Youth policies between europeanization and localism

The continuous and progressive acknowledgment of youth rights at international level has affected in a positive way the transformation of youth policies in Italy. The European integration process and the introduction of new Title V of the Italian Constitution have required new forms of coordination between different supranational and domestic levels of government. These trajectories of change have involved the whole domain of social policies and especially those areas of welfare policies where welfare programmes should be strengthened, such as youth policies. Even if over the last decade youth policies have been institutionalized as a specific domain of public policy – a specific Ministry of Youth has been established only in the 2006– the transformations underway still require a legislative recognition and a reconfiguration of these programmes into a comprehensive national policy. Italian guidelines concerning youth, as a consequence, have mainly followed the communitarian policy with the incorporation of a multilevel governance. Territorial and inter-institutional cooperation has been identified as a major aspect of achieving visibility and representativeness among institutional actors. Participatory decision making processes are crucial steps in the establishment of a European citizenship. Young people, previously considered as a vulnerable social group, are now a resource. Inclusion and empowerment policies replace now prevention and protection programmes. Youth policy changes in Italy according to a number of common dynamics found in most European countries. These transformations underline how public policy is required not only to fight marginalization, but also to promote the integration between different policy domains (Serpieri 2012) and to promote individual well-being. Basing on these preliminary remarks, this paper will retrace the main steps and transformations of youth policies in Italy and the role played by EU policy in this development.