrated by the attention

and importance that both policy makersand the media continue to give almostexclusively to self-appointed “spokesper-sons” and radical elements who claim torepresent “Muslim communities” or tospeak in the name of Islam.

They feel equally threatened by thespread of extremist narratives within

their own communities and witness first-hand the way in which radical individualsand group pressure contribute to theemergence of virtual parallel societies inwhich a different set of values, freedomsand laws apply. In these societies, weoften see that the rights of individuals aresacrificed in the name of the “rights” ofcultures.

Some of these individuals work against

forced marriages, others on honourcrimes and honour violence; some arejournalists working on radicalisation is-sues and others are local government of-ficials, film-makers, academics andresearchers.

But they are all Europeans who firmlybelieve in the principles enshrined in theEU Charter of Fundamental Rights: re-spect for the rule of law and fundamentalrights.

All are united in their desire to changethe current status quo, as they see first-hand that the results of various govern-ment policies on integration over theyears continue to fall short.

The disconnect between governmentand citizens, particularly those withinimmigrant communities, has grown evergreater thus creating a gap filled by ex-tremists, who are connecting with and of-fering an alternative to disaffected youthin societies right across Europe.

It is through working with these peoplethat it has become increasingly evidentthat voices such as theirs are not beingheard mainly because they lack the meansand access to policy makers, media andfunding sources.

All of them are active in their respec-tive capacities in their own countries butthey work primarily alone, unaware thatthere are many like-minded individualsin other countries working on similar is-sues, sharing the same values and idealsfor a free, open and tolerant society.

They represent a significant opportu-nity as a resource for European and na-tional authorities in their efforts to fightand prevent radicalisation within immi-grant and Muslim communities.

They are true to the democratic valueson which Europe was founded and theyneed to be supported, nurtured and em-powered to ensure that they can developinto the alternative role models they areand inspire their peers within their com-munities.

They are passionate about playing astronger and more effective role in coun-tering extremist narratives and rhetoricthat for too long have been perceived asthe de facto views from their communi-ties.

They are a tremendously motivatinggroup of people and deserve to succeed.It will take a few years for their efforts tobear fruit though I am in no doubt thatthis will occur in the not-too-distant fu-ture.

With the support of institutions suchas the European Commission, these in-dividuals could make a hugely valuablecontribution by mobilising individualswithin their communities to help themtake control of their lives and those oftheir families and friends. The successesof empowerment networks such as thissurely benefit all Europeans.

They workprimarily alone,

unaware that there aremany like-minded

individuals in othercountries working onsimilar issues, sharing

the same values andideals for a free, open

and tolerant society


n the current European Union eco-nomic climate, volunteering canconstitute a viable alternative forour societies, since it can offereveryone the opportunity to bring

forward their contribution and gain expe-rience, skills as well as a sense of solidar-ity and social commitment. Within thisframework, youth is one of the categoriesthat stand to gain much from voluntaryactivities, which can help support theirdevelopment in terms of education, sport,social inclusion and access to the labourmarket.

We are now nearing the end of Euro-pean Year of Voluntary Activities Pro-moting Active Citizenship 2011, a yearduring which we have seen many eventsand actions being organised on this topic.However, looking at the current situationin the European Union, we can see thatthere are a significant number of differ-ences between Member States in terms ofvolunteering and there is still much to bedone to encourage young people to ac-tively participate and become more en-gaged, at all levels: national and European.

At a time when youth is one of the cat-egories most affected by unemployment,national governments need to understand

that volunteering can constitute a meansto facilitate the transition of young peo-ple towards employment, since it offersthem the chance to acquire skills, compe-tences, while also gaining more confi-dence and becoming more empowered. Inaddition to this, the information andlearning obtained through carrying outvoluntary activities can help to create abridge towards the education of youththrough non-formal and informal learn-ing. Thus, we can see why volunteering,especially amongst young people, could bea supporting factor for reducing unem-ployment and, similarly, for increasing therate of people with a high level of skills,as is mentioned in the objectives of theEU 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainableand inclusive growth and the "Youth onthe Move" flagship initiative.

