The European Parliament made a written declaration on devoting more attention to youth empowerment in EU policies . It recalls that the Commission in its White Paper 'A new impetus for European youth' (see COM(2001)0681 ), which Parliament examined in its resolution of 14 May 2002 (see COS/2002/2050 ), adopted the objective of devoting more attention to young people in other policy fields, especially education and lifelong learning, employment, social integration, health, youth autonomy, mobility, fundamental rights and non-discrimination. Parliament calls on the Commission, when preparing legislative proposals, to consider and incorporate the impact on youth and the results of the structured dialogue with youth organisations, in particular in the policy fields referred to above.

Members also recall that the European Council of March 2005 adopted a 'European Youth Pact' as one of the instruments contributing to the Lisbon objectives, and renewed its commitment in March 2008, insisting on the need to invest in youth now and in the future. It calls on Member States to focus on youth when implementing the Lisbon national reform programmes and to take youth into account in the relevant policy fields.