On Monday 23 January, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) debated the quality of traineeships in the EU in the presence of the European Commission, which recently evaluated the 2014 quality framework (see EUROPE 13096/14), and the Luxembourg European Parliament rapporteur Monica Semedo (Renew Europe).
They shared a common goal: to provide young people with work placements that would lead to employment opportunities and real learning. Ms Semedo, like other elected representatives, stressed the importance of remuneration, which should at least cover the financial needs of the trainees over this period.
Enabling young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds to have fair access to internships is another priority, as some young people cannot afford unpaid internships.
Spanish Socialist MEP Alícia Homs Ginel (S&D) said it was time to put an end to internships that amounted to “labour exploitation” and “cheap” labour. Other elected representatives insisted on the need for funding to support internships, especially in vocational schools, or support for cross-border internships. The issue of the diversity of internship practices between Member States was also raised.
For the Commission, the non-binding and non-harmonised nature of traineeships in the EU is one of the main difficulties, as the Commission does not have sufficient data to ensure the proper implementation of this European quality framework.
The Commission is also not sure whether it is possible to move towards a binding framework on this issue, so it settled for a very cautious assessment on 10 January, its representative said on Monday.
According to this assessment, 13 Member States had introduced legislative changes as a result of this 2014 framework. The evaluation, prepared by a survey, also showed that 85% of the young people questioned had considered their placement “useful”.
According to the European Parliament rapporteur, this 2014 framework, which will be reformulated, needs to be reviewed on a number of aspects. She therefore insists on strengthening remuneration and social protection, broadening the scope of traineeships, accessibility for vulnerable groups and taking into account the phenomenon of remote working. A strong emphasis should also be placed on the mentoring or sponsoring of young people. The problem of data collection also needs to be addressed.
In her report, the MEP refers to a Eurobarometer (from 2013) in which the majority of trainees surveyed felt that their experience had been - or would have been - useful in finding a stable job (71%), but almost a third did not (28%). According to the same survey, only 40% of the trainees said that they had received financial compensation and more than half (53%) considered it insufficient to cover their needs.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/51b (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)