The Treaty establishing the European Community provides that the latter's action shall, inter alia, contribute to the development of quality education and training. This was resolutely reiterated by the Treaty of Amsterdam signed on 2 October 1997 which states that the Community is also to promote the development of the highest possible level of knowledge for its peoples through a wide access to education and through a continuous updating of knowledge.

The Commission in its communication ‘Towards a Europe of knowledge’ set out guidelines on the creation of an open and dynamic European education area capable of achieving the objective of lifelong education and training.

In its White Paper ‘Teaching and learning — Towards the learning society’, the Commission stated that the emergence of the learning society entails encouraging the acquisition of new knowledge and to this end providing motivation to learn at every opportunity. In its Green Paper ‘Education, training, research: the obstacles to transnational mobility’, the Commission highlighted the advantages of mobility for people and competitiveness in the European Union.

There is a need to promote active citizenship, to strengthen the links between measures pursued under this programme and to step up the fight for respect for human rights and against exclusion in all its forms, including racism and xenophobia. Special attention should be focused on removing discrimination and on promoting equal opportunities for women and men.

The actions of this programme should reach young people in general and not just the initiated and/or those who belong to youth organisations. The Commission and the Member States should therefore undertake to provide an adequate flow of information and appropriate dissemination for those actions.

This Decision establishes a Community framework intended to contribute to the development of transnational voluntary service activities. The Member States should endeavour to adopt appropriate and coordinated measures to remove legal and administrative obstacles in order to further improve young people's access to the programme and facilitate recognition of the specific nature of voluntary service for young people.

Youth exchanges in particular contribute to mutual trust, the strengthening of democracy, tolerance, a willingness to cooperate and solidarity between young people, and they are therefore crucial for the cohesion and further development of the Union.

The participation of young people in voluntary service activities is a type of informal education leading to the acquisition of additional knowledge, whose quality should be largely based on appropriate preparatory measures, including those of a linguistic and cultural nature. It helps to determine the future direction of their lives, to broaden their horizons and to develop their social skills, active citizenship and balanced integration into society from the economic, social and cultural points of view, including preparation for working life, and promotes awareness of true European citizenship.

The Commission and Member States should seek to guarantee complementarity between European voluntary service activities and the various similar national schemes.

The European Parliament and the Council, in their Decision No 253/2000/EC on education, and the Council, in Decision 1999/382/EC of 26 April 1999 on training, have established Community action progammes for the education and training fields respectively, which contribute together with the youth programme to a Europe of knowledge.

The policy of cooperation in the youth field contributes to the promotion of informal education, and therefore to lifelong learning, and this policy needs to be further developed.

The integration of young people into the world of work is an essential part of their integration into society, and this also calls for all their skills and competences acquired as part of their experience of informal education to be recognised and for a high premium to be put on their importance.

It is necessary, in order to reinforce the added value of Community action that the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, should ensure coherence and a complementarity at all levels between the actions implemented within the framework of this Decision and other relevant policies, instruments and actions.

It is important that the Youth programme committee should consult, on the basis of arrangements to be defined, with the committees responsible for the implementation of the Community vocational training and educational programmes (Leonardo da Vinci and Socrates). It is important that the Youth programme committee be kept regularly informed about Community initiatives taken in the fields of education, vocational training and youth.

European voluntary service activities are not a substitute for military service, for the alternative service formulas provided in particular for conscientious objectors or for the compulsory civilian service existing in several Member States, and should not restrict or be a substitute for potential or existing paid employment.

The grant of residence permits and any visas required falls within the competence of the authorities in the Member States, and the concept of legal resident is defined by national law.

The Commission and the Member States are to ensure that they foster cooperation with non-governmental organisations active in the youth and social fields, as well as in the areas of the environment, culture, sport and combating the various forms of exclusion.

The Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA Agreement) provides for greater cooperation in the field of education, training and youth between the European Community and its Member States, on the one hand, and the States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) participating in the European Economic Area, on the other. The EEA Agreement lays down procedures for the participation of the EFTA States participating in the EEA in Community programmes in the field of education, training and youth.

Provision should be made to open up this programme to participation of the associated central and east European countries (CEEC) in accordance with the conditions established in the Europe Agreements, in their additional protocols and in the decisions of the respective Association Councils, of Cyprus, funded by additional appropriations in accordance with the procedures to be agreed with that country, as well as of Malta and Turkey, funded by additional appropriations, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty.

This programme should be monitored and continually evaluated in cooperation between the Commission and the Member States in order to allow for readjustments, particularly in the priorities for implementing the measures.

In accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as defined in Article 5 of the Treaty, since the objectives of the proposed action concerning the development and strengthening of a cooperation policy in the youth field, including European voluntary service and youth exchanges both within the Community and with third countries, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States because of the complexity and diversity of the youth field, they can therefore be better achieved by the Community owing to the transnational dimension of Community actions and measures. This Decision does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve those objectives.