Brussels, 23/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 23 September, the Public Employment Services (PES) network was officially launched, just under five months after the final decision to set it up (see EUROPE 11076). The European Commission welcomed this development and underlined that its number one priority would be supporting member states to implement the Youth Guarantee.
This network aims to, above all, provide a stable and permanent framework for co-operation between member states, which already existed, in the shape of an informal group of European experts in the PES. This network is now defined by the existence of a management committee that consists of PES training personnel nominated by each member state and the Commission. Its aim is to manage and guide the network's activities. Owing to a legal uncertainty (see EUROPE 11063), the participation of member states is compulsory for some of them but voluntary for others. Whatever happens, they have now all designated a member for the management committee. At the Commission, a secretariat has also just been set up within Directorate General Employment. (JK)