Dublin Labour MEP Emer Costello has urged the Irish Presidency to prioritise the adoption of the EU draft regulation*, published earlier, to establish a €6 billion 'Youth Employment Initiative' before the end of its term of office on 30 June.

Speaking from this week's European Parliament Plenary Session in Strasbourg, Emer Costello MEP, a member of the European Parliament's Employment Committee said: "The Government has rightly made youth unemployment a key priority of Ireland's EU presidency and has already made good progress on this front, especially in brokering agreement on the European Youth Guarantee in late February. I would now urge it to prioritise the adoption of the new proposal to establish a European Youth Employment Initiative before the end of its term of office in June.

Artigo publicado no jornal Público de 5 de Março

António José Seguro (Secretário Geral do Partido Socialista)
Sergei Stanishev (Presidente PSE)

Quando a campanha do Partido Socialista Europeu (PSE), das Mulheres do PSE (PES Women) e da ECOSY (Jovens Socialistas Europeus) "O teu Futuro é o meu Futuro - Uma Garantia Europeia para os jovens Já!" deu os seus primeiros passos. Sabíamos estar a construir um compromisso ambicioso e de longo prazo. A nossa campanha começou, oficialmente, há um ano atrás e, desde então, temos lutado, quer no plano europeu quer a nível nacional, pelo seu sucesso, batalha para a qual contámos sempre com a ajuda de milhares de Activistas do PSE e com o apoio fundamental de toda a nossa família socialista europeia.

Original article

L’iniziativa per istituire la Youth Guarantee è stata lanciata, per onor di cronaca, dal gruppo Socialisti & Democratici facente capo al Partito Socialista Europeo che, in pieno contrasto con le politiche di austerity dell’asse Merkel-Sarkozy, chiedeva un’azione europea per contrastare la disoccupazione giovanile già nel vertice europeo di gennaio 2012.

“This is start of our journey to rebuild the futures of millions of young people left stranded by unemployment”, says PES President
 

Thanks to the efforts of European Socialists and Social Democratic Ministers, the EU Social Ministers Council meeting in Brussels has agreed today to adopt a European-wide Youth Guarantee. The Party of European Socialists (PES) has been at the forefront of the campaign for a European Youth Guarantee over the past year. 

"At last - a glimmer of hope for Britain's lost youth," said Glenis Willmott MEP, Leader of Labour MEPs, on hearing today's news that an EU-wide ‘youth guarantee’ was agreed by government ministers at the Employment and Social Affairs Council (EPSCO). 

S&D Euro MPs today welcomed the EU Council's political agreement on a youth guarantee to be implemented in all member states.

The youth guarantee will ensure that all young people under the age of 25 years receive an offer of good-quality employment, continuing education, apprenticeship or traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.

Original article

Once implemented, the Guarantee will assure young people under the age of 25 a good quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed.

“Youth unemployment has reached crisis levels in Europe and today’s agreement is a crucial step in tackling the crisis,” Minister Burton said.

Original article

'The European Socialist family has just scored a major victory in the fight against youth unemployment. The PES Group in the CoR is proud to have contributed towards today's decision of the Council of Ministers to introduce youth guarantees across the EU', stated the President of the PES Group, underlining that the intense campaign of the Party of European Socialists, which the PES Group has fully supported, has been instrumental in securing rapid progress on this issue.  Thanks to the Irish Labour Party, tackling the issue of youth unemployment has been one of the top priorities of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU. 

See the PES Group website on youth employment

Original article

Dublin Labour MEP, Emer Costello, has welcomed this morning's decision by EU Social Affairs Ministers to establish Youth Guarantee schemes, to be backed up by dedicated EU funds, in Ireland and all Member States.