The conference was opened by Tomasz Jasinski, president of the ETUC Youth Committee, who together with Julian Bir (ETUC Youth Committee coordinator) highlighted that “for the ETUC and its Youth Committee the question of security, stability and above all, quality of employment of young people, is a constant priority, especially in the current economic and financial crises”.

During the three-working days of the conference there were many presentations concerning the situation of young people in the labour market in Europe made by experts and by the participants themselves. Special guest-speakers of the event were Bianca Busuioc (European Commission representative, DG Employment), Luca Scarpiello (Board member of the European Youth Forum), Marie-Anne Robberecht (expert) and Samuel Engblom (legal adviser of TCO Sweden). Thanks to the experts, participants received not only statistical data about the employment situation of young people in Europe, an overview about causes of youth unemployment, how it is composed and the ways how to measure it, but they also received information, practical advice and some examples of how young trade unionists can fight against and reduce youth unemployment.

Marie-Anne Robberecht, expert, presented the results of the study run by the ETUC Youth Committee in the beginning of 2009, which was focused on three main areas: 1) the situation of young workers in Europe; 2) challenges raised; and 3) possible actions and the role of the social partners in this context. Furthermore, the participants were informed about some important documents at EU level, such as: the European Unions strategy for youth: investing and empowering 2010-2018; the new EU 2020 Strategy; the Flagship initiative of EU 2020 “Youth on the move” and the Framework Agreement on inclusive labour markets. Many of the sessions were interactive, requiring participants to be active and work on assignments in small working groups. Participants should not only discuss the labour market situation of young people in their own countries and the challenges for trade unionists to face the consequences, but they should also prepare an action plan for future activities aimed at promoting more and better jobs for young people (at enterprise, National and European levels). During the panel discussion on best practices, hold on the last day of the conference, young trade unionists shared experiences and good practices about the labour situation of young people and the measures taken by the social partners to promote youth employment at national level. Furthermore, the event was an opportunity for building international cooperation among young trade unionists coming from ETUC Member organisations and those who are coming from PERCaffiliated organizations, outside the ETUC frame. The conference concluded with adoption of the ETUC Youth Conference Declaration, through which ETUC Youth call for a New Social Deal, which  proposes a youth guarantee which offers education, training and quality jobs for all. The Declaration says that: {“We believe that it is essential to combine policies and measures to improve the situation of young people and above all, to formulate them in consultation with the social partners and more particularly with the trade union organisations. There is a need to fight the long-term unemployment via education and training. It is also important to ease the transition from school to working life. Equally, measures to stop young people abandoning school and to promote quality of internship and apprenticeships should be put in place. We think its crucial that Member States create proper conditions not only for more jobs, but also for better jobs. We need jobs that give people dignity, financial security, learning opportunities, up-skilling possibilities. The balance between family and work life must be facilitated.….
The ETUC has a major role to play!
We need strong ETUC for strong Social Europe”}

The full version of the declaration you can is available HERE

At the end of the conference, the ETUC Youth Committee appealed to all young trade unionists in Europe to be active, to mobilise young people as much as possible and to join the Euro-manifestation on 29th September 2010 in Brussels.