CDU/CSU-Abgeordnete im Europaparlament stimmen gegen Jugendgarantie

 Knapp die Hälfte der CDU/CSU-Abgeordneten im Europaparlament haben bei der Abstimmung über die Jugendgarantie im Europaparlament am Mittwoch gegen das dringend notwendige Angebot für die jungen Menschen in Europa gestimmt. 

Campaign update 7

This week and the next one will be decisive in implementing an EU-wide Youth Guarantee.

Our supporters continue to mobilize all around Europe, organizing events and spreading the campaign, but now more than ever we need you to make your voice heard in calling for a European Youth Guarantee:

• Just yesterday, the European Commission presented its Employment pack, including a proposal for a European Youth Guarantee. Thanks to the commitment of Commissioner Laszlo Andor, the model of such a guarantee strongly resembles the one we are demanding, including the deadline of four months to give young people in unemployment a job, professional training or the possibility to pursue further education. Laszlo Andor also made sure that the jobs proposed in this context are ‘quality’ jobs. However, the devil lies on the detail: the funds for such a guarantee are not clearly defined and we risk losing the battle for a lack of clarity and funding. Reactions to the Commission’s proposal included an appeal by German MEP Jutta Steinrück, German MP Michael Roth and Irish MEP Emer Costello for a swift implementation of a Youth Guarantee and its financing by the European Social Fund
  
  
• Next week, as the European Council meets on 13-14 December, we need to make sure EU leaders strongly support a European Youth Guarantee. It is up to you to build pressure on your government ahead of the Council so all EU countries support and implement, without delay, Youth Guarantee schemes tailored to the specific needs of every national context. Furthermore, EU leaders need to make a clear commitment to use the European Social Fund to back the scheme.

If you need more arguments to persuade your national leaders, please feel free to refer to campaign events taking place all over Europe that keep building momentum for our Youth Guarantee demand:

• In Nottingham (United Kingdom), the Labour Party together with the Socialists & Democrats Group in the European Parliament organized a big event to debate youth unemployment. The discussions focused on the extremely high levels of youth unemployment around Europe and the need for a European Youth Guarantee. Dominic Hannigan TD, Chair of the EU Affairs Committee in the Irish Parliament, spoke of the commitment that the incoming Irish Presidency of the EU would give to the Youth Guarantee.
  
  
• In France, campaigners met with Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to discuss the situation facing young people in the country and to call on the Prime Minister to support a Youth Guarantee implemented at EU level.
  
  
• Last week, Spanish and Belgium youth representatives met with PES Women President Zita Gurmai in Brussels to discuss youth unemployment. They also handed hundreds of signatures of the petition Rise up to Mrs. Gurmai. “Rise up” is a campaign created by socialist and social democrat youth organizations calling on the European Council to change European eco­nomic policy of austerity and to build a Europe of jobs, democ­racy and ecology.
  
  
• In Ireland, Emer Costello MEP is promoting an active campaign to sensibilise people to the need of a Youth Guarantee. The launch of the campaign gathered Pat Rabbitte TD, Minister for Communications, Hannes Swoboda MEP (Austria), Leader of the EP's Socialists and Democrats Group, and John Lyons T.D.
  
  
• In Switzerland, European Socialists in Geneva organized a conference on youth employment in Europe. The main speaker was Dr. Ernst Ekkehard from the International Labour Organization (ILO)

You too can let us know about your story; tell us how you are contributing to the campaign and join the thousands of campaigners calling for a European Youth Guarantee. 
Remember, your support is key to tackle youth unemployment in Europe!

COMING UP

7 December – 14.15-15.00

Twitter Chat with László Andor (@LaszloAndorEU) on Youth Employment & the European Youth

Original article

Zu den Vorschlägen des EU-Kommissars Laszlo Andor zur Bekämpfung der Jugendarbeitslosigkeit in Europa erklärt der europapolitische Sprecher der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion Michael Roth:

Europa kann es sich nicht leisten, an den jungen Menschen zu sparen und eine ganze Generation zu verlieren. Die einseitigen Kürzungsprogramme haben die notleidenden Länder immer tiefer in die Rezession gerissen und die Arbeitslosigkeit in die Höhe schnellen lassen. In Spanien und Griechenland ist mittlerweile jeder zweite Jugendliche ohne Beschäftigung, im europäischen Durchschnitt fast jeder Vierte. Die konservativen Staats- und Regierungschefs haben lange genug tatenlos zugesehen und nichts für die junge Generation getan. Erst auf Druck sozialdemokratischer Kräfte in Europa ist das Thema Jugendarbeitslosigkeit in den Blickwinkel der Regierungschefs gerückt.

Original article 

Am Mittwoch stellte Laszlo Andor, EU-Kommissar für Soziales und Beschäftigung, das sogenannte Jugendpaket in Brüssel vor. Unter dem Namen ‘Jugend in Beschäftigung bringen’ schlägt die Kommission vor, dass in den Mitgliedsstaaten eine Jugendgarantie eingeführt wird. Dazu will sie unter anderem den Rechtsrahmen für Praktika erneuern und eine Europäische Allianz für die Ausbildung schaffen.

