OBESSU present at Round Table on social inclusion
In October, OBESSU’s Board Member Ida Kreutzman took part in a round table discussion on social inclusion organized by the European Youth Forum at the European Parliament in Brussels. The round table discussion focused on the effects of the ongoing economic crisis on the social inclusion of young people in Europe. The event started with the preparation of the young delegates from the European Youth Forum’s Member Organisations and continued in the afternoon at the European Parliament.
Around 40 representatives from different European institutions and national and international organisations took part in the event lead by Jean Lambert, Member of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom. The ground for the discussion was laid by several presentations about the current situation on how young people in Europe are affected by the economical situation. Among others Professor Arnstein Aassve from the University of Bocconi talked about differences in poverty levels between different age groups in European countries. One of the conclusions of the round table was that in times of economic crisis the poor get even poorer. In most countries, young people are the ones affected by this the most, since poverty in general is more common among people in their late teens or early twenties. Lidia Salvatore from Eurofound introduced the term NEET in the round table, meaning someone who is Not Employed nor in Education or in Training. This term in connection with social exclusion was something that was later questioned What became clear during the discussion was the fact that it is hard to strictly define the ones who are not socially included.
In the end, the key question was what the future of the European youth looks like. It is reasonable for young Europeans to be worried about their own future. In OBESSU, we believe that education plays a key role in keeping people from falling outside the society and, in the end, in defeating the crisis. This was also something that the participants at the round table agreed on, as well as on the fact that young people need to be invested in, in order to ensure a future for everyone.
Written by Ida Kreutzman
