Mutual benefit. I don't believe we have given the German initiative - to prepare young Spaniards for stable employment in Germany - the importance it deserves. This initiative has, of course, been taken with the agreement and participation of the authorities in Madrid, and similar initiatives are under way with young people in Portugal. Clearly, the free movement of persons in the EU exists and is being respected - Community citizens of all ages move freely from one member state to another on numerous occasions. Yet these German initiatives bring something additional - the on-the-spot training (language training too) guarantees young people the lasting employment they are looking for. And this is to the benefit of both member states concerned - because Germany needs labour, and the level of unemployment in Spain is among the highest in the EU.
This initiative therefore responds to the twofold need about which we are all well aware - on the one hand, to tackle youth unemployment (that European scourge, especially in the Mediterranean countries) and, on the other, to provide the desired labour to the economically most powerful member state (which is currently experiencing a shortage).
The result is also an incentive for young Europeans to get to know each other better, to understand their respective cultures and languages, and to consider the EU - or at least the eurozone - as a single whole, where travelling to other member states is part of normal life. These movements should also contribute to overcoming the scepticism and disappointment over European construction - although let me repeat that European construction has now entered a constructive and innovative phase. From the Community point of view, we are faced with the positive use of one of the fundamental principles of the common market - the free movement of persons (which sometimes throws up difficulties, abuses and risks, but which, in this case, is wholly fulfilling its role).
Fairer and more ambitious. It is true that citizens travelling from several member states towards Germany's prosperity has already been happening for quite some time - statistics prove it. Yet it especially used to concern adults having a profession or young graduates who were former participants in the Erasmus programme. Their departure was not always wanted or encouraged by the original member state because their departure was to the detriment of that state. Some member states that have grown weaker and weaker now sometimes risk becoming technological and industrial deserts.
What has now been initiated is a fairer and more ambitious project - to allow people, who can't find work and who weigh heavily on their country, to shape their future in the member state that needs them.
The German labour minister, Ursula von der Leyen, has stated: “This is an enormous opportunity because the new wave of immigrants is younger and better trained (…). This will help our country to be younger, more creative and more international.”
Thus an aspect of European construction that is often neglected is now taking shape - the free movement of workers to the advantage of everyone, and especially to the advantage of young people whose unemployment represents the main scourge that the EU is currently facing.
Unjustified reservation. Some observers have expressed reservation at this German policy, wondering about the risk of a reduced welcome by Germany for immigrants from outside Europe who are fleeing, for example, Syria or other countries involved in conflict.
Such remarks are out of place, in my opinion, for several reasons. In the first place, Germany has made, and continues to make, a considerable effort to welcome this immigration from outside Europe. Then, there is the fact that these refugees are victims of a war that European public opinion finds hard to understand and a growing part of public opinion wonders why Europe should be involved in a fierce conflict between Muslims. To finish, there is the fact that no relationship exists between the victims of this conflict and Europe's efforts to resolve its internal tragedy of youth unemployment.
The agreement between Germany and Spain is one of the instruments to achieve the resolution of European youth unemployment. Let it be welcome and followed by other similar projects that are currently under development.
(FR/transl.fl)