About
The Structured Dialogue with young people has become an established process for participatory policy making in the youth field among the 28 EU Member States. The Structured Dialogue is a process for discussions between young people and policy makers about different themes, to make sure the opinions of young people are taken into account in defining the EU’s youth policies. The themes and topics for discussion are decided at European level by EU Youth Ministers; then a committee of the current trio of EU Presidency countries, the European Commission and the European Youth Forum is responsible for coordinating the process and deciding upon sets of questions to be asked to young people across Europe twice a year. These questions are then used as the basis for national consultations in each EU country, which are organised by National Working Groups, and in most cases they are led by youth councils and include other youth organisations and stakeholders. You can watch an explanatory film here: http://vimeo.com/69176445
Participation
Participation in Structured Dialogue takes the form of national consultations at Member State level and EU Youth Conferences at European level. The current thematic priority of Structured Dialogue is, "Enabling all young people to engage in a diverse, connected and inclusive Europe." The current cycle runs from 2016 to 2017 over the course of the Dutch, Slovakian and Maltese EU Presidencies. The next European Youth Conference - the name of the Structured Dialogue events - takes place in Košice, Slovakia from 4-6 October 2015. Each national organising partner has different mechanisms for participation. Find the Structured Dialogue National Working Group in your country here: http://europa.eu/youth/eu/article/115/19023_en.
