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.

La Generalitat retalla en més de 100.000 € el pressupost del CNJC, la qual cosa provoca el desmantellament de tota l’estructura territorial, 5 places de tècnics encarregats del suport associatiu i del foment de consells locals de joventut; i la cancel·lació d’algunes de les actuacions que es feien anualment. Per la seva banda, el CNJC s’adhereix a les mobilitzacions en contra de les retallades.

El CNJC no és aliè a l’ambient de la societat catalana en favor de l’autodeterminació, i aprova, amb majories àmplies, resolucions en favor del dret a l’autodeterminació de Catalunya, de la votació del 9 de novembre del 2014 i de garanties democràtiques per al referèndum de l’1 d’octubre del 2017.

El 13 i 14 de maig de 2017, el CNJC organitza el 4t congrés de la joventut de Catalunya a l'Hospitalet de Llobregat. El contingut treballat en els diferents tallers servirà per redactar la Carta Catalana de la Joventut, una eina d’incidència política que vol donar veu a les propostes i inquietuds de les persones joves.

El referèndum d’independència, celebrat a Catalunya l’1 d’octubre del 2017, provoca l’aplicació de l’article 155 de la Constitució espanyola a la Generalitat de Catalunya, per la qual cosa el CNJC també pateix aquesta intervenció. Ni el CNJC ni les 297 organitzacions no poden fer pagaments ni domiciliacions sense autorització de l’Estat, i s’exigeix al Consell una declaració responsable per a cada pagament que garanteixi “que els diners no financen actuacions il·legals ni contràries a les decisions dels tribunals”. Aquest fet suposa una vulneració sense precedents en l'autonomia del Consell Nacional de la Joventut de Catalunya.

La repressió viscuda durant les mobilitzacions entre el 2017 i el 2019 fan que el Consell se solidaritzi amb la joventut que pateix les conseqüències judicials d’aquests fets, particularment de la joventut associada. Alhora, també es mostra favorable a una amnistia, a l’alliberament dels presos polítics i en contra de la sentència del procés.

També és una etapa de tensió al Secretariat, òrgan en què no hi ha alguna visió unitària en relació amb aquests posicionaments.

La pandèmia de Covid té un impacte gros en tot l’associacionisme juvenil, i també en el CNJC. Totes les activitats han de passar a ser virtuals, i les que no ho poden ser són anul·lades. La situació s’estén amb alts i baixos fins a dos anys i genera moltes dificultats a l’associacionisme, que pateix una davallada en participació que es notarà durant anys posteriors. Arrel d’aquest fet, el CNJC posa sobre la taula campanyes per la salut mental juvenil i de suport associatiu. A més, el Consell fa esforços en defensa dels drets dels infants i joves la veu dels quals no es tenia en compte en cap dels espais de decisió.

El Parlament aprova la primera Llei de Foment de l’Associacionisme, prevista en la llei anterior, del 2015, que preveu l’encàrrec al Consell de desplegar un centre de recursos per a les associacions juvenils a escala nacional. El CNJC va fer un procés intens d'incidència en aquesta llei.

A causa de l’amenaça de no poder fer els campaments i colònies d’estiu, les entitats del lleure educatiu es mobilitzen a Barcelona l’estiu del 2024, amb el suport polític i logístic del CNJC. Gràcies a aquestes mobilitzacions s’aconsegueix un acord que inclou diverses de les demandes històriques del lleure educatiu.