Berlin, 6-9 NOVEMBER 2005

Speaking points of Mr. Pierre Mairesse, acting director for youth. sports and relations withthe citizen at the european comission.

Introduction It is a pleasure and an honour for me to open this second joint conference of the European Commission and the German government on young people and the fight against racism and xenophobia. In this context I would like to thank the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth for the excellent cooperation in the preparation of this conference. The European Commissioner in charge of Youth, Mr Figel, very much regrets not being able to be here today but he sends his best wishes to all of you for a successful conference.

1. The fight against racism and xenophobia is an important priority The last 5 years have seen the development of a political process in the youth field at European level as well as the adoption and implementation of the current YOUTH Programme. Since 2000 the promotion of diversity and mutual respect and the fight against racism and xenophobia has been a priority in the calls for projects of the YOUTH Programme.

In 2001 the fight against racism and xenophobia was identified as one of the key priorities of the White Paper “A New Impetus for European Youth”. 2001 was also the year when the Commission organised in cooperation with the German government the first European youth conference entitled “Youth for Tolerance and Democracy” to which this conference is a follow-up.

In 2002 the Youth Ministers of the European Union agreed on a common framework for cooperation in the youth field, the open method of coordination. In their Resolution the Ministers called for the inclusion of the youth dimension in other policies, and expressly referred to the combat against racism and xenophobia.

In 2004 the Youth Ministers adopted a Declaration on Racism and Intolerance in relation to young people. Today, the Commission is organising, in cooperation with the German government, another conference for young people on this issue. Next week, on 15 November, the Youth Ministers will pronounce on their cooperation in the youth field. In this framework they are expected to reconfirm the fight against racism and xenophobia as a priority. In fact the fight against racism and xenophobia touches upon all three strands of cooperation in the youth field.

The three strands are: active citizenship, social and professional inclusion – in this context I would like to mention the European Pact for Youth, a recent initiative of the Heads of State and Governments that aims to ensure that employment and education policies benefit young people, the mainstreaming of youth in other policies. If cultural diversity and mutual respect and the fight against racism and xenophobia have been a priority in the youth field in the past years, this priority will be even more important in the future.

The reasons therefore are many: Our societies are becoming more and more multicultural This multiculturalism is being and will be reinforced by the enlargement of the European Union Globalisation contributes to this development Last not least immigration policies add their share. In this situation the Member States have adopted two directives against discrimination, Directive 2000/43/EC implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, and Directive 2000/78/EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation. Once transposed into national law these Directives are a powerful tool to fight discrimination.

In my opinion young people and their organisations as well as youth workers are an essential part of the solution to discrimination, and to racial discrimination and xenophobia in particular.

2. What has been done in the youth sector In the framework of the current YOUTH Programme the Commission has co-financed about 50.000 youth projects between 2000- 2005 aiming at intercultural learning and mutual understanding. As many as 3.000 of these projects were explicit projects against racism and xenophobia.

As it is not possible to name all of these projects, I will just mention two outstanding ones: DASH is an Internet platform for and by young people that helps young people to set up their own Internet platforms against racism and xenophobia. EPTO – the European Peer Training Organisation is a network of young trainers committed to combating racism and xenophobia and all forms of discrimination. Both of these organisations are present at this conference. DASH has made the conference website. In the youth field the Commission cooperates closely with the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. Youth is an important target group of the Commission’s campaign “For Diversity-Against Racism” and will most probably be a main subject of the campaign next year.

The Commission also cooperates with the Council of Europe. Diversity is an important horizontal priority of the partnership framework agreement of our institutions. The Commission also supports the campaign “All Different-All Equal”. Last not least, the Commission’s youth sector cooperates with the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). I am very pleased that the Director of the EUMC, Mrs Winkler, who has already participated in the 2001 conference, is also here today. In my view, the requests that young people made at the 2001 conference have been tackled and are still being tackled by the Commission.

3.) What does the Commission expect from this conference? First of all the Commission expects you, the young people, to tell us what you need in your fight against racism and xenophobia and I invite you to elaborate concrete and realistic proposals. These proposals should also cover networking aspects. In this context I am thinking of the new Youth in Action Programme which will run from 2007-2013.

How can the Commission best support you in your efforts via the new programme? I also expect the conference to be the theatre of a lively exchange of best practices, and I invite you to tell us how an exchange of best practice could be organised in the future to be most effective. An important means in the fight of young people against racism and xenophobia is the use of the Internet. How can this means be better used in this fight? How can the awareness and vigilance of young people be enhanced concerning the use of Internet for racist and xenophobe purposes? What do you need to make the best use of it for combating racism and xenophobia?

I very much welcome the idea that you will not only formulate requests to policy-makers but that you will also commit yourselves to an Action Plan. This seems to be the best possible means to successfully combat racism and xenophobia and to promote diversity and mutual respect: to take action… I invite you to take a lot of action towards our common goal in the next two days and I wish you a successful conference!