MEPs are calling on the European Commission and member states to ensure that the initiative for youth employment is not used as a substitute for national funding. These sentiments were contained in an own-initiative report put forward by Romana Tomc (EPP, Slovenia) and adopted by a large majority (512 for, 50 against, with 63 abstentions) on Thursday 18 January.
On the basis of a special report (5/2017) from the European Court of Auditors (see EUROPE 11761), which mentions replacing national funds by way of the Youth Guarantee and initiative for youth employment, MEPs point out that the two programmes pursue the “additionality” objectives. MEPs are therefore calling on the member states to include within their own national budgets clearly defined resources for these programmes and for the Commission to pay more attention to synergies between national and European finance.
On this basis they are proposing to the Commission that it improves investment programming for youth employment after 2020 by, “fully applying the programming method for European structural and investment funds". They are also calling for an ex ante assessment followed by the conclusion of partnership agreement. Finally, still with regard to the national co-financing question, MEP are calling on the European Commission and member states to seriously step up their efforts to enhance the ability of countries to introduce their youth guarantee models and evaluate their capacity for guaranteeing implementation of the initiative.
The MEPs are also calling for the action to focus on women and to ensure gender equality in employment access. They are calling on the member states to set up one stop shops to provide assistance to young people and, overall, improve the quality of job offers, internships and training, as well as the quality of the data they collect. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)