Brussels, 07/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has presented the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, with an innovative initiative to use cash from the European Social Fund (ESF) to get a million young people into work.
Following on from the pact for growth and jobs, and ahead of the European summit on youth unemployment on 27 and 28 June, the CEMR suggests offering a job for a year in the public sector (schools, the civil service, child-minding and the like) to unemployed young people aged between 16 and 27 under a programme called EU-Starter, funded by the ESF. The European Commission suggested in March 2013 that cash be redeployed from the ESF towards tackling youth unemployment. Moreover, a year ago, the EU27 agreed to reallocate the equivalent of €55 billion of unused funding from the structural funds to small businesses and youth unemployment. The CEMR says EU-Starter would cost between €3 billion to €5 billion a year and would get a million youngsters in Europe into a job for a year, where they could gain experience and also a salary in countries where youth unemployment stands at over 10%. The measure needs to be set up as a matter of urgency before the end of the year, when the current programming period for the structural funds comes to an end.
For this reason, the CEMR presented its idea to José Manuel Barroso at his annual meeting with regional partners on Thursday 6 June (see EUROPE 10861). The CEMR needs to win the approval of the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of EU member states if the initiative is to become a reality. EU Commissioner for Social Affairs Lazlo Andor and EU Commissioner for Youth Androula Vassiliou have been told about the idea, as have MEPs. The governments of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia and Portugal are reported to be prepared to help get EU-Starter up and running. (MD/transl.fl)