Les politiques nationales de jeunesse en Europe

The publication of the European Commission\u2019s White Paper on Youth in 2001, followed in 2005 by The European Youth Pact focusing on the youth questions inherent to the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs, invites the Member States to ensure an effective planning and implementation of national youth policies. Since then, there has been an increased attention on youth in the national political agenda and an impressive thickening of discourses regarding their social integration. The aim of this chapter is to provide a comparative analysis of policies and discourses on youth and youth participation in the eight European countries (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK), participating in the Horizon 2020 project PARTISPACE (www.partispace.eu). The chapter focuses on what \u201cimages of youth\u201d are proposed in the national policies and discourses, which youth issues are prioritized and what measures are suggested or implemented concerning the EU\u2019s invitation to promote youth participation. Thanks to discourse analyses of about 30 official documents on youth (e.g. policies and official governmental statements) and a comparative overview of the youth policy systems, we come to the conclusion that in the involved countries that despite the aforementioned thickening of discourses, in many countries youth policy and participation are undermentioned and neglected in the national agendas