Assessing the effectiveness of the 6th cycle of the structured dialogue process

Abstract

Structured Dialogue is a European mechanism aimed at bringing youths across Europe closer to the decision making process. This dissertation will assess this process’s effectivity by conducting research with National Youth Councils across Europe, and shall answer the research question “Was the 6th cycle of the structured dialogue process effective?”.

Literature field of youth activism in Europe and the EU’s structured dialogue mechanism is extremely scarce, meaning this dissertation is one of the first on the topic. Because of this, the bulk of this dissertation is based on legislation, reports, data and analyses, with the hope of setting foundations for further research in this field by other researchers in the future.

By comparing the political results (the European Youth Goals) of the structured dialogue process to the political priorities of National Youth Councils across the European Union, it was made clearer how important the priorities indicated by the Structured Dialogue Process are to European Youth. This research shall also assess if any other political priorities exist outside the representation of Youth Goals at a European level, which would indicate a lack of effectivity from the process’s end. National Youth Councils shall also be directly asked to give feedback about the entire process, and being main stakeholders within the process would mean that their opinions shall be taken into account in answering the research question as a whole.

The overall results will be of use to anyone involved in the youth field, from all the European National Youth Councils, to major players such as the European Youth Forum, the European Commission’s Youth Sector and active youth as a whole. Ultimately, it is by setting and answering such research questions that we can hope to have a more effective, inclusive and representative dialogue in the future, and it is with the hope of tentatively improving this very process through such constructive means that this research was conducted.