NextGenerationEU as a (more) youth-friendly Europe?

ABSTRACT In many countries across Europe, youth conditions and intergenerational inequalities have frequently remained at the margins of political interest and a residual topic in discourses on welfare and in social policies. Difficulties in transitions to adulthood and issues of social inclusion of youth have, for a long time, been conceived of as problems to be addressed largely by acting on families rather than through policy measures addressing young people directly. In this scenario, the NextGenerationEU plan promises and requires a change of approach, defining youth inclusion as a strategic priority, identifying young people as main actors in their lives and in society, and imagining a more youth-inclusive and equal future for Europe. Focusing on Italy and Poland – two countries distinguished by a relatively weak social inclusion of young people and a familiarized approach to youth policy – the article retraces the main traits of the condition of youth in the two national contexts and reflects on what ideas of youth and of youth futures emerge in the national implementation programmes of the NextGenerationEU.