On 27 February the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM Committee) organised a public hearing on the role of women in the green economy.

The Party of European Socialists (PES) today adopted a major report on youth unemployment. The report calls for the immediate introduction of a binding European Youth Guarantee, and the “ringfencing” of 10 billion euros of EU structural funds to tackle the issue.

The report sets out 20 action points to address the problem of youth unemployment.

The Party of European Socialists (PES) has called for genuine European action on the youth unemployment crisis to be one of the main conclusions of the EU summit on Monday (30th January). The party has also heavily criticised the ‘empty proposals’ on the topic by German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy.

At a meeting this morning of the President of the European Commission and the major and democratic European political parties, the President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) Sergei Stanishev, called on Commission President Barroso to; “back up rhetoric with concrete action for growth and jobs, and a truly social Europe”.

Social democratic ministers for employment and social affairs jointly asked the European Commission to come forward with a 1 billion € programme for youth employment. Nicolas Schmit, chairperson of the PES Social and Employment Ministers network and Luxembourg Minister of Labour, Employment and Migration emphasized that: “Kickstarting Youth employment must become a top priority in Europe. We cannot let an entire generation be excluded from the labour market. Everyone seems to agree with this, but not much has been done so far. We demand that the Commission quickly come forward with an ambitious and unbureaucratic programme to bring young people back into employment. The scope in the European budget is there – all that is missing is the political will.”