Amplifying School Students’ Voices in Europe and Beyond – June 2025
In June 2025, OBESSU continued its dedicated efforts to champion the perspectives of school students throughout Europe. As part of our work, we continiously invest in our cooperation with European insitutions and Civil Society organisations. Thus, we also promote OBESSU’s expertise concerning students’ views and priorities throughout the various policy fields affecting education & learners, young people and their lives.
Democracy – Youth Dialogue – Intergenerational Solidarity
This month, our boardie Albert traveled to Brussels to attend the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre final foresight workshop. As part of the project ” Challenges and Opportunities for the Future of Democracy “, experts explored a range of possible consequences and outcomes of the current challenges for democracy, as formulated during the first stage of the project.
After a lot of preparation, we are excited to be traveling to Strasbourg as part of the European Youth Event 2025 hosted at the European Parliament. Along with our activities and the activities led by EEE-YFU, we also got to enjoy interacting with young people living in Europe and engaging with stakeholders and decision makers as part of the various activities held during the event.
In foresight of the EU Intergenerational Strategy (2026) and in support of the AGE Platform‘s work, it was really inspiring to follow the AGE Annual Conference 2025 with the theme ” Intergenerational Solidarity in Europe – A Multi-Stakeholder Meeting “.
During June, we also spent some time with the Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport – Glenn Micallef. Joining the European Youth Forum and other organisations, we attended the first Implementation Dialogue focusing on youth policy tools and the EU Youth programmes, providing input on what works well and what are the challenges in incorporating young people’s views into EU policymaking.
With the new EU budget negotiations already gaining speed, at the meeting we made sure to highlight our concerns about funding to civil society organisations. In our case, uncertainty has been increasing as policy shift towards competitiveness and skills has and will continue to impact organisations focusing on education and youth and even more so the future of EU programmes like Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps.
Vocational Education and Training – European Education Area – Skills and Employment
First and foremost, we want to congratulate the European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training – EVVB on the inauguration of the VET House, a key milestone for Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Europe. OBESSU, in support of the work and the opportunities set ahead thanks to this new Hub located in Brussels, wishes a great future and is looking forward to all the upcoming activities and events held there.
We also wish to congratulate Cedefop – that like OBESSU, is celebrating their 50th Anniversary. In reflection of the past and defining the path for the future, the EU Agency organised the Cedefop 50th anniversary conference ” Shaping learning and skills for Europe “. The event brought together over 250 European stakeholders and covered crucial topics such as the future of vocational education and training, bridging the gap between learning and the labour market, and better skills for EU citizens. Moreover, Cedefop and the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU held the 18th edition of the Cedefop Brussels-based seminar focusing on inclusion of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEETs) in today’s labour market, and the role vocational education and training (VET) can play in this
Mark your calendar (July 2025)
- Revitalising Apprentice Representation in Europe, EAN 2025 (1-2 July)
- High-Level Policy Debate & General Assembly 2025, LLLP (1-2 July)
- Revitalising Apprentice Representation in Europe, EAN 2025 (1-2 July)
- High-Level Policy Debate & General Assembly 2025, LLLP (1-2 July)
- High Level Conference – Building Green and Inclusive. Making Our Communities Future-proof, Group III – EESC (2 July)
- Launch event of the Civil Society State of the Union Report 2025, CSE – Registration open (3 July)
- Online focus group discussion on the European Democracy Shield dedicated to youth organisations, EC (3 July)
- Strengthening the enlargement process through the Child Guarantee: A path to tackling child poverty and social exclusion in Pre-Accession Countries, Save The Children (Online Meeting – 7 July)
- IVY 2026 European Online Seminar, CEV – Registration open (17 July)
- Stakeholder consultation on classification of AI systems as high-risk, European Commission (18 July)
Useful Resource
2025 EQAVET Annual Network Meeting Flash Report I Updated EU Framework for monitoring the implementation of the European Child Guarantee
