Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-23-Speech-3-490-000"
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"en.20120523.22.3-490-000"2
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"Mr President, in order to address the excessively high, and sometimes even dramatic, levels of youth unemployment in the European Union, the Commission adopted its Youth opportunities initiative last December and this has been endorsed by the European Council. It calls on the Member States to take action in four main areas: preventing early school leaving; developing skills that are relevant to the labour market; helping young people gain their first work experience and on-the-job training; and helping them to access the labour market and get a job.
The problem of youth unemployment will not disappear overnight and only if we address it with resolve. That is why we made it one of the key priorities for the future Structural Funds programmes. The European Social Fund in particular will be an important instrument for Member States to support schemes to tackle this problem.
Implementing the initiative may involve three avenues: where possible, reallocating Structural Fund resources; designing effective policy through the European Semester; and taking action at EU level via other initiatives such as a Quality Framework for Traineeships and a Youth Guarantee.
The Commission has engaged with the 15 Member States whose youth unemployment rates are above the EU average. It sent eight Action Teams to the Member States with the highest youth unemployment and held bilateral talks with the other seven. The aim was to see what measures should be taken and how the EU funds available could be refocused. This is a pilot exercise involving the Structural Funds, which are subject to shared management. As you know, that means the individual Member States are responsible for using the amounts allocated to them. Overall programming took place at the beginning of the current period and the allocations to the Member States cannot be altered.
In the current tight budget situation, EU funds can nevertheless help hugely by supporting national policy efforts. At the end of last year, of the EUR 347 billion in Structural Fund resources for the current programming period, about EUR 82 billion had not been set aside for specific projects, and around EUR 40 billion was still available for the eight Action Team Member States.
Youth employment is a high priority for European Social Fund spending in most Member States. That is why the Action Teams looked at stepping up programmes and measures that are performing well to give young people additional support quickly, and reduce or abandon programmes that are performing less well. The results are encouraging. About EUR 7.3 billion has been reallocated so far. This should benefit at least 450 000 people.
The Commission has agreed on practical follow-up with the eight individual Action Team Member States. President Barroso will present the detailed results to the Heads of State or Government at an informal dinner tonight (23 May) in Brussels.
Likewise, we are now finalising the operational conclusions of bilateral meetings with the seven other Member States involved. Naturally, the Commission is ready to assist other Member States as well in altering the allocation of EU funds.
Over the past few weeks, the Commission has been looking at Member States’ national reform programmes under the European Semester. At the end of May, the Commission will put forward proposals for country-specific recommendations. A large number of Member States will receive recommendations on youth employment and related issues, such as education.
This year, I will be presenting two other initiatives that are very close to the concerns of this House. These are the quality framework for traineeships and the policy framework for Youth Guarantees. They will provide practical policy guidance for smooth school-to-work transitions and the fair treatment of young people. In December, the Commission will be presenting a comprehensive report on the results of the Youth Initiative one year after it was launched. This will be an opportunity to discuss it with you as well and I will be glad to report to the House."@en1
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