THE COUNCIL OF THE EU THINKS YOUNG

THINKYOUNG & THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION present

SHAPING A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER

A guide based on the event held on Saturday 4 May 2013

THE COUNCIL OF THE EU THINKS YOUNG

Designed by ThY/LAB

INDEX

INTRO 6

THE SPEAKERS / SESSION 1 8

THE SPEAKERS / SESSION 2 9

MODERATORS 9

SESSION 1 10

JIM CLOOS 11

MARIE-LOUISE LINDORFER 12 GRAHAM NEQUEST 13

EXTRACT FROM QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 15

SESSION 2 16

DEVELOPING SKILLS FOR EMPLOYABILITY 17

IS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION? 19

RETHINKING NEW MODELS 21

INTRO

The Council of the EU and Think Young, a Brussels based think tank concerned with young Europeans, co-organised an event to debate with young Europeans about the future challenges they face in the labour market.

With the paradox scenario of skill deficiency within the private sector and skyrocketing figures of youth unemployment, we ques-tioned what the various sectors are doing to combat such negative conditions.

Our three-hour event placed youth in direct contact with repre-sentatives from the Council of the European Union, Academia, the Private Sector and Entrepreneurship.

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WHEN Brussels - 04 May 2013.

VENUE Info Point Europa, Rond-Point Schuman, 1000 Brussels.

WHO 48 young participants stemming from various backgrounds and profes-sions – Representatives of 25 nationalities in total (EU & worldwide).

FORMATThe event was segmented into 2 sessions with a networking lunch in between. The first session formed an open panel style debate, while the second session formed a number of small-scale interactions with experts.

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Marie-Louise LindorferHead of Unit for Employment and Social Policy, Council of the EU.Since 2010, Mrs Lindorfer is Head of Unit in the area of Employment and Social Policies, including gender and anti-discrimination issues. During 11 years (until the end of 2009) she held different functions in the external relations directorate, covering mainly political affairs in Africa and the rela-tions of the continent with the EU. For several years, she was political advisor to the EU Special Representative for the Great Lakes region. Prior to joining the Council of the European Union in 1996, she acquired 12 years of professional experience in the legal domain.

Graham NequestSenior Expert for Education, Youth, Culture, Audiovisual and Sport, Council of the EU.Mr Nequest works since 2005 in the unit covering Education, Youth, Culture and Sport at the Council of the European Union, where he primarily has a responsibility for educational affairs. He joined the institution in 1997, working first as a translator and then as an administrator in the transport policy unit. Before working for the European Union, he qualified as a modern language teacher in the UK and decided to move to Paris, where he worked for over 15 years in the field of professional training and staff development.

THE SPEAKERS / SESSION 1:

Jim Cloos Deputy Director-General for General Policy Questions and International Relations, Council of the EU.Mr Cloos is a diplomat from Luxembourg with a vast experience of serving the EU Institutions. He is one of the most senior officials in the Council of the European Union and currently he is responsi-ble for the directorate in charge of Strategic and Institutional issues, including the preparation of the European Council meetings. From 2006 to 2010, he was the Director for General Policy Questions and between 2001 and 2006, he led the Directorate “Americas, UN and Human Rights, Counter- Terrorism” being as well a senior advisor to Javier Solana, the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. Prior to the years at the Council, he worked as Head of Cabinet to the President of the EC from 1995 to 1999. In this capacity, he was the President’s ‘Sherpa’ within the G7/G8 framework.

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THE SPEAKERS / SESSION 2:

Angela SteenSenior Policy Analyst at Google, Brussels.Mrs Steen is a Senior Policy Analyst at Google having joined the EU Public Policy team in 2010. Her main focus is to work with the EU institutions to achieve the full economic potential of the Internet, with a specific focus on entrepreneurship. She graduated in European Studies at Trinity College, Dublin. From Ireland, she started her public policy career in Brussels working both at the European Commission (Directorate-General for Communication), and the European Parliament as a parlia-mentary assistant.

Olivier HodyPartner at Deloitte Global Tax Centre, Brussels.Mr Hody is currently a partner co-leading the Deloitte’s Global Tax Center (Europe) based inBrussels. In 2001, he actively participated in the launch of the Deloitte European Compliance centre enabling multinational companies to outsource, in a centralized way, the management of their pan-European tax obligations and related issues to a single service provider. The centre has then been recognized in 2003 within Deloitte as the European centre of excellence allowing those centralized services to be rendered to all 27 EU Member States.

