Brussels, 13/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, who will be meeting the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, in Rome on Monday 16 January, says that Europe's leaders must take action to ensure growth and new jobs as a way of dealing with the debt crisis. At an awards ceremony on Monday 12 January for Belgian Manager of the Year, Van Rompuy said that he had convened a European summit for the end of the month to focus, he hopes, on economic growth and jobs, with the aim of preventing cuts in public spending from snuffing out economic growth. Van Rompuy said that policies must be decided upon in such a way as to ensure that investment in human resources and the environment are protected as far as possible. Van Rompuy, who is an erstwhile prime minister of Belgium, said a special jobs policy for young people needed to be worked upon. Commenting on the recent European Commission youth employment initiative (see EUROPE 10520), he said that the member states will be asked to draw up a jobs plan of national pledges that will be assessed and monitored at EU level, an approach already planned for the Euro Plus Pact. The EUROPE 2020 strategy calls for an employment rate of 75%. (MB/transl.fl)