European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Security, Nicolas Schmit, kicked off the meeting, bringing youth in the spotlight of the current EU political agenda for building green, inclusive and digital transitions from school to work. He also referred to central role of the Youth Employment Support as a bridge to jobs for the next generation. Commissioner Schmit stated: “Our young people cannot have the perception they have been forgotten. An ecosystem approach is crucial for transition to work nowadays.” To this end, he stressed the importance of a reinforced Youth Guarantee for people aged 15-29 with a special focus on the most vulnerable and NEETs, improved vocational training systems, renewed alliance for apprenticeships and ALMA for disadvantaged youth. The Commissioner positioned himself in favour of fairly paid internships.

Eszter Sandor from Eurofound emphasised how, due to the Covid19 pandemic, young people have been recently particularly affected by unemployment, precarious work and poor access to education and social protection – even if various EU initiatives have been put in place to address multiple forms of social or economic exclusion and mental health threats, aiming above all at young people’s access to decent work. She added that a Eurofond survey of autumn 2021 found an alarming trend of more than 60% of young people having not experienced a positive access to online education, and that mental health professionals have highlighted the severity of the impact of restrictive Covid measures on youth. Concerns around the impact of uncertainty on young people’s ability to get back on track and their mental health require urgent intervention, she concluded.

MEP Kim van Sparrentak also underlined the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on young people’s lives and referred to inequalities which have risen since the start of the pandemic to the disadvantage of the youth. MEP Dragoş Pîslaru, European Parliament rapporteur for a recent resolution of the European Parliament on ‘Empowering European youth: post-pandemic employment and social recovery’, presented the next steps for making this resolution operational at EU and Member State level. In his opinion, creating positive impacts for mental health and paid internships are two of the most pressing needs for the youth policy agenda in the post-pandemic period.

Representatives of youth organisations such as José Gonçalo Ribeiro from the Portuguese Youth Council, Jan Wilker from StartNet and Tea Jarc from ETUC Youth confirmed the multiple crises which challenge young people and necessitate further action, investments and coordination from the national to the EU level.

CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski concluded by highlighting the importance of investing in better school to work transitions through better career guidance paths, at early stages in an individual’s life, and constant upskilling of workers throughout their careers.

Participants agreed that the European Year of Youth in 2022 offers an excellent opportunity for young people to stand up for their social rights but that efforts should remain constant, also beyond 2022, in order to continue to address the multidimensional adverse impacts that Covid-19 has had on youth.