Nonetheless, across the EU, policies onvolunteering and the level of support forthis field vary from one country to an-other. From recent studies carried out forthe European Commission, it is clear thatthere are diverging frameworks and tradi-tional ways of incorporating volunteeringwithin the national policies, as well as dif-ferent age groups that are more likely tobe involved in these activities in eachMember State. For example, in countriessuch as Finland, Sweden, Austria or Ro-mania, most volunteers belong to the 30

to 50 years age group, while in others fromEastern Europe and Spain young peoplemake up the largest part of the volunteers.This does not, however, mean that weshould enforce a single approach to vol-untary activities throughout the EuropeanUnion but rather, that we should look to-wards encouraging countries to have aclear, coherent and structured strategy inthis field.

The adoption of such a framework ineach country would enable the coordina-tion of volunteering for young peopleacross several policies, regardless ofwhether or not we are talking about envi-ronmental volunteering, about volunteer-ing and sports or employee volunteering.In addition to this, each Member Stateshould make sure that it has a set of legalprovisions or rules on volunteers and vol-untary activities. This does not exist at themoment in every EU country and is an es-sential factor.

Some of these matters have alreadybeen discussed at EU level, in the Euro-pean Commission and the European Par-liament. The recent CommissionCommunication on "EU Policies and Vol-unteering: Recognising and PromotingCross-Border Voluntary Activities in theEU" has highlighted some areas for im-provement in this field, in order to iden-tify what can be done to facilitate

volunteering, both nationally but alsoacross EU borders. Indeed, allowing for agreater mobility for voluntary action bysupporting activities that go beyond thenational level, making it possible for EUcitizens to carry out voluntary work in an-other EU state, is a big step in the rightdirection. We want our young people to beable to engage with the multicultural as-pects that are the essence of the EU, tobecome active citizens of the Europeansociety, while at the same time enhancingtheir employability prospects and devel-oping their professional skills. This is animportant requirement if we want tolower the unemployment levels of youthin Europe and reach the EU 2020 targets.But, for this to happen, we need to keep abetter track on voluntary activities inMembers States, in order to identify bestpractices but also to be able to see howvolunteering can complement actionswithin European and national policies onyouth, education, sport, health and em-ployment.

Given the European economic and so-cial future prospects, I believe that it is ex-tremely important for the EU andnational legislators to encourage youngpeople to become volunteers, to supportvoluntary organisations and their efforts,as well as to recognise voluntary workdone by them.


n 2014, Russia will host its firstever Olympic Winter Games inthe city of Sochi. There is nodoubt that we will see extraordi-nary athletes writing sporting

history at Sochi 2014. The Games will bean inspiration for young people in Russiaand around the world, encouraging themto take up winter sports in the spirit ofthe Olympics. The real legacy of Sochi2014, however, lies in bringing about adeep change within Russian culture.

Through our Sochi 2014 volunteersmovement, thousands of young and en-thusiastic Russians are reintroducing vol-unteering into Russian society, somethingthat has been absent for far too long. Vol-unteers come together from all parts ofthe community, to build projects and cel-ebrate being an active citizen.

In the past, for Russians volunteeringwas a way of demonstrating their sense ofresponsibility towards society - by help-ing those in need and building commu-nity structures. Philanthropy flourishedon many levels; but during the Soviettimes the attitude towards individual vol-unteering changed dramatically. Todayonly between 5% to 9% of Russians areinvolved in volunteering, compared to anaverage of approximately 30% in otherEuropean countries. Slowly, the attitudetowards volunteering is changing again inmy country, and this change is driven toa large extent by enthusiastic young peo-ple.

The volunteering vision of Sochi 2014was a determining factor in the Interna-tional Olympic Committee’s decision toaward the Olympic Winter Games to ourcity. I am certain that Sochi 2014 will liveup to its promises. 25,000 volunteersfrom across Russia will be the “face” ofour Winter Games to the world. They allwant to help make the Games a successand share their pride in their country byembracing the international communitywho will visit our city in February 2014.Our ultimate goal is to inspire millionsto join the revived volunteer movementacross Russia, making a meaningful con-tribution to society that will leave a last-ing legacy for generations to come.

Youth volunteers for the OlympicWinter Games will come from all cornersof Russia. From Arkhangelsk to Pyatig-orsk, Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok andof course in Sochi, we have set up centres,which will help prepare our volunteersfor this great event. Training will be pro-

vided on subject areas such as tourism,languages, environmental project man-agement and human resources. We areputting particular emphasis on languages,to ensure volunteers have the most pro-fessional linguistic training possible andare well placed to create a special experi-ence for all our overseas guests. The bestform of training is of course in the fieldand that is why the Sochi 2014 volun-teers are reaching out to the 2012 WinterYouth Olympic Games in Innsbruck andpartnering with the London 2012 volun-teers. Over 100 people will form theRussian Volunteer Team for London2012 to help with the organization of theOlympic and Paralympic games.

