As the last Presidency of the Millenium, Finnish Presidency will work towards a globally active and influencial as well as transparent and efficient Union. Both a society of information and knowledge and an area of freedom, security and justice are also important goals for European Union during our Presidency of the Council.

According to the Presidency programme, one of the main goals in the field of education is to increase the opportunities for young people. Our aim for youth policy is to launch in 2000 a new Youth Action Programme that will combine the Youth for Europe and European Voluntary Service programmes. A Common Position of the Council on the future programme has already been achieved, and my wish is that the Council could decide on the final adoption of Programme at the foreseen Youth Council meeting on 23 November 1999. However, the keys for co-decision are now in the hands of the new European Parliament, which deals with the Youth Programme in the Second Reading during this autumn.

Finland also aims to open up debate on sport as a form of youth culture. The new Youth Action Programme acknowledges the significance of sports as part of youth cultures. An international survey of the interaction between sport and youth service will be presented at the Meeting of Youth Directors and Senior Officials (10-12 September), and the topic will be discussed also in the Youth Council.

In addition, Presidency focuses on protection of children and young people against violence. In this context, we want to adopt the Daphne programme, which aims at preventing violence against children, young people and women, and to deal with an initiative on prevention of sex turism.

It is the interest of the Presidency to work with European citizens as transparently and interactively as possible. This being the case, I would like to thank Allianssi for this youth information service on Finnish EU Presidency, which is helping the youth work actors in Europe to monitor our work.

Mrs. Suvi Lindén
Minister of Culture

On 27 May the Council meeting adopted a common position on the Commission Proposal for Youth Action Programme 2000- 2004. According to the co-decision procedure, the approval of the European Parliament is a pre-condition for the final adoption of the Programme. This second reading is one of first tasks of the Parliament and its Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport. Finnish Presidency wishes to have the final adoption on the agenda at the foreseen Youth Council meeting on 23 November 1999. However, there are several reasons to believe that the final adoption will be postponed for the Portuguese presidency.

The most important goal of the Finnish Presidency in this area will be to ensure the fast and effective launch of the Socrates II and Leonardo da Vinci II education and training programmes. The aim is to ensure high-quality education and training taking future needs into account. Such training must meet the needs of working life in the information society and give every citizen the abilities needed to play an active role in society. According to the Presidency programme, the foundations of learning must be a high standard of basic education available to all and constant enhancement of skills on the principle of lifelong learning.

The EU's Education Council reached on 4th December 1998 an agreement on the new Socrates programme for the period 2000-2006. According to the Common Position, the budget for Socrates is established at 1,55 million euro over seven years. Within this budget, no less than 51% may be awarded to Action 2 "Erasmus", no less than 27% to Action 1 "Comenius" and no less than 7% to Action 3 "Grundtvig" (adult education and other educational pathways). The common position was transferred to the European Parliament for its second reading, in accordance with the codecision procedure. No agreement was reached in the EP, so a negotiation procedure to find a final solution is taking place during the Finnish EU Presidency. The main dispute concerns the budget: the Parliament would be willing to allocate up to 2,5 MEUR to the programme instead of the above mentioned 1,55 MEUR. A compromise can be reached earliest by December 1999, but preparations are under way to be able to start with the new programme in 2000.

The National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB) has been lobbying European institutions troughout the process of changing the programmes. ESIB is quite satisfied with the content of the outcome but points out few problems in the rather low student grant within Erasmus programme. "There is a fear that there trough the programmes an new elite within Europe will be created which understands European dimension and other cultures. Wider student population should have access to mobility. Educational cooperation has also proven to be important tool when new countries have been joining the European Union but also when establishing stability in long term in areas like Balkan region" said the ESIB chairperson Antti Pentikäinen.

Due to the Finnish Presidency of the Council of EU a number of events will be organised in Finland in cooperation with the EU Commission. One of these is the Meeting of Youth Directors and Senior Officials, which is to be held in Rovaniemi on 10 - 12 September 1999 under the theme "Young People on the Move - Stars and Sports".

The meeting deals with issues relating to the new Youth Action Programme. It offers an opportunity for youth directors and senior officials to come together and discuss special youth cooperation issues, as given as an example by the Barents Euro-Arctic Region Cooperation in the Field of Youth. The themes are following:

1. Star Trilogy - White, Red and Gold. The theme deals with the European youth policy cooperation focusing on regional cooperation and networking. The Barents Sea, Baltic Sea and Mediterranean regions are presented as examples on trans-national cooperation. EU policy on the northern dimension will also be taken up for discussion on the programme.

2. Sports in Youth Cultures. The new Youth Action Programme acknowledges the significance of sports as part of youth cultures. The Ministry of Education is working on an international survey of the interaction between sport and youth service, and will present the findings of this at the meeting, together with the pilot project already in progress.

