This article outlines the evolution of youth European policies, in a context marked for over 25 years by a very high level of youth unemployment, exacerbated since 2008 by the economic crisis. It is striking that the European Union (EU) has until recently preferred a transversal approach to youth, considering youth unemployment as an issue among others. Moreover, the difficulty of the EU to co‐operate with a wide spectrum of youth organizations is obvious, especially with those in favour of a far more protective approach against youth employment. However, we seem to witness the rise of a corporatist system in the field of youth, in which a few organizations are considered as legitimate interlocutors, even if they are consulted on issues which are the less sensitive at the expense of youth unemployment policies.