The meeting of the EU Youth Council chaired by Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Vladimír Balaš took place this afternoon. At the beginning of the meeting, the Council adopted Conclusions on Promoting the Intergenerational Dimension in the Youth Field to Foster Dialogue and Social Cohesion. The conclusions provide innovative suggestions for promoting intergenerational dialogue, intergenerational solidarity and intergenerational equity in the youth field, in particular through the provision of youth work and in the design and implementation of youth policies from the local to the European level.

In the political debate on the legacy of the European Year of Youth, EU Ministers agreed that active youth participation and support for youth work must continue. Young people need to be given the space and support to engage in key processes and events. One example is the final conference of the European Year of Youth, Claim the Future, which will be organised by the Czech Presidency, the European Parliament and the European Commission in Brussels on 6 December 2022. The themes of the main programme of this conference have been proposed and prepared by 6 young people from the countries of the current presidency trio, who will also present part of the conference.

The Council meeting was preceded by an informal breakfast

Prior to the Council meeting itself, an informal breakfast meeting of young people from the Czech Republic, France, Sweden and Spain with the Ministers of these countries and Commissioner Maria Gabriel took place as part of the 9^th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue. The main theme of the breakfast was promoting intergenerational solidarity through youth work in response to current challenges.

At the beginning of the breakfast, Minister Balaš recalled the involvement of youth and the symbolism of the November 1939 and 1989 events. He also invited those present to reflect on what it means for young Ukrainians today to engage in social challenges against the backdrop of Russian aggression in their homeland. "Let us keep this memento in mind. Let us intensify our efforts to do things together with young people, for young people and with young people themselves. Let's respect the irreplaceable role of young people to have a say in what kind of youth policy they expect and want," he said.

At the end of the informal breakfast, Minister Balaš referred to the priority of the Czech Presidency to promote the intergenerational dimension in youth work. Thanks to the European Year of Youth, 2022 can become an opportunity to make intergenerational equality and equity the norm for mainstream youth involvement in decision-making processes.