Beatriz TalegónSecretary General of the International Union of Socialist Youth, Vienna.Since April 2012, Mrs Talegón is the Secretary General of the International Union of Socialist Youth(IUSY), after becoming its vice-president in 2010. Before developing her career in the interna-tional sphere, she worked as an advisor for young employment and housing in Castilla la Mancha between 2007- 2008 and as a lawyer in 2008. Thanks to an internship from the Alcalá de Henares University in 2007 she started working for the Regional Government of Castilla la Mancha and a year later she formally became part of their staff as their EU Affairs advisor. Later, she joined the Spanish Socialist Delegation in the European Parliament as assistant to a MEP.

MODERATORS

Cristina GallachHead of the Public Relations Unit, Council of the EU.

Luca SelvaAdvocacy & campaigns @ ThinkYoung.

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SESSION 1

The event kicked off with a general debate between panellists of the

European Council and young people.

The following topics were explored:

* Youth Unemployment * Education

* Skills * Youth employment packages * General European policies

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The benefits of peace, cross border travel, mo-bility, education and Erasmus were made all the more possible by the European Union. These achievements should not be taken for granted. This is what defines and enriches us as Europe-ans, he highlighted.

The European Union has a lot to offer and it is a role model for peace for those countries in the neighbourhood who want to join. “Take the Bal-kans for instance, [he underlined], the only way for them to not look constantly at the past but to the future was the possibility of joining the Eu-ropean Union. Do not by any means forget the past, but accept it and look forward!”

Mr Cloos concluded his intervention with some comments on the current economic situation, providing some reassurance of future recovery for those troubled member states. He first gave some examples of successful recoveries in the past decades and went on stating that “Latvia was in a difficult situation 20 years ago. Now, they are getting out of it. There are ways of doing it and I am sure that Portugal, Spain and Greece will rise from this troubled period and become stronger as a result”.

Session one predominantly tackled current and topical issues concerning education and unem-ployment from a high-level European perspec-tive.

Jim Cloos spoke of the European Union as the right environment to work, live and build up a pro-fessional career. He encouraged young people to grasp the various benefits available to them and reinvent the necessary elements to reacti-vate competitiveness and attain success.

Mr Cloos reacted strongly to the passive’ at-titudes adopted by many young people in the event’s introductory video. He cheered the Youth to get involved and committed by stating: “There are many opportunities available, seize them and

change the Union. Of course, I do not say that we have all the answers. It is up to you now to find your ways, to find new ways”.

He went on to share his concern at the nega-tive portrayal of the European Union by the me-dia. He encouraged all in attendance to keep an open mind and be informed through a variety of sources before easily falling into an anti-EU standpoint.

Empathising with the young generation of partici-pants present in the debate, Mr Cloos stressed that even though “the European Union is quite dynamic and complex” we are above all “a unique project in history, this is the voluntary union of the people and their countries”.

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Drawing on this setback, she insisted that “we have to concentrate on young people with a low level of skills and support those who drop out prematurely from education and training” adding that “one of our objectives is to fight poverty and social exclusion. This become increasingly more challenging and dangerous when groups among the young are hit”.

Ms Lindorfer then highlighted the growing di-vide between north and south regions of the un-ion. She stressed the importance of addressing these cultural and economic disparities as she indicated the value of the EU social fund set to inject around 6 billion euros into areas of need.

In response to the concerns stressed over a lack of prospects for the young generation, she in-formed all attendees about the youth guarantee agreed in February 2013: “This is the most strik-ing initiative recently developed by the European Union. It aims to provide all young people under 25 years of age with a job or further educational training programme within four months of leaving school or entering unemployment. This is a prom-ise of huge magnitude; it requires young people to become more proactive and take responsibil-ity” together with a clear commitment and strat-egy for implementation from the member states.

Marie-Louise Lindorfer delivered her keynote to address concerns over youth unemployment figures, stressing at first the importance of pro-viding a quality and diversified education in members states at all levels.

She pointed out that students should seek for the best appropriate educational programme ful-filling their profiles. However, those with degree qualifications should not be led by a false sense of superiority. She highlighted the bitter truth, putting to bed the notion that in this modern, glo-balised society, a university degree will neither necessarily merit a top corporate position nor a more prosperous career than those without.

Ms Lindorfer brought to the table specific tools in which the European Union have to work to tackle these worrying youth unemployment rates. She voiced as an example the importance of creating higher quality mobility programmes and advised placing a greater emphasis on the development of entrepreneurial qualities.