To solidify our commitment to the vol-unteering legacy in Russia, we have set anexample for many other European coun-tries, by enshrining volunteer status inlaw. In practice this means that volun-teers in Russia have a legal right to med-ical insurance and to be reimbursed for

costs related to their activities. We alsoworked hard to introduce a dedicated visaprocess for overseas volunteers travellingto Russia. Significantly, these specialrights for volunteers also received back-ing from Russian Prime MinisterVladimir Putin, who describes them as“removing obstacles to noble-mindedacts”.

I am especially pleased to see that ourachievement mirrors what volunteersfrom across Europe are also calling for.During the second Convention on YouthVolunteering, which took place in Brus-sels in early September 2011, a draftcharter on volunteering was adopted,which reflects many aspects of the rightsgranted to volunteers in Russia undertheir new legal status. The European Yearof Volunteering 2011 has encouragedSochi 2014 to be even more ambitious inour campaign to make volunteering andactive citizenship part of Russian societyagain. European Union initiatives thatpromote cross border voluntary activitiesand especially the encouragement ofsport volunteering are showing us thatour ambition is shared across Europe.

I truly believe that the Sochi 2014 vol-unteers will continue to have a positiveimpact post-2014, not just in Russia, butworldwide, and that the spirit of mutualcooperation through sports and volun-teering can be developed between Russiaand Europe. I warmly invite all readers tofollow the Sochi 2014 Games and expe-rience the genuine hospitality and enthu-siasm of our volunteers first-hand.

Through our Sochi 2014 volunteersmovement, thousands of young and

enthusiastic Russians are reintroducingvolunteering into Russian society, something

that has been absent for far too long


op group Peter, Bjorn and Johnsummed it up in their anthem toyouth culture ‘Young Folks’. Theysing “…we don't care about theyoung folks, talkin' 'bout the young

style, and we don't care about the old folks,talkin' 'bout the old style too”.

As ‘digital natives’ who have grown up withthe internet, young people can sometimes beirreverent about technology’s origins.

“The youth today really know their devicesand how to get the most out of them, which isimportant for us of course. But notions like‘digital convergence’ or the ‘R&D lifecycle’ arenot in their vocabulary,” says Leo Sun, Presi-dent of Huawei’s Brussels Office and EuropeanAffairs Dept. Huawei is a growing informationand communications technology (ICT) solu-tions provider serving 45 of the world’s top 50telecom operators.

“They watch, listen and interact with theirphones, players, tablets and PCs without con-sidering that smart technologies can also con-nect them with public services like health andtransport, as well as improve their quality oflife,” he adds. This is not necessarily a bad thing.But it is something that ICT companies likeHuawei need to be aware of as they developnew technologies and services that call for acommitment from the ‘prosumers’ of the future– the youth markets.

“Prosumers don’t just consume technologyand content, but actively contribute to its cre-ation,” explains Sun. This means Huawei andother tech-oriented companies need to engagewith younger generations in entirely new ways,giving them more opportunities to appreciatethe research and investment that goes into

every cool new gadget or internet service, andthe thought that goes into making them moresustainable and socially responsible.

Huawei has already recognised this new wayof thinking. “We consciously integrated youthpolicy into our broader corporate social re-sponsibility (CSR) mandate because it pavesthe way for advances in technology which takeonboard the concerns and needs of future de-cision-makers around the world,” says Sun.

This month the company announced that itsHANA project, an ICT talent-scouting acad-emy, would become a feature of its worldwideCSR activities and thus strengthen Huawei'scooperation with local education organisationsand related government institutions.

Internships are another example of howHuawei provides new opportunities for youngpeople. This year, Huawei hosted groups ofyoung people from both the UK and France totake part in a cultural exchange in China. Thestudents received courses in Chinese languageand business culture, as well as visits and train-ing at several Huawei sites.

Recognising the needs of young people and

career opportunities for women fits in withHuawei’s goal of promoting mutual under-standing and communication between all stake-holders: understanding of what the company isdoing to protect the environment, bridge the‘digital divide’, widen the reach of broadbandand internet services, and provide better work-ing relationships with suppliers and staff.

What companies like Huawei want youngpeople to know is that their beloved gadgets aremore than social lifelines for organising partiesand outings.

