What the NYCC is

The creation of an entity that would bring youth organisations in Catalonia together was addressed during the First Youth Congress of Catalonia following a proposal by the Taula de Joves (Youth Board).

The Consell Nacional de la Joventut de Catalunya [National Youth Council of Catalonia] was created by a decree of the Government of Catalonia and has its own legal personality and two basic functions: to coordinate youth organisations and movements and to act as a bridge between the youth association movement and the Administration in youth policy matters.

The Council’s First General Assembly was held. At this assembly, the first Secretariat was elected and the general operating guidelines were established. The Council was attached to the Department of Education and Culture of the Government of Catalonia, after which it went on to report to the Directorate General for Youth created that same year and subsequently to the Secretariat for Youth.

The “Youth Councils” seminar was held with a view to highlighting the need to spread young people’s participation throughout the territory. The Council saw local youth councils as a good tool for stimulating young people’s participation in day-to-day life and for giving youth associations a voice in local government.

The CNJC took part in the creation of the Spanish Youth Council (from which it subsequently withdrew) and became a fully-fledged member of the Youth Forum of the European Communities (YFEC) and its successor, the European Youth Forum (YYF) (the CNJC has been a member since 1985), in which it has done important work, so much so that its representatives have held the positions of president or vice-president on it.

The Council believed that the posits of the First Congress had run their course and that the time had come to break away from the founding ideas of the Anti-Franco youth movement and pursue new horizons. This prompted the call for participation in the Second Youth Congress of Catalonia with a view to opening up a process of debate, action and participation. This Congress would act as a stimulus that would make it possible to increase the projection of a youth network that was scattered across the country. This Congress had an influence on the consolidation and the process of maturation of the CNJC.

Following the enactment of Law 14/1985, the CNJC acquired its own legal personality and its funding was covered by the budgets of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia.

That period also brought another stimulus for the local youth councils, which were given the definitive thrust through the “1984-1986 Local Councils Project” that was conceived to create, reinforce and coordinate them.

The Council believed that the posits of the First Congress had run their course and that the time had come to break away from the founding ideas of the Anti-Franco youth movement and pursue new horizons. This prompted the call for participation in the Second Youth Congress of Catalonia with a view to opening up a process of debate, action and participation. This Congress would act as a stimulus that would make it possible to increase the projection of a youth network that was scattered across the country. This Congress had an influence on the consolidation and the process of maturation of the CNJC.

The CNJC’s statutes were approved and were subsequently debated and ratified by the Executive Council of the Government of Catalonia in 1987. The new law defined the Council as a public association-forming entity with legal personality.

Several local councils are fully-fledged members of the CNJC. The CNJC has collaborated more particularly and intensively with the Youth Council of Barcelona (CJB) in the development of campaigns, debates and courses, and above all in its internal work.

The CNJC’s activity in the 80s and 90s mirrored and provided projection for the most important aspects of the Catalan youth movement at the end of the 20th Century. The promotion of association-forming and participation, embracing international movements and entities, the fight against racism and pro-conscientious objection and the suppression of the obligatory military service were all a constant part of its activities.

The new generation of young people that joined the Council found it impossible to implement the Second Young People’s Charter due to the Administration’s wariness of the CNJC. Their objectives could only be accomplished through closer interaction with the Administration, and if part of the latter was not receptive enough the Council would have to set up a parliamentary office to cement its relationship with the Administration and more particularly with the Parliament of Catalonia.

Over those years, the Council focused on three areas of activity: the deployment of the right to conscientious objection, the management of problems derived from gender discrimination and the attempt to extend the local councils.

The CNJC created a position for a territorial dynamization technician, although the following year witnessed about the provisional demise of this area, which became one of the main challenges in setting up a youth association network that could straddle the entire territory.

Limitations were placed on the major strategic lines of action launched by the Second Congress. More particularly, it became patent that these lines could hardly be implemented if the autonomous and municipal administrations were unwilling to collaborate. The perception that none of the CNJC’s demands were being entertained led attitudes towards the public administration to become tougher.

The debate and lack of entente between the National Council and the General Secretariat resulted in the Council’s budget being blocked on the condition that the youth organisation’s activities be negotiated. This prompted the resignation of the president of the Council in 1993 and one of the most serious crises ever faced by the CNJC, spawning the process known as the “Council under Debate” at the 16th OGA in 1993. The underlying problem was the Council model, and the bone of contention the different stances taken towards the claims and the politicisation of the Council.

The failure of the Spanish Youth Council and the Councils of State to understand that the CNJC had a separate identity in international relations became a recurring issue in the debates in the Council and between the latter and the other State Councils. Finally, the Secretariat’s Council decided to abandon the CJE and this rupture was confirmed in 1996 at the CNJC’s 12th EGA.