An apparent problem she shared was that the EU and its member states do not know the true figure of unemployment, with many people not registering as being NEET (Not in education, employment or training). A significant obstacle for the achievement of an employment rate of 75% targeted by the EU for 2020.

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In addition, despite seeing a great deal of educa-tional mobility in the EU, Ms Lindorfer suggested there is more emphasis placed on labour mobil-ity, implying that in the current economic environ-ment we are not observing enough people willing to relocate in search of jobs. “The dynamics in the European Union are to open doors for young people and encourage free movement. The pro-grammes we are developing allow a branching out from local to national environments, provid-

ing valuable experience and improving employ-ability prospects”, she clearly maintained.

She finalised her keynote by reminding the par-ticipants of the political consequences that un-employment might have in society, with a greater number of young people not only taking anti-Eu-ropean views but also siding with extremist par-ties in some countries.

Graham Nequest confronted the educational topics head on. He reiterated that the EU has seen enormous improvements in national edu-cational systems over the course of the last decade. He stated that education was once per-ceived to be a taboo issue within the institutions, not being even able to support or complement member states actions at the EU level.

Now, he explained that the European Union is allocating substantial financial packages into a long list of programmes. A special mention should be given to those aiming at ensuring that Europeans are able to obtain a tertiary level of education.

Among that range of programmes, Mr Nequest pointed out:

- Those encouraging the development of basic skills with key competencies, transferable skills

including problem solving and creativity (being imperative to the employability and ultimate suc-cess of the young generation);

- The Life Long learning programme (Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig).

Vocational Education and training will be im-plemented on a broader scale. Valuable pro-grammes observed in some member states such as Germany will be used as examples of best practice being adapted to suit the needs of other member states. Through this, the EU institutions envisage significant advances in the volume of high-skilled workers.

With a view to improving the overall quality of teaching, Mr Nequest stressed that better quality education and more challenging routes of selec-tion for teachers are set to be adopted.

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Moreover, he underlined that over the past few years education has developed a greater pres-ence online. This trend is set to continue as it re-duces costs, though priorities must be placed on cross-border mobility to encourage a rounding of character and exposure to intercultural experi-ences.

In fact, he asserted that “under the Lithuanian Presidency we will look at opening educational resources ensuring education is becoming ac-cessible to more and more people online. We have to find a way to gain maximum value from these new developments in innovation, commu-nication and technology”.

Finally, Mr Nequest reminded that member states in unison acknowledged the importance of entrepreneurship and agreed to support this key competence.

He emphasized the need for education in this area rhetorically stating: “Why not include edu-cation of entrepreneurship at primary levels, encouraging experimentation and entrepreneur-ship at a very early age?”.

Mr Nequest closed his speech with positive news in terms of a newly released budget allocated for education, stressing the growing focus the Euro-pean Union is demonstrating in all elements of education. As you know, he asserted, “the most successful EU funded programme is Erasmus. Now, the European Commission has decided to incorporate all programmes into one, defin-ing it as ‘Erasmus Plus’. To demonstrate the im-portance that education has within the EU, this programme will see a substantial rise in fund-ing compared with past editions, we are talking about 15 billion euros for seven years”.

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EXTRACT FROM THE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q - “The European Union is taking over the role of the “bad guy” pushing for reforms in some member states. What do you think about this?”

A - M-L Lindorfer: “Every reform, every change, every effort to do things better is a pain. Even studying is a pain for students, but they have to do it. My suggestion is to look at the big picture, think long term. These reforms are necessary”.

J Cloos: “Yes, sometimes the EU has the role

to push painful, unwanted but useful reforms. I enjoy talking to Eurosceptics - it is important for democracy that people have different opinions. It is nevertheless important that different opinions are based on facts and not on ignorance. I am open to discuss to which extent Europe should work, what Europe should do and what it should not do. This is a very important question that helps a better building of the European Union”.

Q - “Can you explain why, if all officials say that Erasmus and mobility are so important, it has been placed in danger in recent times?”

A - J Cloos: “This is a myth. I was present at all the discussions and all the budget negotia-tions. The Erasmus programme has never been put into danger, what we were discussing was the Commission proposal to increase its budget of 150% in time of crisis. The result is that the budget for the Erasmus has been increased by 40% in times when the total EU budget has been decreased of 3%”.

Q - “Why are you here today? What is your mo-tivation to spend a Saturday afternoon with us?”

A - J Cloos: “I am with you today because I be-lieve in the European Union, because I work for the European Union and because I am sure that without the European Union our problems will

not be resolved, while many others will be wors-ened”.

