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Youth unemployment campaign hits European Parliament

MEPs are being assailed by campaigners from the European Youth Forum (EYF), who are running around the European Parliament demanding that they sign a list of 11 pledges on issues from education to implementing to a youth job guarantee scheme.
The EYF's petition includes well-known policy suggestions like ensuring equal access to education and the implementation of a more ambitious youth guarantee scheme to ensure apprenticeships or training for jobless youngsters.

There are some more controversial proposals too, including one allowing the EU to raise its taxes to fight youth unemployment, or encouraging member states to lower the voting age to 16.

EYF, a platform of youth organisations, launched its Love Youth Future, campaign in the European Parliament on Tuesday (15 October). So far, they have only persuaded a handful of MEPs to sign up to the pledge, though many more are supportive, and the European Parliament president Martin Schulz supports the campaign via Twitter.

Youth unemployment on the EU's agenda

The oft-ignores youth campaigners have reason to believe that they will be heard this time. Concerns over unprecedented levels of youth unemployment have hit the news headlines since the financial crisis began, and topped the agenda of a meeting of EU heads of states earlier this year.

The latest Eurostat figures show youth unemployment at 23% across EU member states, but the picture is even gloomier when looking at the jobless rate of under 25's in some crisis-hit countries – 55.6% in Spain, and 63% in Greece, according to the European Commission.

Meeting in February, EU leaders agreed to launch an €8 billion youth employment initiative, which should be fully operational by 1 January 2014. They also agreed to provide financial support for member states to develop their own youth guarantee schemes, aimed at getting young people into employment, education or training within four months of being unemployed.

The youth guarantee scheme was endorsed by EU ministers in February 2013. But it depends heavily on €6 billion worth of EU funding, set aside in the EU’s long-term budget (MFF) that is still pending final approval.

Too little too late, argued MEP Jo Leinen. “We invested €160 billion in saving financial institutions. Shouldn’t we have more than six [billion] for the youth?” he asked at Love Youth Future event on Tuesday.

The European Parliament, meanwhile, has pushed its own approach to the initiatives. In a report presented in Parliament on Tuesday (15 October), watchdog organisation VoteWatch examined how MEPs voted on key youth policy initiatives such as boosting entrepreneurship, job mobility or traineeships, and supporting higher education, including a new ‘Erasmus for All’ programme.

“All of the forces in Parliament agree that the EU should support programmes on mobility in education and employment and most of the groups support Erasmus, so the parties share the aim to solve this issue,” says VoteWatch’s policy director Doru Frantescu. “But the views on how to tackle youth unemployment differ,” he added.

Indeed, the VoteWatch report report shows a classic left-right divide in Parliament, especially over employment policies. MEPs are divided over whether to invest in public infrastructure programmes or prioritise public sector debt reductions, that might help create jobs in the long run.

Αναλυτικότερα:
www.euractiv.com

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