Brussels, 11/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - The adoption by the European Commission on Friday 11 July of Italy's operational programme to introduce the European Youth Initiative (EYI) of €1.1 billion (€11 million is available in pre-financing) does not alter the general picture - the member states are dragging their heels and are certainly not queuing up at the European Commission to receive the funding available to them under the EYI.
The Commission is losing patience, as shown by its organisation of a seminar in Brussels on 11 July of Commission and member states' experts to speed through programming and ensure faster application of the EYI on the ground. A source at the Commission told this newsletter that they had organised the seminar to signal that it was time to get down to work. The countries that have made the most progress in the preparations to ensure they are granted cash from the EYI in the near future are Bulgaria, Croatia, Ireland, Poland and Sweden. Contacted by this newsletter, the Polish authorities suggested there was no need for the Commission to be impatient because the EYI is important for Poland and it plans to conclude the negotiations shortly and there were no major problems. Poland will be eligible for the EYI and has more than €234 million earmarked for it.
This is not the first time that the Commission has tried to kickstart the process. Youth unemployment (of under 25-year-olds) in the EU has stood at over 23% since 2012. Special recommendations have been drawn up and the Commission made it clear a long time ago that it was prepared to stretch the rules (see EUROPE 11045) to help the member states covered by the EYI - those where youth unemployment stood at over 25% in 2012 - to speed through introduction of operational programmes and pre-financing (1% of the total) from the €6 billion available for 2014 and 2015.
This is exactly what has happened in Italy. Administration has been hugely decentralised in Italy, which makes the drawing up of a national strategy for tackling youth unemployment and the introduction of the Youth Guarantee mechanism more complicated. Youth unemployment currently stands at 43% in Italy.
The source says that the Commission has put pressure on Italy to draw up a national operational programme, which includes region-specific intervention. The Commission closed its eyes to the fact that Italy has not yet signed an EYI partnership agreement, which would normally be the first stage in the process. In order to encourage Italy to act, it offered to make action for the young unemployed eligible for the EYI retroactive (back until September 2013).
Italy is only the second member state (after France, see EUROPE 11093), to have a national operational programme, although there are 20 member states that are eligible for funding from the EYI. The source said that, although France and Italy between them account for 25% of the EYI funding, no real progress is being made on the initiative.
Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Laszlo Andor will send a letter in the next few days to the eligible member states to remind them of the existence of the programme and the importance of speeding up implementation on the ground. (JK)