Brussels, 22/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The experts of the European Commission are continuing their tour of the member states of the EU which have been hard-hit by youth unemployment. They arrive in Spain this Thursday 23 February, following a visit to Italy. This visit is necessary because the percentage of young Spanish people without work stands at nearly 50% across the country. The reason for this is a school dropout rate well above the European average and a strong segmentation of the employment market, as temporary contracts are used far too frequently.
Before travelling to Spain, the Commission's taskforce made a stop in Italy on Tuesday 21 February. The unemployment rate among young Italians is in the region of 30% and particularly affects university graduates, women and less-favoured groups. On the basis of work already carried out by the action group on cohesion between Italy and the Commission, the team of experts intends to step up its action by encouraging the use of 29% of European structural funds still to be allocated in Italy. The next stages of the circuit for the experts are Slovakia, Greece and Portugal. (SD, stag/transl.fl)