Harghita County Council

HCC

Harghita County Council is the main local public administration of Harghita County.

Lobbying Activity

Response to 2022 European Year of Youth – achievements and way forward

14 Apr 2023

For Hargita County Council, it is extremely important that young people take an active role, a greater part in public life and problems affecting public life, to have ideal job opportunities and housing opportunities and within the framework of an Itrerreg Danube project (Talent Magnet), it was possible to establish dynamic relationships with youth and to assess the needs and problems faced by young people. After assessing the real needs of youth, it became clear that the creation a special space for youth is essential for them, so the youth community space named YOUTH MAGNET was completed as part of the Talent Magnet project, which hosts various programs and events weekly. As part of the TalentMagnet project pilot activity, a mobile application (HomecomingHarghita) was launched an online communication interface, as a virtual repository of the programs and opportunities that take place in the county. 2022 was the European Year of Youth and besides the fact that this thematic year allocates framework programmes, funding sources and strategic objectives to build the future of young people in Europe, we considered it important that young people from Harghita County, also find their place and values in this vision. This year, the Harghita County Council started the elaboration of a new Youth Strategy for the period 2023-2030. The strategy document discusses strategic objectives along 8 themes, to which specific programmes have been assigned. The 11 EU Youth Principles and the European Union's Youth Strategy document also serve as a basis for developing these themes.We celebrate Youth Day at 2nd of May since 2004. For this occasion Harghita County Council organises programs with the inclusion of several institutions, youth organizations and young volunteers. In 2022 a whole series of programs were prepared for the period of 4th and 15th of May including several locations in Harghita County. Every year, Harghita County Council opens calls for non-refundable project programmes in supporting Youth, through which foundations, associations, organizations and churches who maintain youth can apply for financing. In 2022 there were financed 107 youth project in value of 481.844 Ron. Within these projects there were such that strongly connected to the Year of European Youths programmes. Also, in 2022 Hargita County Council expanded the previously operating Homecoming Harghita program aimed at young people with the activities of the Career Office. The goal of the Homecoming Harghita Career Office is to help young people living in Hargita county or returning home in the process of career planning, right from the first steps. Moreover Harghita County Council, as a member of AER, sent ammendments regarding the AER position on Youth. All of our proposals were introduced in the text of the position, therefore the following aspects regarding youth were been highlighted: the importance of carieer orientation, the necessity of ensuring stable internet connection and digital facilities in the less developed rural areas, the importance of educational opportunities to focus on foreign language learning too, especially in less developed countries, where young people has reduced access to it; the importance of educational opportunities to take into account those professions that are on the verge of dying out, mainly due to lack of professionals, but which will also be essential for the future generations; the importance of encouraging local and regional authorities to develop Youth Spaces for young people to facilitate their active participation in public life including sports, education, digitalization, health, politics and decision-making etc.
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Response to Proposal for a Council Recommendation on long-term care

29 Mar 2022

Harghita County Council welcomes the Access to affordable and high-quality long-term care initiative. I underline also the importance of organizing annual health screening programs, with the possibility to be supported by EU financial instruments. Establishing a quality framework for long-term care services, it is also vital to ensure that the rights of those cared for are respected, their physical and mental well-being is the top priority of care workers. Moreover, as part of changing the image of the caring professions, there is a need to launch campaigns among youth and young professionals. While considering the staff shortages, it is also important to consider the long-term negative effects of migration of care workers from less developed regions to more developed ones, as this creates a situation where the access of aging population from these less developed regions to care services is gravely affected by the severe staff shortages. The problem outline and suggestions regarding this document are realistic and traceable. The document is setting out general guidelines, however practical implementation will show the guide and the concrete direction on its implementation at both EU and national level.
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