engleski

National Policies Combating Youth Inequalities across Europe: Responses from the EKCYP Correspondents

Contemporary generations of young people differ from the previous ones by the increasing pace of social changes they are experiencing. At the same time, they are also struck by one of the most widespread economic crisis in the new era that has led to precarious status of many young people. Such circumstances have yielded a large number of studies on youth in economic crisis, with usage of sophisticated indexes for measurement of inequalities. Still, it is very difficult to grasp the answers to the social, economic and political crisis that affect young people nowadays. And it is even harder to measure a cumulative process of the inequalities young people are experiencing during their life course. A triangle of policy makers, practitioners and researchers is trying to reinvent policies for combating youth inequalities both on the national and international level. They are trying to support knowledge-based youth policy and practice for fighting against inequalities through networking, dialogue, and peer learning, which is one of the most important aims of the symposium Unequal Europe. The paper before you tried to summarize main insights gained through the contributions of sixteen national correspondents of the EKCYP. The implications of this paper are limited due to a relatively small number of the completed questionnaires and the fact that not all national correspondents have replied to all the questions, and what is more important, their understanding of the questions and national and international policies differ to a great extent. What can be said is that young people have to be respected as stakeholders in the European democratic system. They should be provided opportunities to express ideas and preferences, and defend diverse interests. According to the EACEA and London School of Economics Study on Youth Participation (p. 6), “a clear majority of young people ask for more – and not less – opportunity to have a say in the way their political systems are governed. As such, young people are not ‘victims’ or ‘problematic’ as often claimed, but diverse and critical stakeholders in democracy, who often feel that their priorities are under-addressed in the political discourse”. Young people are rarely partners in devising policies in the field of social services, while youth-policies in education, employment and political participation present the most frequent meeting point of the governmental and youth civic sector. A review of the national policies targeting youth inequalities have shown that only a handful of countries at the European level have specifically youth-tailored measures for combating inequalities. Majority of European countries still employ only policies targeting entire families. It is especially a case when it comes to financial benefits and housing policies. The unemployment benefit is the most present instrument of financial assistance that can be used exclusively by a person, although it shall be noted that many young people do not have access to it due to a lack of any kind of working experience. The insights in this paper point to a vast area for improvement of policies targeting inequalities among youth, despite well-established recommendations from the international institutions. Therefore, it is useful to remind that the systems of reducing educational, social, economic, health and other inequalities among young people have an important role in supporting youth self- realisation and social integration. They are also of an utmost importance for avoiding of long-term consequences of inequalities and intergenerational transmission of social exclusion. These components are especially important when Europe is faced by a growing number of migrants and asylum seekers who are trying to find ‘a place under the sun’, and are showing a great confidence into efficacy of the European institutions.

Youth; inequalities; national policies

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