Campaign update n°5

Thanks to your engagement and your action, the campaign for a European Youth Guarantee continues to get more and more visible not only in Europe but also around the world.

• French President François Hollande has endorsed the campaign for a Youth Guarantee in a video statement. He calls for the implementation of such a guarantee at EU level as a way of providing jobs for the youth as well as investing in education and training of young people
  
  
• As a European Youth Guarantee seems more and more likely, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is now calling for a universal Youth Guarantee. Together with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, the ILO is promoting an online discussion on "Youth Guarantees in Asia-Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities” that you can join until November 19. The PES has already participated in an online talk show on this issue
  
  
• In Germany the Social Democrats presented in the Bundestag a proposal to put into practice a Youth Guarantee. Conservative and liberals in power, stuck on their austerity-only policy, rejected these progressive proposals, but our campaigners won’t give up and are preparing new actions
  
  
• The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions has released a new study on young people not in employment, education or training in the EU. The report points that the costs of having 33% young people without an occupation exceed 15 billion euros a year (with an overall cost of youth unemployment of 153 billion euro) and underlines the urgent need to put into practice concrete measures such as a European Youth Guarantee to reverse the situation
  
  
• Reacting to the Eurofound study, German MEP Jutta Steinruck called on the European Council and the Commission to prioritize long-term thinking in tackling the European youth unemployment and to implement a European Youth Guarantee. Evelyn Regner MEP also suggested that the Austrian flagship policy of a youth guarantee could be used at European level to provide jobs and/or training for young people all over the EU
  
  
• Campaign supporters in Bulgaria organized a debate on youth unemployment in Ruse. Participants shared their views on problems facing young people trying to enter the labour market; PES President Sergei Stanishev outlined how implementing a European Youth Guarantee could help tackling youth unemployment
  
  
• Newly elected leader of Portuguese Socialist Youth pointed to the Youth Guarantee as one of the best ways to bring youth unemployment down – currently 35% of Portuguese young people cannot find a job and are facing a very precarious situation

You too can let us know about your story; tell us how you are contributing to the campaign and join the thousands of campaigners calling for a European Youth Guarantee.
Remember, your support is key to tackle youth unemployment in Europe!

COMING UP

9-10 November
Campaign stand at SDLP Congress Armagh, Northern Ireland

30 November - 2 December
Getting Europe Working: Youth unemployment summit - Notthingham, UK

3 December
Youth employment in Europe – what works?; The Austrian example, Brussels, Belgium

Before a European Council, German MPs in the Bundestag meet to prepare the government's position for the European Summit ahead.

On 16 October, during the preparation meeting for the Council of 18 October, the Social Democrats (SPD) have called on the conservative government of Angela Merkel to push for stronger measures to overcome youth unemployment.

The SPD group demanded a strategy to reduce the number of young people in unemployment and a quick implementation of a European Youth Guarantee, financed by the European Social Fund.

Unfortunately, mirroring previous actions in Spain and in Portugal where conservatives have blocked such proposals, the German conservative and liberal groups have rejected the resolution and the call for introducing youth guarantees. 

Read the SPD resolution

Eurofound prognostiziert 15 Billionen Euro Kostenlawine

„Der Europäische Rat und die Kommission müssen endlich umsteuern und anfangen, längerfristiger bei der Bekämpfung der europäischen Jugendarbeitslosigkeit zu denken. Die Folgen für die europäische Wirtschaft  und für die Gesellschaft werden immer teurer.“ Jutta Steinruck, Sozial- und Beschäftigungsexpertin der SPD-Abgeordneten im Europäischen Parlament, reagiert auf die gestern veröffentlichen Ergebnisse der Eurofound-Studie zur Situation junger Menschen auf dem europäischen Arbeitsmarkt. 

Junge Menschen sollen spätestens vier Monate nach Abschluss ihrer Ausbildung oder nach Eintritt in die Arbeitslosigkeit (wieder) arbeiten können. Das ist Ziel einer Europäischen Jugendgarantie, für die sich die SPE, die Sozialdemokratische Partei Europas, einsetzt. Die Kampagne wird auch von SPD-Europaabgeordneten unterstützt.

In the joint declaration "Finding a way out of the crisis – growth and employment in Europe" on May 15, Sigmar Gabriel (SPD leader), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (leader of the opposition in the German Parliament) and Peer Steinbrück (former Minister of Finance) call for a European Youth Guarantee to foster growth and create jobs in Europe:

Ein Europäisches Sofortprogramm gegenJugendarbeitslosigkeit

Die Bekämpfung der in etlichen europäischen Staaten besorgniserregend hohen Arbeitslosigkeit von Jugendlichen muss zu einer gemeinsamen strategischen Priorität der Politik von Europäischer Union und ihrer Mitgliedstaaten gemacht werden. Dass in Europa über fünf Millionen junge Menschen, viele von ihnen gut qualifiziert und ausgebildet, ohne Arbeit sind, gefährdet nicht nur den sozialen Zusammenhalt unserer Gesellschaften. Auch die europäische Einigung droht Schaden zu nehmen, wenn gerade die jungen Menschen, die den europäischen Gedanken in die Zukunft tragen sollen, Europa vor allem mit Arbeitslosigkeit und Sozialabbau in Verbindung bringen.