Informal meeting of EU ministers for education and youth, 18-19 September 2023

Under the title “How to engage Europe with its youth? Education, rights and well-being of young people”, the working sessions in Zaragoza will focus on the main priorities of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU in the field of education and youth.

The ministers will address how to foster political engagement among young people, care for students in vulnerable situations and the promotion of common values and democratic citizenship in the EU, among other issues.

Youth at the centre of political engagement

This informal ministerial meeting will raise an in-depth discussion on youth, their well-being and the full enjoyment of their rights.

The Ministers for Education and Youth will discuss how the participation of young Europeans in decision-making processes within the EU can be structured, transparent and accessible. They will also discuss how the youth approach applied to the design and evaluation of public policies contributes to ensuring the full enjoyment of the rights of European youth.

Care for students in vulnerable situations

Compared to other regions of the world, Europe has accessible higher education. However, vulnerable groups remain under-represented.

For this reason, the informal ministerial meeting in Zaragoza will discuss how to move towards more inclusive higher education by improving access for vulnerable students. It will also discuss how to drive institutional change to create “an inclusive higher education environment that fosters equity and diversity and responds to the needs of local communities”, thereby improving university graduation for students in vulnerable situations.

Promoting common values and democratic citizenship in the EU

The EU is a shared project that has grown up around common values and respect for democracy, as recognised in the preamble and Article 2 of the Treaty on EU.

Education plays a fundamental role in promoting a set of shared values among Europeans, preparing them to become citizens competent to exercise their rights and fulfil their duties in democracy and training them to respect human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights.

In this regard, the Zaragoza meeting will dedicate a joint working session to reflect on what role education should play in promoting the common values of the EU and democratic citizenship, while paying attention to the testimonies of Spanish students and the Spanish educational community.

The meeting will enable consensus to be reached and progress to be made on drawing up conclusions that will be addressed at the Education and Youth Council on 23 November, with the aim of inviting the Commission and the member states to take decisions that promote common values and democratic citizenship through education in each country, teacher training, the development of teaching materials, the Erasmus+ programme and volunteering, among other measures.