The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has underlined its role as a frontrunner in youth participation, with EU Commissioner Glenn Micallef praising the body’s pioneering Youth Test during a debate in Brussels.

Speaking at the EESC’s July plenary session, Mr Micallef – Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport – said the Committee was showing how young people could be treated not just as consultees but as equal partners in shaping EU policy.

‘The challenges of housing, mental health, quality education and youth employment are not future concerns: they are today’s priorities. Trust from young people is not automatic; it must be earned with real power and responsibility’, he said.

The Youth Test, launched in September 2024, examines whether new EESC opinions adequately reflect young people’s needs. To date, 40 opinions have undergone the process, with 27 adopted, and more than 70 youth organisations from across the EU and candidate countries are now involved. The initiative has inspired the European Commission’s own forthcoming Youth Check in 2025, and has already been recognised by both the Commission and Parliament.

Commissioner Micallef pointed to new measures, including a proposed 50% increase in the Erasmus+ budget, as evidence of the Commission’s determination to move from consultation to concrete policies.

Oliver Röpke, president of the EESC, said the EESC’s Youth Group had been vital in driving change: ‘We must ensure that young and older people alike can fully participate in society and the economy. The future of Europe is not something we wait for – it’s something we build together’.

Set up in 2023, the Youth Group – made up of 12 EESC members – oversees the Youth Test and coordinates youth involvement across EU policy-making. Its president, Katrīna Leitāne, said the project had been demanding but was already ‘resonating across Europe’.

Youth leaders also pressed for deeper reforms. Rareș Voicu, head of the European Youth Forum, urged the EU to make the Youth Check a formal part of its Better Regulation toolbox, while Ozer Sahoglu, from the EESC president’s Youth Advisory Council, warned of worsening poverty, unaffordable housing and underfunded education and said that ‘young people must be prioritised, not just heard’.

The EESC has a long track record of youth initiatives, including its Youth Delegate to COP scheme and the Your Europe, Your Say! programme. Its COP delegate scheme, launched in 2021, remains unique at EU level and drew almost 500 applications this year. (ks)