Social integration of young people as a response to the development of domestic and European civil society

The international study seminar on the “Social integration of young people as a response to the development of domestic and European civil society”, which was organised by MCL/EFAL (Movimento Cristiano Lavoratori/Ente Nazionale per la Formazione e l'Addestramento dei Lavoratori) together with EZA and supported by the EU, took place on 9 - 11 December 2020.

In view of the current COVID-19 situation, the three-day seminar was organized as a mixed format, with some participants and speakers attending on location in Rome, and another 25 persons participating on-line by Skype.

In total, the seminar was attended by 42 representatives of workers’ organizations from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (as guests) and Kosovo (also as guests).

On the first day, Sergio Silvani, EFAL President, and Piergiorgio Sciacqua, EZA Vice-President, were on location to speak about the general theme of the seminar, accompanied by a welcoming address by Rieti Barbara Barbuscia, MCL President from Rome-Viterbo.

The first section focused on “The European project NEXT, generations of young people and their future”, and particularly how the crisis will affect the younger generations, whose health is not as affected by the coronavirus, in the present and in the future at different levels. In Italy, all levels of schools and universities closed their doors on 5 March. It was an urgent and necessary measure that does not seem to have an end date, however. In fact, there does not appear to be any longer-term plan for safely restarting the very important education sector.

Moreover, the debt that has been and is still accumulated puts a burden on the future of today's youth. It has been clear for some time now that the European integration must progress and that the current jurisdictions of the European Union are no longer enough: a European Union without a political union, a currency union without an economic and tax union, a solidarity-based but still not a social union. In short, a union that is still limping along and that cannot be allowed to forget about the social dialogue, which is the main reason for our seminars, and which is supposed to ensure that the important role of workers’ organizations once again takes centre stage.

The second meeting consisted of an on-line discussion based on the contributions of highly-respected presenters, such as Gianluca Ghidoni, MCL’s national youth delegate, who gave an overview of the current situation of young people in Italy, as well as the difficult employment situation. In this presentation, Ghidoni highlighted the importance of professional training as the key to social integration.

At the same time, we are also confronted by new forms of work - an issue that was picked up by EZA Vice-President Maria Reina Martin, who joined the meeting from Portugal, and who also made an important contribution to the discussion on behalf of her “Fidestra” organisation.

But the issue of work and young people also relates to the problem of immigration and emigration, and this aspect was discussed by the Alban Sylafeta, the young director of the Women Business Association, who joined the meeting from Kosovo.

The last meeting on Friday morning focused more on the role of unions within the EU, and on the social dialogue as the only way to ensure the coherent development and improvement of people's living standards. It was an issue that was picked up by Branislav Canak, the former Secretary-General of NEZAVISNOST.

In times of great health problems due to the global spread of COVID-19, the voice of labour also had to be represented - a voice that highlighted in particular how the nature of work has changed in a country that is probably most critically affected by this situation, namely Albania. In his presentation, Sali Metani outlined how the already existing internal crisis contributed to the spread of COVID-19, which only increased the uncertainty.

However, young people need perspectives and predictability, which was the topic reserved for the last speaker, young Italian journalist Salvatore Dama, an advisor to the European Commission. In his speech, he mentioned the ERASMUS program as one option for the social integration and further professional training of young Europeans, and he also noted challenges for the social dialogue.

Conclusion

The concluding remarks were left to President Sergio Silvani, who summarized the three days and thanked all participants. He affirmed that the social and economic integration of younger generations should by default develop from the relationships between the EU countries, but primarily through the social dialogue, which is also the reason why our seminars always strive to promote the importance of the social dialogue. He said that the assessment of these past three days can only be described as positive, as it involved the sharing of not just information but also proven practices and calls to tackle the great social ill, namely the lack of guaranteed employment for all, particularly for young people, in order to prevent larger migration movements in Europe.