The President of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Sergei Stanishev, has congratulated Irish Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton on her statement on a European Youth Guarantee. As reported in the Irish media, Ms. Burton said that she would make a European Youth Guarantee a priority for the Irish Presidency of the EU, which starts in January 2013. According to the reports, Ms Burton said she would chair a meeting with the 27 European social protection ministers, in the spring, and would push to get concrete commitments.

Mr. Stanishev commented that; “Joan Burton is proving that the Party of European Socialists can deliver on our commitments. At the start of the year we launched acampaign for a European Youth Guarantee as our priority campaign. Now we have a clear indication that realising this aim will be a core EU Presidency goal. I congratulate Joan, and the Irish Labour Party for following through. This sends a signal to the millions of unemployed young people that the PES is committed to giving them a route back to work”.

Mr. Stanishev said that part of the preparatory work in advance of the Irish Presidency, will be in identifying European funds to support youth guarantee schemes. The PES calls for the allocation of at least 10 billion Euro to support the creation of new jobs for young people. The European Social Fund will be a key source of funding. The President of the PES emphasized that the party is looking forward to the proposals of social democratic Commissioner Laszlo Andor for a youth package, expected for December, and will be pushing for concrete action.