The Barcelona Process is the result of the political will of originally 27 partners to provide a framework for strengthened dialogue and comprehensive cooperation in the Mediterranean region.
Since the enlargment of the European Union in May 2004 this process is involves the 25 Member States of the European Union as well as 10 Mediterranean partner countries : Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine Territories, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
The Barcelona Process in 1995 stressed that "youth exchanges should be the means to prepare future generations for a closer cooperation between the Euro-Mediterranean partners. A Euro-Mediterranean youth exchange cooperation programme should therefore be established based on experience acquired in Europe and taking account of the partners' needs".
The Euro-Med Youth programme is one of the regional programmes set up in the third chapter of the Barcelona Process entitled « partnership in social, cultural and human affairs ».
This third chapter of the declaration proposes a permanent dialogue between young people from the Euro-Mediterranean partners. This will help to foster mutual understanding among the people of the region, to integrate young people into social and professional life, and to contribute to the process of democratisation of the civil society.
Under the Directorate-General for Education and Culture and in close cooperation with the EuropeAid Cooperation Office and the Directorate-General for External Relations, the implementation of the Euro-Med Youth programme is regarded as a main priority which also falls under other priorities featuring in the YOUTH programme, such as the fight against racism, discrimination and xenophobia, a facilitated access to the Programme for young people with less opportunities, dialogue with other world cultures and the promotion of a greater mutual understanding between European countries and the rest of the world. In addition, a training strategy for Euro-Mediterranean partners has been developed by the SALTO-YOUTH EuroMed Resource Centre.
Since 1992, the dialogue between young people and youth exchanges all over the Mediterranean has been supported within the framework of the Community Programme "Youth for Europe", as well as since 1996 within the "European Voluntary Service" programme.
In June 1996, a conference held in Amman on "Youth Exchanges between the European Union and its Mediterranean partners", gathering officials and NGO representatives, further elaborated the objectives of a new cooperation scheme under the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
The second Euro-Mediterranean Conference held in Malta in April 1997 reiterated that a programme of activities for youth should be put forward shortly
In September 1998, the first Euro-Med Youth programme was adopted by the European Commission and the Euro-Mediterranean (MED) Committee
In November 2001, a second phase of the Euro-Med Youth programme was finally adopted by a decision of the European Commission and the MED Committee.
The Euro-Med Youth programme I (1999-2001) was adopted by the European Commission and the Euro-Mediterranean Committee for the Barcelona process. This Programme represents a concrete initiative prompted by the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. It also means an extension of the YOUTH programme’s activities. It involves three actions of the YOUTH programme: Youth Exchanges, Voluntary Service and Support Measures (Actions 1, 2 and 5).
This first phase of the Euro-Med Youth programme was subject to an evaluation carried out by external experts. Goals to be achieved in the second phase of the Programme were inspired by this evaluation.
In order to implement the Euro-Med Youth programme, a system of National Coordinators has been set up with the nomination of one Coordinator in each Mediterranean partner country.
On the 22nd November 2001 (Decision n°2001/2347), the European Commission adopted, following the MED Committee approval in September 2001, a second phase of the Euro-Med Youth programme.
This Euro-Med Youth programme II is provided with a budget of € 14 million for 2002-2004 (10 million Euro from MEDA and 4 million Euro from Youth), in other words an annual budget of 4.333 million Euro for the period 2002-2004. This represents a budget increase of 40% over Euro-Med Youth I.
The Programme beneficiaries are young people and other actors in the youth field in the 12 Mediterranean partner countries and in the 15 EU Member States.
The Commission has defined some thematic priorities especially focused on theMediterranean needs. Projects tackling the following subjects are welcomed:
As in the first phase of the Programme, Euro-Med Youth II also focuses on the three main actions of the YOUTH programme: Action 1 (Youth Exchanges), Action 2 (Voluntary Service) and Action 5 (Support Measures).
Its major goals are:
The Euro-Med Youth programme II will focus on the consolidation and reorientation of the following five main areas:
Due to the ongoing review of the current centralised management procedures, the centralised selection of Euro-Med Youth projects by applicants from Mediterranean partner countries is temporarily suspended from January 2005 until further notice. European NGOs can reapply from June 2005 on.