In order to overcome the period of internal crisis, in 1997 the Council’s Assembly approved a structure and operating model and a proposal for the amendment of the Law and the CNJC’s Statutes. The new Council model was underpinned by the desire to give structure to the youth association movement in Catalonia and to coordinate and represent all members, while also fostering an open, constructive and dialogue-based approach to youth organisations.

After ten years of internal debates, the CNJC had not brought any influence to bear upon youth policies. Once the internal crisis had been overcome, there seemed to be a need for a new framework document to steer the Council. This strategic and project-oriented document would become known as the “Youth policy lines”, prepared following debate at a congress featuring presentations by experts in association-forming. This document enjoyed the extraordinary support of the Parliament of Catalonia, which signified important institutional recognition. Once again, and as had occurred with the Second Catalan Youth Charter, a document of the National Council concluded with a call for a National Youth Plan accepted by the Catalan institutions.

A non-legislative proposal approved in June 2000 afforded support to the content of the “Youth policy lines” which would lay the foundations for a subsequent National Youth Plan that would embrace the criteria of a comprehensive youth policy.

The National Youth Plan, which would be effective until 2010, was approved. Never before had the CNJC managed to have such an influence on youth policies.

The development and foundation of the Triangle Jove with the youth councils of the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands in 1999 and the holding of the Third Youth Congress of Catalonia.

The World Youth Festival was held in Barcelona between August 8 and 14, and was a meeting point for more than 8,000 young people from all over the world. Based on the premises of sustainable development, globalisation, cultural diversity and peace conditions, the Festival was a meeting space where attendees could pool their experiences and approaches. The long-standing tradition of the Catalan youth association movement prompted the Youth Council of Barcelona and the CNJC to submit their candidacy to host the third edition of the Festival. This coordination with international youth associations and regional platforms heralded a step forward in the CJB’s and the CNJC’s work and also provided a renewed thrust to the international coordination of the youth associations movement.

The CNJC celebrated its 30th anniversary with a flurry of acts, some of them held in Lleida, Girona and Tarragona.

Enactment of Law 1/2010, reforming the Law that regulates the National Council. This reform of the statutes allowed the local youth councils to become fully-fledged members of the CNJC once again.

In March 2010, at the 32nd OGA, the CNJC set out upon a new era, renewing 80% of the Secretariat and recruiting a new local youth councils representative. This Assembly heralded the end of the dynamics of blocks and divisions that had afflicted the Council for several years, as well as the re-entry of the local councils as fully-fledged members.

The Government of Catalonia slashed the CNJC's budget by more than €100,000, causing its entire territorial structure to be dismantled and leading to the loss of 5 positions of technicians tasked with providing support to associations and promoting local youth councils; some actions usually held on a yearly basis were also cancelled. The CNJC also seconded the demonstrations protesting against the cutbacks.

The CNJC could not be indifferent to the atmosphere in Catalan society supporting self-determination, and approved, with ample majorities, resolutions in favour of Catalonia’s right to self-determination, the vote of 9 November, 2014 and the democratic guarantees for the referendum of 1 October, 2017.

The CNJC organised the 4th Youth Congress of Catalonia on 13 and 14 May, 2017, in Hospitalet de Llobregat. The content addressed in the different workshops would help to draft the Catalan Youth Charter, a political tool intended to give a voice to young people’s proposals and concerns.

The independence referendum held in Catalonia on 1 October, 2017, prompted the enforcement of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution upon the Government of Catalonia, leading the CNJC to be taken over. Neither the CNJC nor the 297 organisations were allowed to make payments or settle invoices without State authorisation, and the Council was ordered to issue a responsible declaration for each payment guaranteeing that "the money is not being put to funding illegal activities or contravene court decisions". This constituted an unprecedented violation of the CNJC's independence.

The repression during the demonstrations between 2017 and 2019 led the Council to come out in support of the young people who were suffering from the legal consequences of these events, particularly association members. It also supported an amnesty, the release of political prisoners, and protested against the court sentence against the "procés" (Catalan independence movement).

Tension also ran high in the Secretariat, where the stance on these positionings was not one of unity.

The Covid pandemic had a major impact on young people's associations in general, and the CNJC was no exception. All activities had to be conducted virtually, and if this were not possible then they were cancelled. The situation spread, with ups and downs lasting over two years, generating great hardship for the association movement, with participation slumping over the following years. As a result, the CNJC proposed campaigns targeting young people's mental health and support to associations. The Council also made a major effort to defend the rights of children and young people, who were not being given a voice in any of the decision-making spaces.

Parliament enacted the first-ever Law to promote the formation of associations, which had already been envisaged in the previous law dating from 2015, which had made provision for the Council to be commissioned to deploy a nationwide resource centre for young people's associations. The CNJC supported this law internally.

Faced with the threat of not being able to hold summer camps, the institutions involved in educational recreation took action in Barcelona in the summer of 2024 with the CNJC’s political and logistical backing. This action ultimately yielded an agreement that included several of the historical demands related to educational recreation.