3. The new Youth Action Programme. Oral information from the Commission.
Both Allianssi and European Youth Forum have been invited to this meeting. European Youth Forum president Mr. Pau Solanilla will also address the Meeting in the opening session.

The Presidency will hold a conference on 19-21 September 1999 in Turku, where the civil society will be discussed as one forum for lifelong learning.

The importance of civic activity is constantly growing in the European countries. Finland has wanted to link the citizens closely to the activities of the society and to create a wide choice of opportunities for personal development both for the young people and adults. The programme of the sitting government also emphasises the importance of liberal education.

One of the objectives of this seminar is to bring added value to the preparation and implementation of new European educational programmes by examining lifelong learning, liberal adult education and the civil society. The Socrates II educational programme for the years 2000-2006 will probably be approved during the Finnish EU Presidency in the autumn of 1999. In Socrates II, adult education will be given more weight than before. The new area of Socrates II has been named after N.F.S. Grundtvig, the founder of the Danish folk high school.

One of the priority theme of the seminar is "civic organisations fortifying democracy and promoting social cohesion". In that context, Allianssi and European Youth Forum are participating in the conference in order to make contribution to the recognision of non-formal education.

The fifty-fourth session of UN General Assembly will deal with youth issues during this autumn. The EU Presidency will coordinate the action of European Union states in the General Assembly. According to Allianssi's request, European Youth Forum has been asked to propose a representative to be nominated as an adviser to the delegation of the Finnish EU Presidency. European Youth Forum has proposed its Bureau member Robert Micallef, who is responsible for the UN Affairs. He is supposed to participate in the General Assembly for five days during the discussion on youth issues in the first half of October.

The report of the Secretary General on "Implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond" and the resolution of the Commission on Social Development (amended by ECOSOC) will be discussed in the General Assembly. In order to amend the resolution, the preparation meeting for Youth Representatives (Amsterdam, 6-8 August) suggested a common strategy, which would aim at recognition of Braga Youth Action Plan and postponement of the World Youth Forum scheduled for the Year 2000. The common strategy of the concerned national youth councils is to be finalised during August.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations invited the member states of the UN to consider including youth representatives in their delegations to the General Assembly. He sent an official note verbale on 27 July 1999 to all Permanent Representations of member states of the UN on the issue referring to General Assembly resolutions 50/18 and 52/83. According to the Secretary General, the inclusion of youth representatives could broaden the channels of communication and enhance the discussion of youth-related issues during the General Assembly. If your organisation wishes to follow-up this matter, you may contact the UN Department of the Foreign Ministry of your government.

Allianssi with some of its member organisations participated in the pro-vote campaign "Express Yourself" organised by YFJ. The key political messages were confirmed by Allianssi Bureau on 27th of May, and sent to the MEP candidates and to the representatives of media. Also some campaign events were organised to attract the public attention. According to the survey for young people aged between 18 and 30, the youth turn-out was about 25 percent.

The turn-out has been publicly commented by three member organisations of Allianssi: Union of Secondary School Students in Finland, Finnish Federation of Vocational Trainees - SAKKI, and Youth of European Movement (JEF-Finland). They expressed their concern of the low general turn-out (31 percent), and challenged the schools to bear their responsibility in educating the new generation to the European citizenship in order to avoid the feeling of distance in the relation to EU. "The Finnish Presidency period offers the schools a possibility to integrate EU dimension in the school work in an innovative and contemporary way", student organisations proposed to the National Board of Education on 31st of August.

The message was received by the Head of National Board of Education in Finland, Mr. Jukka Sarjala. He referred to their initiave in order to encourage schools, teachers and pupils to read the Presidency news, and to respond to and utilize the news in teaching and learning. "Schools and Finland`s EU Presidency" campaign will consist of three parts. The out-come of the writing and video campaigns are to be published in the Finnish media. An Internet campaign "Agridays" is open for all the European schools, which may create their own www-pages about agriculture in Europe. All Agridays pages will be launched on Netdays99 week in November 1999. Dead line for registration is 10th September 1999.

Allianssi invited the international actors of youth work to International Forum on 26th of August. Minister of Culture responsible for youth affairs, Mrs. Suvi Lindén addressed the forum with an introduction to the challenges of the Finnish EU Presidency in the youth field. In the commentary of European Youth Forum, Secretary General Tobias Flessenkemper demanded that the share of 20 percent of Education budget of EU should be allocated to the new Youth Action Programme. Minister did not promise her support to the suggestion due to the limited financial resources; neither did she agree with the 7-year-period for Action Programme, but spoke in favor of 5-year-period for general youth political reasons. However, she welcomed the idea of opening the Youth Programme for all South-Eastern European countries, and intended to raise the issue with her ministerial colleagues. She also promised to support the Allianssi proposal to allocate some Finnish Foreign Ministry funds for youth cooperation within Northern dimension of European Union.

