To coincide with the start of the new school year 2007/2008, the European Commission decided to adopt, during the first week of September, a report on the promotion of youth participation in education and training, employment and society in general. The document – which encloses a detailed report on youth employment and the (surprisingly positive) results of the survey of the 27 national reports on volunteering – means to increase coordination within the EU between the policies that affect training and access to employment: in close cooperation with Brussels, the national and regional governments concerned are called to speed up the reforms of the Lisbon Strategy, so that the educational systems will give young people the skills required to find a job, while minimising dropout and unemployment rates.