“As the technology matures, the young peo-ple who grew up with it will start to understandbetter that their smart phones and networks aremore powerful than the sum of their parts, themicro-chips, software and apps that make themwork,” stresses Sun.

Innovation in ICT is a key enabler of manyother industries and sectors, including govern-ment, helping them adapt to changes such asthose that will transform healthcare servicesand pensions by the time today’s youth eventu-ally reach retirement age. Or the way that gov-ernments and industry are working together to

deliver national broadband networks (NBN)across the regions, giving equal ‘digital oppor-tunities’ to everyone, and opening the way forbetter e-education for children even in remoteareas. Here, Huawei’s ‘broadband extended ed-ucation’ solution means teachers can tap into awealth of resources which help to bring downthe costs of education in remote regions of Eu-rope, or elsewhere. “We work with authoritiesand industry leaders to promote the adoption ofbroadband-friendly practices and policies so thewhole world can take advantage of the bene-fits,” notes Bill Lan of Huawei’s NBN Solu-tions. According to the World Bank,broadband contributes more to GDP growththan any other telecom service (fixed, mobile,internet), and every 10% increase in penetra-tion generates a 1.3% return in economicgrowth. Meanwhile, young people everywhereare taking advantage of better access to mobileservices, including video, via powerful newsmart phones. Even here, the telecoms compa-nies have to be in tune with the youth market.

Huawei’s new convergent wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) solution offers seamlesscoverage in hot and blind spots using WiFitechnology which boosts network capacity.This is especially good for indoor blind spotsin places like airports – and perhaps collegedorms, too!

It’s good to know that someone really doescare about the young folk … and the old folk.

Young people have an intimate and specialrelationship with technology. It is so much a

part of their lives, yet often taken for granted. RayO’Reilly updates the operator’s manual on the

current generation of ‘Young Folks’


oday more than 70 percent ofEuropean households haveaccess to the Internet. Andthat number is growing.Tremendous advances in

technology are responsible for unprece-dented changes over the last two decadesin the way we live. We are all better off be-cause of it.

Perhaps no age group has embracedthese changes better than our young peo-ple. For starters, they have the advantageof already being born into a world filledwith cell phones, computers and access todata and news around the world. Technol-ogy is integrated into virtually every aspectof their lives, and they are driven by instantcommunication.

As a result the upcoming generation isable to use technology more effectivelythan its predecessors.

With this in mind, there is no doubt ouryoung people hold the key to our future.They have the means to use informationtechnology tools to help drive the Euro-pean economy and put Europe at the fore-front of technological innovation. Butenabling our young people to realize theirfull potential requires an investment intheir education.

Our children need every resource attheir disposal to prepare them for the realworld. We – parents, teachers, govern-ments and employers – need to make sure

that we open as many doors as possible forthem.

At this point, however, too many stu-dents leave school early and not enoughseek higher education. This could have aprofound effect on Europe’s labor market.It is important – now more than ever –that we put a serious focus on education.

The amount of funding and resourcesdedicated to education varies from Mem-ber State to Member State, but it averagesbetween 4 and 6 percent of their GDP.We know that Denmark has the highestpublic spending for education, followed byCyprus, Sweden and Malta.

But while public spending is one im-portant part of the equation, it is by nomeans the only.

The path for a successful future also in-volves reform. We don’t have to look thatfar for some great examples of how thiscan be done effectively and in a demo-

cratic fashion. One such outstanding casestudy is Finland.

The Finnish government was able to se-cure a broad political consensus and con-vince even the opposition for the need toexecute sweeping education reform, in themidst of tough economic times.

The outcomes were overwhelming:great results in the Programme for Inter-national Students Assessment (PISA); thecreation of a sophisticated coaching andmentoring systems to students who fallbehind; advanced psychological testing ofthose who want to become teachers; andan average of 7 days a year for each of theFinnish teachers to spend on their owneducation on new teaching methods. Allof this was accomplished while studentsin Finland spend 25 percent less time atschool than PISA’s average.

These results also significantlystrengthened the reputation of a teacher’s

job, and the fact that school principalshave actually become managers and canfully focus on quality of the curriculum’sdelivery.

It is clearly a way to go for many otherEuropean governments, too.

Private sector investments and technol-ogy are also powerful tools. Just lastmonth, Microsoft and the European Con-federation of Junior Enterprises ( JADE)began a partnership that will provide realworld experience to students across Eu-rope. Members of JADE are studentsseeking practical, real-world experienceduring their studies by developing theirown professional projects.

