Brussels, 20/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is set to propose increasing pre-financing of the youth employment initiative (YEI), the rate of which is currently set at 1% and 1.5% for the countries that have benefitted from a macroeconomic adjustment programme.
“The Commission intends to launch an additional proposal to increase pre-financing payments to member states and the YEI. The measure is intended to address difficulties some member states may have to implement the YEI on the ground due to lack of liquidity”, announced Employment Commissioner Marianne Thyssen on Monday 19 January. When asked by EUROPE, the Commission did not wish to say whether this implied a willingness to amend the rate of pre-financing or any other measure. The previous commissioner, Laszlo Andor, felt that a rise in the rate was not very realistic, particularly as the rate is closely linked to the design of the multiannual financial framework and the European budget already lacks payment appropriations. (JK)