ZAGREB, Aug 13, 2020 - Representatives of youth associations on Thursday held the first working meeting with officials of the Central State Office for Demography and Youth, discussing education, employment, housing, transport connectivity and the situation caused by the coronavirus.

"With this meeting, the Office shows how much it cares about cooperation with young people and their involvement in the policies to be carried out. The meeting has helped specify the problems they consider as very important," said State Secretary Zeljka Josic.

Josic expressed confidence that their cooperation would be dynamic.

As for the situation caused by the coronavirus, Josic said her office had established communication with young people on the matter, as they were currently the most exposed to infection.

"... We believe that young people can help us in our communication with their peers and help us reach them. Most young people are responsible but some possibly grow tired of responsibility. That is why these young people, who have many competencies and show initiative, can help in the fight against our current enemy," said Josic.

Preparations for the next meeting have already been launched and one of the first topics to be discussed will be the fight against the coronavirus disease. Young people will be enabled to participate in decision-making and will contact the national COVID-19 response team to present their questions and suggestions for specific situations.

The head of the last government's Youth Council, Tanja Herceg, said that today's meeting discussed also topics such as education, employment, housing, rural areas and transport connectivity.

Thematic meetings are to be held on individual topics and youth associations will be invited to present their proposals to help find ways to improve their status, she said.  

Croatian Youth Network leader Josip Milicevic said that he hoped that positive cooperation and joint efforts would continue throughout the current government's term so that problems that burden young people the most could be solved.

ZAGREB, Aug 12, 2020 - The Croatian Youth Network (MMH) on Wednesday presented its three main demands to the government, calling for better education, employment and housing for young people to provide them with better living conditions in the context of growing insecurity caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The MMH, which has 58 member-associations, presented its demands outside the government and parliament buildings in Zagreb in order to draw public attention to burning issues that burden young people in Croatia.

Its representatives warned that in terms of labour and similar rights, young people in Croatia are at the bottom of EU rankings.

Addressing the public on the occasion of International Youth Day, they called on the government to adopt concrete decisions to ensure a better life for young people.

Speaking of the main problems young people were encountering, they cited problems in finding and keeping a job, poor housing conditions, lack of access to the education system, lack of social measures, etc.

Speaking of young workers, they called for ensuring normal working conditions, permanent employment contracts as well as allowances for the unemployed and for taking into account student work when calculating one's years of service.

As for housing issues, they called for supporting a long-term, subsidised lease scheme.

Speaking of education, MMH leader Josip Milicevic said that one should work more on civic education and education in general.

"It is necessary to encourage vocational education as well as invest in dual education and in making educational processes correspond better with real market needs," he said.