PART 3: BALTIC SEA REGION CO-OPERATION

Simultaneously with EU Youth Directors' Meeting, there will be another event taking place in Rovaniemi, Conference on Barents euro-arctic regional cooperation in the youth field. That is due to the fact that Finland is holding the Presidency of Barents Euro-Arctic Council, too.

The theme of the conference will be youth policy in the cooperation structures of the Barents region. Cooperation between different actors inside the Barents region and between actors in others European regions will be emphasised. EU policy on the northern dimension will also be taken up for discussion.

The proposal for organising this conference on youth policy was put forward at the Seminar on the Barents Euro-Arctic Region Cooperation in the Youth Field which was held in Saariselkä, Finland, and Murmansk, Russia, in autumn 1998. The purpose of this conference will be to bring together those involved in youth work at the public and voluntary sectors at regional, national and European level, and to draw guidelines for youth cooperation in the region. The role of youth policy in the structures of the Barents region will be considered in the light of a wider European context.

The goals of the conference are:

• to evaluate youth policy in the Barents region and, particularly, in the structures of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and the Barents Regional Council;
• to identify opportunities and obstacles for youth cooperation;
• to prepare a plan of action for youth cooperation in the Barents region;
• to pave the way for a possible conference of ministers responsible for youth affairs in 2001.

The City of Tampere is planning to organise a seminar for young people of Baltic and Nordic countries and Russia on 2-5 December together with Finnish Youth Cooperation Allianssi, the Baltic Institute of Finland, and the Youth League of Norden Association in Finland. The topic will be Baltic Sea Youth Cooperation at the Local Level. The organising bodies will invite their partner organisations in the concerned countries to participate in the seminar.

During the recent years, co-operation in the field of youth has become an integral part of the general Baltic Sea regional co-operation initiatives. In Visby Conference 1998, it was concluded that an increased coordination of information and activities would be necessary for the future. Thus, Baltic Sea Secretariat for Youth Affairs was set up at the already existing Baltic Youth Office (Kiel, Germany). The Secretariat will work closely together with the Secretariat of the Baltic Sea States Sub-regional Co-operation (BSSSC), the Secretariat of the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS), the Baltic Youth Forum (BYF), and the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM).

At the start of the first Finnish presidency of the European Union, a delegation of the European Youth Forum and the Finnish Youth Co-operation Allianssi met with the President of the European Council, the President of Republic Mr. Martti Ahtisaari. The meeting took place at his summer mansion Kultaranta, in Naantali on July 2, 1999.

Among the issues discussed were the contribution of young people and their organisations in the building of democracy, a strong reference to young people in the Millennium declaration to be adopted by the Helsinki European Council in December 1999, and the future of European Youth Policy, in particular the new Youth programme.

President Ahtisaari promised to launch the idea of a youth co-ordinator for the Stability Pact in South-East Europe, as well as to support a reference to young people in the Millennium Declaration.

At the occasion of the closure of the "Expresss Yourself" campaign in Strasbourg during the first meeting of the newly elected European Parliament in Strasbourg, the European Youth Forum met with the President of the Council and Finnish Foreign Minister, Ms Tarja Halonen on July 21, 1999. The President of the European Youth Forum, Pau Solanilla had the opportunity to again raise similar issues. Regarding the youth co-ordination in South-East Europe, Ms Halonen expressed her support to the idea and promised to bring the issue forward to the conference that was planned to be held in Sarajevo in the end of July 1999.

The European Youth Forum will invite its member organisations to a conference on non-formal education 3-5 December 1999 in Tampere. The themesessions with the topic "Education inside out - partnerships for recognision of non-formal education" will take place on Saturday, 4th of December.

YFJ study examining the role of youth organisations in the non-formal education process and some cases building partnerships for recognision of non-formal education will be introduced in the Conference. The National Education Board of Finland is conducting the study: the contract with Mr. Pasi Sahlberg has been signed. The conference is about to elaborate a future strategy on the role and involvement of the Youth Forum in the recognition process. This conference will take place in the context of Citizens' Agenda 2000 NGO Forum in Tampere Finland. There is a possibility to discuss on the findings of the study with partners for recognision, like Presidencies, European institutions, and other social partners.

PART 5: OTHER NEWS

Citizens' Agenda 2000 NGO Forum is the Finnish EU Presidency Citizens' Summit. The meeting will be held from 3rd to 5th of December 1999 in Tampere, Finland. The meeting will take place in Tampere Hall and in the Tampere University.

True to its reputation as the most on-line country around, Finland is offering an unmatched flow of information via the Internet during its first tenure as EU President. The web service is designed to give easy public access to details of all the Presidency events held during the six-month period and EU issues in general both in the form of rapidly up-dated news and compendious feature and background information.

The Internet site will be the main news and information channel, including access to most of the press conferences on real audio, and represents the cutting edge of the whole project. The main language of the site will be English with options to select news and basic material in French and German and with coverage in Finland´s two official languages - Finnish and Swedish.