The European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, expressed his doubts about the possibility of imposing paid internships at European level during a speech on the ‘Youth Guarantee’ at the European Parliament plenary session on Monday 5 October.
Questioned by the chair of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová (ECR, Slovakia), on the possibility of revising the recommendation on a quality framework for internships and, in particular, introducing a “binding remuneration principle”, the Commissioner did not hide his scepticism.
“I have some doubt if this is legally possible, but I’m sure that in the years to come we can further develop a joint understanding, and also a civil society and social partners would be able to contribute to such an understanding too”, he replied with a note of optimism.
Faced with the reductions decided in July by European leaders in actions for young unemployed people under the ESF+ (see EUROPE 12535/25), which reduced the dedicated share from 15% to 10%, the Commissioner counts on maximising “synergies” between the ‘Youth Guarantee’, the European Social Fund plus (ESF+), React-EU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility to counterbalance these cuts. “I think we can pool a lot of funding”, he said, expecting a joint financial effort of €22 billion to support youth employment.
The European Parliament is preparing a resolution due to be adopted on Thursday 8 October on the ‘Youth Guarantee’, in which they call in particular for the ‘Youth Guarantee’ not to contribute to social and wage dumping, notably by providing for “a decent remuneration” (see EUROPE 12564/21 ).
As such, the draft resolution calls for the introduction of a common legal instrument guaranteeing fair remuneration for internships. The draft resolution goes even further by “condemning” the practice of unpaid internships. This last sentence is said to have made the EPP and Renew Europe grind their teeth and consider voting separately to delete it. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)