‘We need to be inclusive in our way of working’

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is the largest independent regional network of Europe, it extends beyond the EU’s frontiers to wider Europe. Currently, it is one of the partners in the project ‘Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it!’. Y-FED aims to improve understanding and participation of young people in decision making in line with European youth goals. 

Back in 2008, the AER established the Youth Regional Network (YRN), a pan-European platform of regional youth councils, parliaments and organisations, showing that it has been a frontrunner in involving young people in issues and policies that are relevant to them. 

EU Reporter met with the President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) Magnus Berntsson to find out more about why the involvement of young people is so important: “This is an important time for Europe. We are addressing the Conference on the Future of Europe and it's important that we include people who perhaps aren’t included in these discussions as much as they should be. I am talking especially about young people.

“It's important to address how local and regional politics, as well as European and national policies, are affecting their future. We are here to give them tools and opportunities to take part in the discussions. We need to help them to raise important questions that they have highlighted in discussions. So that's why we're here.” 

Berntsson says that young people have been profoundly affected by the pandemic: “We have conducted a poll in seven different European countries that really specified three areas of great importance for young people coming out of the Covid situation: mental health, job opportunities and education. 

“We need to be inclusive in our way of working. Politicians from the European level, as well as local and regional politicians need to include young people in the discussions. We don’t say we know everything!”

Another finding of the representative poll, conducted within the ‘Y-FED’ project by the institute Savanta, was that local and regional politicians enjoy a relatively high confidence: “Politicians in regions and cities are, with 52 percent, the most trusted when it comes to respond effectively to issues that affect citizens' lives - compared to 49 percent for the EU Institutions and 41 percent for national governments.” 

I spotted Berntsson was wearing a Sustainable Development Goals badge, the Swedish politician explained: “This is close to my heart, I’m the Minister for the Environment on the Regional Council of Västra Götaland. The Green New Deal is the challenge par excellence.”

Asked if we were ready for the challenge, he said: “We definitely have opportunities. Electrification goes so much quicker than anyone thought five years ago. But as a regional politician working very closely with our local business side, we need to follow that closely - especially coming from Gothenburg which has a strong automotive industry. It’s a huge transition and it requires systemic change. For example, we need to make sure that young people have the right skills.”

“If we go back to the 70s and 80s Gothenburg was a major shipyard of the world, then everything changed and that was very hard for many people. Now we have more people living and working in the shipyard area than ever before. It requires innovation and this can create new opportunities: we will need this approach in the transition to a green society.”

Background

The project “Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it” aims to bring the EU closer to its young citizens by developing a proposal for an improved institutional framework of the Union in line with the European Youth Goals. The initiative is supported by an Erasmus+ “European Youth Together” grant. The project partners comprise 18 civil society organisations as well as 2 networks of European and regional decision-makers, amongst them the Young European Federalists and the Assembly of European Regions.

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