Microsoft is helping JADE students re-alize this through the Education AllianceAgreement.

We will provide members with trainingand career development programs, andalso the technology for members to buildand run their own web store enterpriseprojects similar to a real-world marketingor sales campaign in their host collegesand local communities. And we plan toprovide certification to these students torecognize the business expertise devel-oped and demonstrated in the course oftheir campaign.

Together we all share a single goal – toimprove outcomes for individual studentsso they have the foundation they need tothrive when they enter the workforce, andultimately be the drivers of tomorrow’seconomy.

With this in mind, there is no doubt ouryoung people hold the key to our future.They have the means to use information

technology tools to help drive the Europeaneconomy and put Europe at the forefront of

technological innovation


oung people between the ageof 18 and 24 represent newlanguages and behaviors, arein the top of the influencepyramid and have a direct in-

fluence on the consumer habits as they areaspirational for the ones that are youngerthan them and inspirational for the onesolder than them. On a global perspective,the generation known as Millennials,Globalists or Generation Y is the largest

in absolute numbers with approximately2.3 billion people and their purchasingpower doubles the ones of their parentswhen they were young.

However, the power of the youth gen-eration in not only justified by this infor-mation. The empowerment of the youngpeople started after the Second WorldWar, with those who were born in the 40sand 50s. This generation called BabyBoomers was insecure and impatient andpushed to make big changes in the world.They were the first generation to receivethe keys from the house and the freedomto come and go by car. They conqueredthe right to be young, with their youthlifestyle, illustrated among other things,by their innovative way of clothing. Thisattitude and profile nicknamed them asthe Liberated Youth and still influenceour culture nowadays with concepts suchas “peace and love”, “flower power” or sex-ual liberation.

After them emerged the Generation X,with people born in the 60s and 70s. Thisgeneration enjoyed the rights conqueredby the Baby Boomers, living a guilt freesearch for pleasure.

Just as the previous Generation, theymade big changes in society. Not only didthey receive the keys of their houses, butthey were also the masters of their rooms.Moreover, they characterized themselvesfor being extremely influenced by the

boom of marketing and publicity, lovingstereotypes and being very competitive.

Finally, today’s generation, the Millen-nials, is the Global Youth. They don’t havejust the key of their houses and bedrooms,but they have taken the whole worldthanks to the advance of the Internet.Their identity transcends the place theyare as they receive influences from manydifferent cultures and habits thanks toglobal consumption.

Furthermore, the personal content canhave stratospheric dimension and whathappens one day in one place can turn thewhole world and reach millions of peoplein a few days.

However, this huge amount of informa-tion has some direct consequences in theGlobal Youth: they have chronic anxietyand have to make sure they have the rightfilters to select the information they re-ceive and to organize the contacts theymake every day. Besides, the risk of get-ting lost in the crowd makes many youngpeople communicate through commentsin Facebook and videos in Youtube in away that older people consider hyperbolicas they probably have problems to under-stand the “Internet language”.

Nowadays, it is not a problem to knowmany different things at the same timeand to start working on something andend up doing something else. In opposi-tion to previous generations, Millenials

can be at the same time DJs, skateboard-ers, lawyers, rockers and nerds. Indeed, itis the most plural generation of the his-tory. Additionally, the extended social net-works increase the number of short termstyle relationships and in business, it isvery visible how hierarchical systems andtraditional careers are losing strength infavor of models that reunite work withpleasure. Nevertheless, the Global Youthis not focused on a hedonistic lifestylesearch as they are pragmatic and realistic.Their big idols are not idealized figuresbut instead, common people who manageto realize their small dreams.

Young people are the faces of the neweconomy, ruled by open sources, crowd-funding and independent initiatives,which with the power of internet have animmensurable impact.

This collective conscience is the way ofliving of the future, leading to a reality ofopportunities.

But nothing is easy and every new thingintimidates. Moreover, something that wedidn’t know in the past now is consideredto be a natural behavior: so, you can un-derstand and take part, or comfortably sitand follow the law.

Being young come together with ques-tions and ambitions but to understand theworld and its evolution is necessary to un-derstand youth, as they are the catalysts ofthe big changes.

Young people are the faces of

the new economy,ruled by open sources,

crowdfunding andindependent

initiatives, which withthe power of internet

have an immensurableimpact


hus spake the late, greatOrson Welles, a man whoknew more than most (atleast, in his younger days)about why cinema was and

is the most vibrant expression of creativ-ity on the planet.The best directors tend to be those, bethey a Spielberg, Kubrick, Von Trier orTruffaut, who do not lose the sense ofawe that childhood and being young in-spire, and who are able to translate thisinto shared experience for all people, forall times.

