Brussels, 07/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will, in Milan on Wednesday 8 October, host a European summit devoted to employment and the economic situation in Europe.
The objective of this extraordinary meeting, to be attended by some 20 heads of state and/or government, though not by David Cameron of the UK, is to maintain the momentum built up in 2013 to direct a number of European policies and financial instruments towards tackling unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, which stands at 21% on average in the EU. “If the previous meetings in Berlin and in Paris hadn't taken place, we would be in a mess”, suggested a diplomat, referring to the 2013 summits on employment.
On Wednesday morning, during the technical meetings and the meeting of employment ministers, the countries directly concerned by the Youth Guarantee, which has €6 billion in funding for 2014 and 2015, will take stock of the preparation of the operational programmes in their regions which receive EU financial support. They will flag up the problem related to the advance of European funding which, modelled on typical management of European structural funds, is capped at 1% and forces the member states to make prepayment of funding in budgetary straitened times.
“At a time when we are discussing new ways to promote investment, our top priority must be to use the money we have already earmarked to provide quality jobs, training, apprenticeships, further education or job-search assistance, especially for our young people. ... For this to happen, member states need to deliver on their EU budget commitments”, stated outgoing Commission President José-Manuel Barroso on Tuesday 7 October.
In the afternoon, the European leaders' conference will discuss ways to sustain the drive to tackle youth unemployment at EU level. France says that the Youth Guarantee should receive European support of around €20 billion. It feels the European Investment Bands (EIB) should be more ambitious and be encouraged to finance schemes that allow young people to join the labour market or to set up their own businesses. In particular, Paris would like to see some of the future €300 billion investment plan promised by the incoming president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to be used for this objective.
Economic situation. Spoken of for the first time at the end of August (see EUROPE 11144), this summit will seek to set in motion a train of events wanted by the Socialist governments of Italy and France which are keen for the EU to acknowledge the exceptional nature of the current economic situation, marked as it is by weak growth and persistently too-low inflation. The sequence will continue on 23 and 24 October at the EU and the eurozone summits which are due to set the guidelines for the Juncker Commission to prepare its investment plan in the three months following its taking up office. This is also a way for the member states to influence the interpretation the Commission will make of the draft national budgets for 2015. (MB/JK)