Brussels, 10/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 December, the European Court of Auditors cast doubt on the efficiency of the “action teams” set up by the European Commission to help the eight member states most affected by youth unemployment.
These teams were introduced by the European Commission headed by José Manuel Durao Barroso at the beginning of 2012 (see EUROPE 10553). The aim was to provide the national authorities with advice on how to reorientate structural funds that had not been used in an effort to target short-term action in favour of young jobseekers in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain. Youth unemployment at the time (18-25-year-olds) stood at 35.3% and the average margin of unallocated funds for 2007-13 stood at 20%. Special Report No 17/2015: “Commission's support of Youth Action Teams: redirection of ESF funding achieved, but insufficient focus on results” was adopted by the European Court of Auditors on Thursday and assesses this Commission initiative. The Court concludes that the initiative was certainly well intentioned but ultimately produced few results.
Therefore, out of the €10 billion available from European Structural Funds (ESF), only €1.9 billion was effectively reoriented. This reorientation was accompanied by few proposals from the action teams, particularly because of the lack of quality information available on best practices on this matter. The Commission was also more concerned about the budgetary aspects than the real effects made on the ground. The Court also pointed out that the Commission was not sufficiently concerned with the follow-up and drawing up of reports regarding the results.
One of the lessons the Court drew from this initiative is that it is imperative to better manage expectations when the promises (the European Council was also singled out in this respect) are in danger of being unrealistic with regard to the results that the Commission can effectively attain. The Court concludes that the only credible solution would have been to put into place an initiative with the same objectives but which was much broader, sustainable and more long-term. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)