And there is no doubt that the young,and young at heart, are still responding tothe art form – a recent study, conductedby Time in the US, found that 30 daysafter studying a book, children rememberonly 30% of what they could recall thenext morning. However, three monthsafter seeing a film, they remembered 90%of what they were able to describe themorning after. In the US, the number ofyoung people who visit the cinema everyweek is around 28 million, and of these,11million are under 14. At a European level (Eurostat 2006)more than 82% of 16- to 24-year-oldswent to see at least one film in the studyreference year, a share that was twice highas for those aged 30 and over.In 17 European countries, more than50% of young Europeans aged 16–24went to the cinema between one and sixtimes in the year preceding the survey.Moreover, in Belgium, Ireland, Spain,France, Luxembourg, Austria and Icelandmore than 35 % of people in this agebracket went to the cinema more than sixtimes per year. To a lesser extent, cinemawas also popular among young peopleaged 25–29 – in all countries under re-view, more than 40% of people aged 25-29 went to the cinema at least once in theyear preceding the survey. In Ireland,Spain and Luxembourg, respectively 29%,33% and 35% of the population aged 25–29 went to see seven or more films in theyear preceding the survey.It has been found that onscreen sex is

most disturbing to cinema addicts aged16, cinemas excite children three timesmore than adults, and girls who havebeen ‘led astray’ in life believe that cin-ema was a contributory factor to theirtough times.

On both sides of the Atlantic, hiringyoung directors, who are far more likelyto be in touch with their peers’ tastes,senses and sensibilities, is becoming evermore the norm – many of today’s topfilmmakers began shooting features whenthey were young. Taking a random sam-ple of directors who broke through in the1990s and 2000s – many of them wereabout 30 when their first features cameout: Keenen Ivory Wyans (I’m GonnaGit You Sucka (1988)), Michael Bay(Bad Boys (1995)), David Fincher (Alien3 (1992)), and Spike Jones (Being JohnMalkovich (1999)). A little older on theirdebuts were Alex Proyas at 31 (The Crow(1994)), Cameron Crowe at 32 (Say Any-thing (1989)), James Mangold at 32(Heavy (1995)), Karyn Kusuma at 32(Girlfight (2000)), McG at 32 (Charlie’sAngels (2000)), David Koepp at 33 (TheTrigger Effect (1996)), Allison Anders at33 (Border Radio (1987)), and MarkNeveldine at 33 (Crank (2006)).And these, in fact, are the older examples– there are numerous current directorswho completed their first feature in theirtwenties. Quentin Tarantino, ReginaldHudlin, Roger Avary, and Joe Carnahan

began aged 29, Sofia Coppola and BrettRatner at 28, and Peter Jackson and F.Gary Gray were a mere 26.Fancy some (perhaps) even more famousnames to round out the list? OK.Dementia 13 (1963): Francis Ford Cop-pola, 24. (You’re a Big Boy Now was re-leased when Coppola was 27.)Who’s That Knocking at My Door?(1967): Martin Scorsese, 25.Dark Star (1974): John Carpenter, 26.THX 1138 (1971): George Lucas, 27.Night of the Living Dead (1968): GeorgeRomero, 28.The Sugarland Express (1974): StevenSpielberg, 28. If you count the TV featureDuel, subtract three years.Targets (1968): Peter Bogdanovich, 29.Dillinger (1973): John Milius, 29.Blue Collar (1978): Paul Schrader, 32.Good Times (with Sonny and Cher)(1967): William Friedkin, 32.Easy Rider (1969): Dennis Hopper, 33.It’s simple, really – Hollywood and Eu-ropean film studios were essentially runby the old men, who had brought the sys-tem to the brink of collapse. The twen-tysomethings tore down the barricadesand made a place for young filmmakers –and guess what? They’re still here todayand, for the good of our collective “rib-bon of dreams”, long may that continue.

James Drew has written f ilm-related arti-cles for The Independent and Variety, andruns Brussels-based f ilm-review websitewww.picturenose.com.

A film is a ribbonof dreams. The

camera is much morethan a recording

apparatus; it is a mediumvia which messages reach

us from another worldthat is not ours and thatbrings us to the heart of

a great secret. Heremagic begins.”

Orson Welles

The YOUTH Edition: New Europe

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