The Group of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) underlines that austerity measures cannot be separated from growth and efforts to create jobs in Europe. Millions of young people who finished school and want to believe in the future cannot find a job in the EU. The dignity of these young people needs to be restored by means of every available measure to avoid the creation of a lost generation.
ALDE welcomes the Youth Opportunities Initiative debated in Strasbourg last night which aims at addressing the excessively high levels of youth unemployment in the European Union. A major concern for ALDE is the realization of the Youth Guarantee initiative, of which Nadja Hirsch (FDP, Germany), ALDE vice-chair of the Employment Committee, is one of the initiators.
"The Youth Guarantee initiative is aimed at funding activation measures putting young people at the centre of Europe's agenda by securing the right of every young person in the EU to be offered a job, or an apprenticeship or equivalent. I welcome the Commission's commitment to present a concrete report by the end of this year on the progress Member States have done in combating youth unemployment and their progress on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee Initiative by the end of this year. Financing the fight against youth unemployment should be realized through further reallocation and more efficient use of the Structural Fund resources," she said. "€82 billion in EU structural funds, out of the total €347 billion for 2007-2013, had yet to be allocated in January of this year. ALDE wants a substantial part of that money to be spent on projects for your people."
The Youth Opportunities Initiative, adopted by the European Commission last December and endorsed by the Council, calls on the Member States to take action in four main areas: preventing early school leaving; developing skills that are relevant to the labour market; helping young people gain their first work experience and on-the-job training; and helping them to access the labour market and get a job.
