16/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - Commission clarification on youth employment. The European Commission has not “closed its eyes”, as we stated in a recent article (see EUROPE 11120) on the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), to the successive stages in the adoption of the national operational programmes for the implementation of the YEI in Italy. Not signing a partnership agreement prior to the adoption of this programme is not against the rules. “The legislator explicitly allowed specific YEI Operational Programmes to be approved even before the signature of the YEI partnership agreement with the relevant member state, which would normally be the first stage in the process for any other Operational Programme”, the Commission told EUROPE. (JK)