Brussels, 12/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 11 September 2013, the European Parliament adopted two resolutions criticising the EU's current strategy for young people, particularly the young unemployed, and listing some new ideas to make EU action more ambitious in this area. Since April 2013, unemployment among the under-25-year-olds has more or less stabilised at 23.4% in the EU28 and 24% in the eurozone.
The debate focussed on the European Youth Guarantee (see EUROPE 10877). Some countries are already implementing it but others are waiting for receipt of funding (€6 billion in total). MEPs have their doubts about the programme, however. The main criticism is yet again the scope of the measure. EP rapporteur Joanna Katarzyna Skrzydlewska (EPP, Poland) says it should extend to all young people up to the age of 30 and these same people should also have the option of spending up to three months doing voluntary work in another member state under a European Youth Corps Programme, she said. This idea is part of wider EP suggestions about how to increase the mobility of young people in the European Union.
The second resolution, drafted by Georgios Papanikolaou (EPP, Greece), examines implementation of the EU Youth Strategy for 2010-2012. It gives a mixed report. The EP says it is “disappointed that although the member states were asked for specific measures in the first cycle of the EU Youth Strategy, very limited progress has been achieved” and notes that, “in several cases, the situation has worsened and that in many member states no specific youth strategy is in place”. As Skrzydlewska explains, the EP's aim in the two resolutions is above all to point out that: “Europe has so far been tackling the unprecedented challenges the young generation is facing without any success - despite all its efforts - in reversing the situation”. (JK/transl.fl)