EU TO FOCUS MORE ON VOLUNTEERISM

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/eycs/2022/04/04-05/?utm_sour...

https://presidence-francaise.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/main-results-of...

Find  here the full conclusions: https://presidence-francaise.consilium.europa.eu/media/knvde3ac/council-...

The Council adopted a recommendation on the mobility of young volunteers across the EU. The recommendation focuses on young people with the fewest opportunities. Member states should promote accessible information and targeted awareness-raising concerning volunteering activities abroad among these young people.

Ministers also discussed the mobility of young volunteers during a policy debate. They addressed the barriers that impede volunteering and the mobility of young volunteers, such as differences between the various national administrative and regulatory frameworks and a lack of recognition for the value of the experience that young volunteers gain and the skills they develop. Ministers also discussed possible measures to foster synergies between national/regional volunteering activities and European solidarity and mobility programmes for volunteers, as well as new EU measures to promote solidarity and mobility among young European volunteers.

In the current context of mass arrivals of people fleeing the war in Ukraine, ministers heard from Vadym Huttsait, the Ukrainian Minister for Youth and Sport. The Council also recognised that the actions of young volunteers at EU level have a role to play in promoting democratic values and peace, and should therefore be encouraged and facilitated. The Council also underlined the particular importance of these solidarity actions, which young Europeans are undertaking with conviction. The Council highlighted that volunteering enables young people to engage in a structured, concrete and effective way to provide assistance to refugees in need.

• Council recommendation on the mobility of young volunteers across the European Union

Engagement of young people in environmental protection

The Council conclusions on fostering engagement among young people as actors of change in order to protect the environment, which were also approved today by youth ministers, promote the active engagement of young people in environmental protection and aim to create the right conditions for such engagement by better educating young people on environmental issues, providing them with spaces for expression and action, encouraging volunteering, and recognising this engagement in their school, university and professional paths.

• Conclusions of the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council – Fostering engagement among young people as facilitators of change in order to protect the environment
• European Year of Youth: 2022 – your year! (background information)