Beyond straightforward restrictions for mobility faced during the Covid pandemic, many young people often still face specific barriers to volunteering abroad in other Member States – including a lack of a harmonised set of rules for volunteers, insufficient access to transnational social security and health coverage, and an inadequate recognition of the skills and competences developed during a mobility scheme. These bottlenecks impede the opportunity for many young people to gain important intercultural and social competences for their lives as well as skills for a better school-to-work transition.

The Council Recommendation on the mobility of young volunteers across the European Union, adopted by the Member States today, could facilitate better transnational youth volunteering in the EU, also as part of or complementary to the already existing European Solidarity Corps or other national-level schemes. It provides a set of proposals for policy guidance in the Member States to enhance the inclusiveness, quality, recognition and sustainability dimensions of transnational youth volunteering, with a view to allowing for better mutual learning and networking experiences of volunteers.

In line with adopted motions at its 2021 Congress, CESI Youth welcomes the Council Recommendation. CESI Youth is convinced that a boosted mobility of youth volunteers in the EU could help youngsters to broaden their knowledge of foreign languages, be more inclusive and tolerant and better internalise better EU values, gain experience in different domains and skills, effectively exercise their freedom of movement, and build bridges to other EU societies and cultures. In the long term it could improve the employability of young people through better recognised training and education pathways.

CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski said: “I am a great supporter of EU mobility schemes for their potential to enhance EU democratic culture and values: European young people need opportunities to understand on a deeper level what is truly great about EU democracy and the four pillars or freedoms of our EU Single Market in order to foster these values throughout their lives. I welcome the Council Recommendation and I expect that all Member States, with the help of unions, social partners and youth organisations, will swiftly streamline their national rules, guidelines and regulations to implement the Council Recommendation.”