A - M-L Lindorfer: “I was an Eurosceptic before coming to Brussels. I have now lived here for 22 years and realised that my initial anti-European standpoint was out of ignorance”.

A - G Nequest: “My commitment to education and my involvement with youth. This is what mo-tivates me today to be here.”

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SESSION 2

A debate between young attendees and senior experts from private & non

for profit sectors was stimulated on the topics of employment, entrepreneurship

and new models of creating multilevel value.

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With these focal areas in mind, young people were encouraged to identify several key areas of improvement and deficiencies in modern society.

Three experts heavily engaged with employment, youth and business forefronted the discussions, providing their individual takes on the topics and ultimately forming a number of concrete points with the young attendees.

Prior to the event, the ThinkYoung team had di-vided the participants into one of three groups with a given topic:

Developing skills for Employability; Is En-trepreneurship an alternative solution?; Re-thinking New Models.

Each expert spent a total of fifteen minutes at all tables discussing each predetermined topic be-fore moving on to the next.

This enabled the young attendees to discuss with and observe a true multitude of viewpoints.

DEVELOPING SKILLS FOR EMPLOYABILITY

Following the discussion between the three ex-perts and the young attendees, the following ar-eas for improvement and deficiencies were high-lighted. We understand that there is a genuine lack of encouragement to grow entrepreneurial skills and a real desperation for those who can demonstrate innovation. Mr Hody inspired this initial observation, where it was suggested that businesses must become increasingly entrepre-neurial to survive.

Olivier Hody: “Young people must be innova-tive, able to think entrepreneurially & demon-strate the way in which they can provide value for employers”.

The young people then stated that they were be-ing failed through a lack of mentoring and tutor-ing in basic sales skills. It is understood that they would like to learn how to sell themselves and develop skills such as negotiation.

Mr Hody then identified a lack of soft skills found in applicants to the private sector. It has been known for a long while that universities are pro-ducing graduates with extremely high levels of theoretical knowledge, yet soft skills such as interpersonal communication are frequently lim-ited. Those young people who had obtained various degrees of professional experience voiced their demands for continuous change and a variety of tasks in the workplace. They spoke of stifled de-velopment through repetitive routine.

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A number of combative actions and suggested improvements were then identified in response to these initial concerns

Applicants should demonstrate

- Higher levels of motivation on all fronts; - Greater preparation for job interviews;- Define their outstanding characteristics as pro-fessionals, in which ways they can add value (How can one contribute to the ongoing success of a business?); - A mindset for innovation where possible and a method for problem resolution; - Concise application documents highlighting specific qualities beneficial for the role.

Companies should specifically

- Support must be provided to help people in the pursuit of goals;- Move employees around. Provide them with exposure to a variety of activities in order to stim-ulate sufficient development;- Demonstrate openness to entrepreneurship and innovation;- Improvement of conditions to help ideas mate-rialize and flourish.

Another interesting point raised was that those entering the workplace are unable to effectively teamwork, with many young people demonstrat-ing reluctance to share tasks.

Other detrimental factors were the lack of flexibil-ity of certain young people in terms of relocation and adaptation to different working hours from

the norm. What we are viewing as an increasingly sig-nificant point is a lack of specialization. Young people are seemingly under the impression that general qualifications and experience in a broad range of areas will provide them the opportunity to obtain any kind of job, when quite the contrary, greater specialization is desired!

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IS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION?

Following the discussion between the three ex-perts and the young attendees in the field of en-trepreneurship, several areas for improvement and deficiencies were highlighted.

Angela Steen: “We must foster entrepreneur-ship at the primary level & create virtual global networks of entrepreneurs to disperse knowl-edge and investment opportunities”.

Throughout Europe, the youth identified a com-monality revolving around the lack of entrepre-neurial culture – Education of such skills from the lower levels of education is almost non-existent and society appears to be generally unsupport-

ive. This is directly in contrast to attitudes held in the USA. From observing the roundtable discus-sions with the various experts, we can highlight an over concern with formal education. Whilst this is positive to some extent, the young people voiced a welcome for courses and opportunities fostering the development of practical skills that are imperative to success in entrepreneurship.

Another area of concern specifically highlighted by Ms Steen is a need for intercultural network-ing. Business is becoming increasingly glo-balized, with Europe appearing as an economic powerhouse, the transatlantic agreement lurking and endless opportunities occurring in Asia and emerging countries. It is imperative that cross border mobility is supported and professional re-lationships are formed on a monumental scale.

