JEUNE’s comments on the Communication on Youth

"Better involvement of young people in society is a key element for the promotion of entrepreneurship"

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More emphasis should be put in promoting entrepreneurial mindsets

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JEUNE, the organization representing young craftsmen and young entrepreneurs of SMEs in the European Union, welcomes the Communication COM(2007)498 “Promoting young people's full participation in education, employment and society” released on Wednesday (5^th September) by the Commission. This is an important documentfor all young people in the EU.

The Communication addresses relevant issues such as education, employment, social inclusion and active citizenship that can greatly contribute to the empowerment of young EU citizens.

Likewise, the Communication refers to the need to promote entrepreneurship among young people by providing favourable conditions for young entrepreneurs. JEUNE is of the opinion that the promotion of entrepreneurship must be a target in itself and not just a target within the fight against unemployment.

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Elena Pellaschiar, JEUNE’s President pointed out that “There is a need to change the approach to entrepreneurship in Europe. It is not enough to launch a campaign on entrepreneurship but to set up long-term objectives and work by society as a whole in order to foster an entrepreneurial EU culture”.

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JEUNE welcomes the initiatives of the Commission in this direction in particular the improvement of geographic mobility initiative for young workers and the pilot project to promote the mobility of young entrepreneurs. In this line, JEUNE calls on the Commission to take into account the specific needs of young entrepreneurs in terms of the duration of the placement and its content.

With regards to entrepreneurship education, JEUNE strongly believes that entrepreneurship education must be an integral part in all stages of education and that education centers have an important role to play. In this line, it is important to increase the cooperation between entrepreneurs and education centers (Universities, vocational training centers, etc). Pellaschiar continues “students do not have the chance to interact with entrepreneurs during their studies. Putting these two realities together can enormously influence the professional choice of many youngsters”.