EUU, Alm.del - 2013-14 - Bilag 381: Henvendelse af 3/4-14 fra Robert Bosch Stiftung vedrørende deltagelse i EU Integration Forum (EUIF)

The EU Integration Forum (EUIF)The EUIF 2014The EU Integration Forum is a ground breaking initiative launched by theRobert Bosch Stiftung to bring together some 100 young leaders from all 28EU Members States and all levels of government once a year to debate thechallenges facing the European Union, and to create an EU-wide network ofyoung leaders and thinkers committed to helping shape the Union’s future.Now in its fourth year, the Forum has demonstrated its value as a highly inter-active platform for exchanging views on the key issues facing the EU now andin the future, when Europe will be looking to this younger generation to pro-vide the leadership and vision so desperately needed to meet the many seri-ous challenges confronting us.This year, the Forum will focus on how best to tackle youth unemployment,amid mounting fears of a ‘lost generation’, with potentially devastating socialconsequences, especially in countries hit hardest by the crisis. This could, inturn, have serious repercussions for the Union, potentially fuelling a dramaticfall in support for European integration if young people see the EU as part ofthe problem rather than part of the solution to the challenges they face.The Forum’s unique approach brings together young leaders from the politi-cal, business, policy and think tank worlds, and from across the EU and everylevel of government from the local and regional to the national and European.If you feel addressed and have gained some professional or practical experi-ence with the this topical issue then seize the opportunity and sign up up forthis year's EUIF under www.euif.eu from April 2014. This highly interactiveformat will give participants the opportunity to exchange views on this hugelyimportant issue and to learn from each other’s experience about how best todeliver effective policies and strategies to tackle it.The EU Integration Forum moves around the Union every year as part of itsmission to promote genuine transnational dialogue. The first gathering of the-se rising stars in the EU’s political firmament took place in 2011, when partici-pants discussed whether there was a need for a new ‘pact’ to reconnect theEU with its citizens. The 2012 Forum focused on whether the emergence of atwo-speed Europe was inevitable in the wake of the euro-zone crisis and whatimplications this might have for the EU’s future. In 2013, participants dis-cussed Europe’s place in a rapidly changing world and how to ensure it can

Theme of the 2014 EUIFEurope’s ‘lost generation’ - how to combat the scourge of youth unem-ployment?The economic and financial crisis has hit the younger generation particularlyhard, with unemployment among the under-25s more than 2.5 times higherthan among the adult population as a whole, rising to close to 60% in someEU countries. While there are signs that the EU is now gradually emergingfrom the crisis, with the first ‘green shoots’ starting to appear, many expertsfear we could be heading for years of stagnation similar to Japan's lost dec-ade, with stubbornly low economic growth and persistently high unemploy-ment.The crisis has also opened up deep divisions between EU Member States,with tensions fuelled by big differences in youth unemployment rates acrossthe EU, ranging from less than 10% in Germany and Austria to over 55% inGreece and Spain. This has sparked an often angry debate about the need for‘solidarity’ between the EU’s richest and poorest countries; between thosehardest hit by the crisis and those that have emerged relatively unscathed. Allof this is fuelling despair and a sense of hopelessness among young peopleand risks sparking a backlash against politicians and policy-makers at all lev-els, with protests like the ‘indignados’ movement in Spain spreading and po-tentially leading to more serious social unrest, and increasing support forpopulist and extremist political groups.If Europe cannot to help deliver solutions to this problem - working with theMember States, regions and local communities to develop and implement ef-fective initiatives – there is real risk that this could also translate a dramatic fallin support for European integration.The EU has already launched a raft of initiatives, from the Youth Guarantee(designed to ensure all young people get a quality job, continued education ortraining within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unem-ployed) to funding from the Youth Employment initiative and the EuropeanSocial Fund, and measures designed to foster labour mobility. However, pri-mary responsibility for employment and social policies lies with the MemberStates, and it is Europe’s regions and localities that are in the ‘frontline’ indealing with these issues.So, what role can and should the EU play in addressing this issue and whatcan and should be done by national governments, regional and local authori-ties, businesses and civil society organisations? How effective have themeasures introduced so far been in helping to provide answers to a problemthat risks tearing the social fabric of Europe apart, and how can policy-makers

Conference reception and dinner:The conference will start with a dinner towelcome participants and launch the debate with a keynote speech - ideallyby a Minister from the host country - to outline what they are doing to tackleyouth unemployment, what others can learn from their experience, and whatrole (s)he believes the EU can and should play in addressing this issue. Thiswill be followed by a short informal debate with participants over dinner to pro-vide some initial food for thought for the next day’s discussions. This will be an‘on the record’ session with journalists invited to cover the speech and subse-quent discussion. The rest of the conference will be held under ChathamHouse rules to allow for a frank and open exchange of views.

Day TwoOpening plenary:The 90-minute discussion in the opening plenary will setthe stage for the break-out sessions. It will start with a 10-12 minute openingpresentation, ideally by an EU expert on employment issues who can set thecontext for the debate by outlining what the Union is currently doing in this ar-ea and give some examples of initiatives being taken in individual EU coun-tries and regions. This will be followed by a highly interactive, television-styledebate between a panel of 4-5 speakers, which will include the openingspeaker, representatives of the different layers of the EU’s multi-level govern-ance system and a speaker from a youth organisation, with questions from themoderator to kick start the discussion followed by comments and questionsfrom the audience.Break-out sessions:Parallel break-out sessions before and after lunch willexplore this issue in more detail and in smaller groups to give as many partici-pants as possible the chance to contribute to the debate. Speakers drawnfrom amongst the participants and the opening plenary session will makeshort impulse statements to launch a highly interactive discussion. Expert fa-cilitators will be tasked with moderating the break-out sessions and will be

given a set of key questions to address (see below). A rapporteur in eachgroup will be tasked with preparing a summary of the discussion to be pre-sented at the closing plenary session.The break-out sessions will start by addressing some broad questions aboutthe role of policy-makers in tackling youth unemployment and what should bedone at the different levels of governance within the EU, and then focus onsome specific issues to make the discussion and outcomes as concrete aspossible.General questions to be addressed include:What can policy-makers do to create the best possible environment toenable the private sector to create the jobs Europe desperately needsto cut unemployment and give young people the best possible chanceof filling those vacancies?What role should the different levels of governance – European, na-tional, regional and local – play in this?What needs to be done to ensure a coordinated and coherent re-sponse to maximise the impact of the initiatives taken at the differentlevels of governance?What can be done to reverse the widening gap between countries hithardest by the crisis and those which have emerged relatively un-scathed, given the dramatic difference in youth unemployment levelsacross the Member States?What will the consequences be for the EU and its Member States ifpolicy-makers cannot deliver effective responses to this problem, andif the EU is perceived to be part of the problem rather than part of thesolution?

More specific issues which could be addressed include:How effective have EU, national and regional responses to this issuebeen to date, and what have we learnt about what works best, whatdoes not, etc?What can countries learn from each other about how to address thisissue? Can successful initiatives be replicated across the EU or aretailor-made approaches essential given the specific circumstances indifferent countries and regions?What measures are most effective in helping young people make thetransition from formal education to the world of work, and betweenjobs? (What role, for example, can concepts like flexicurity play inhelping to manage these transitions?)There are some 2 million job vacancies in Europe, despite record un-employment levels. What needs to be done to address the skills ‘mis-