As stated by Mr Hody in the previous sub cat-egory of unemployment, businesses must be-come more entrepreneurial in order to meet and better adapt to the global fast moving market. In order to do so, in collaboration with the views of the young attendees, he stressed the impor-tance of employee freedom within companies, spoke of the benefits of hiring creative talents to support continuous development and advised the promotion of innovation as something all companies should do. In support of this, the at-tendee’s acknowledged these areas of improve-ment and spoke of the ways in which employ-

ees often have new ideas but are not involved enough to contribute to their implementation. Diversity was another requirement which was highlighted, and runs hand in hand with the formed deficiency of intercultural networks stressed by Ms Steen. In order to unlock doors and discover opportunities, a diverse workforce is absolutely crucial. This being said, throughout the discourse with Ms Talegón, a much sought quality was the ability to manage cultural differ-ences. Can this be learnt? Or is it something that gradually develops through exposure to a range of international environments?

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Actions

What can be done on the educational front?

- We must see more technical entrepreneurship schemes on a panEuropean scale;- A ridding of the taboo perception of entrepre-neurship;- Encouraging the development of practical skills and innovation from primary level. Initiatives must be implemented sooner to ensure Europe remains competitive;- Injection of resilience and materialization of courses developing character strength;- Global networks of entrepreneurs must be es-tablished to encourage knowledge exchange and improve the accessibility of tools such as

mentorship and capital; - More inspiration and the development of a European-wide attitude for those employees or individuals to completely immerse themselves in the job in hand, taking a proactive interest in the success of all activities they engage with;- Simplified routes to capital;- Implementation of taxation models and policies favouring start-up

What actions can businesses take?

- Frequent review sessions or polls for all em-ployees granting the opportunity for contributions and fresh innovation from internal creativity;- HR policies encouraging the development of a diverse workforce covering various angles, cul-tures and providing desirable intercultural con-nections.

Moreover, the young attendees drew on what they perceived to be a deficiency in public speak-ing ability and its interrelation with entrepreneur-ship. Much like the previous point touched on in the employment section where young people stated they were struggling to sell themselves, public speaking is suffering from a similar lack of recognition. Mentoring and programs for de-velopment are in serious demand. A final point and certain area of improvement highlighted by

Ms Talegón was the human dimension. By this, she explained that in order to thrive and reap the benefits of success in entrepreneurship, one must take an active interest in the welfare of oth-ers and demonstrate support through the shar-ing of resources.

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RETHINKING NEW MODELS

Following the discussion between the three ex-perts and the young attendees on new models, the following suggestions were brought to light.

Beatriz Talegón: “We must adapt, recycle our resources & cooperate to achieve a greater level of sustainability. The common good economy should be implemented”.

Traditionally, economic profit and shareholder value has been prioritized by many businesses in all regions of the world. With the effects and externalities of businesses affecting many stake-holder groups, the first and arguably most signifi-cant requirement was for people to think outside the box and create their own venture providing

multilevel value. A problem related with this is the fear of entrepreneurial failure, this was men-tioned in a prior section of the debate and is set to take a central point of the European stage in 2013 with ThinkYoung heading up the chase! Another point that was particularly emphasized throughout the discourse is the issue of bureau-cracy surrounding the creation of new ventures. In order to react quickly to the continuous chang-es in consumer tastes, this obstacle must be re-duced and decisions taken at a quicker pace.

The young attendees again reiterated the need for businesses to demonstrate wider concerns in spite of the concern for maximizing shareholder value.

Mr Hody spoke of the continuous adaptation re-quired from all businesses to follow the trends of the market and remain competitive. Naturally with information accessibility becoming all the easier, companies need to carefully select areas of true value for the consumers to avoid losing clients.

Ms Talegón spoke in favour of the redistribu-tion of wealth, which tied in with the notion that businesses should adopt wider concerns. From this we were able to decipher that more support should be provided to those in desperate need.

A balance must be created. We cannot maintain huge social and financial disparities in Europe.

The group ultimately implied that shared expens-es and goods are required in order to prosper in the future.

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- Implementation of mobility schemes and sup-port provided for cultural/social experimentation;- Heightened social awareness; - Allocation of subsidies for those companies dedicated to providing value on multiple levels;- Corporate Social Responsibility activities viewed as a driver for change;- Broadened scope of businesses – alternative opportunities which provide social value; - The offering of free services to clients ‘freemi-ums’; - Reinjection of profits into positive causes;- Reduction of the relentless pursuit of economic profitability in the EU.

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THE COUNCIL OF THE EU THINKS YOUNG