Alejandro Cercas, Member of the European Parliament affiliated with  Group of the Socialists & Democrats Group, comments on the measures to fight youth unemployment at European level, focusing on a Youth Guarantee.

Labour’s MEP for Dublin, Emer Costello, has called for ‘parity of esteem’ for vocational education to encourage young people follow career paths that will lead to employment. She has also called on the European Commission to publish their proposals for Quality Framework for Traineeships agreed at European level to ensure that young people acquire high-quality work experience under safe conditions and to guard against exploitation. Ms Costello was speaking at a conference on the delivery of a "European Youth Guarantee" in Swords on October 11th.

Original article

It’s notoriously hard to make predictions, especially about the future, it has often been said, but the coming year promises to be an eventful one for the EU. Commission President José Manuel Barroso gave a preview during his State of the Union address at the European Parliament (EP) on 11 September, which he then debated with MEPs. EP Facebook fans later discussed the EU’s immediate future with the Parliament's President Martin Schulz. He talked about creating jobs, improving the EU and why it is important to vote next year.

S&D-Chefverhandlerin kritisiert Konservative und Grüne bei Bekämpfung der Jugendarbeitslosigkeit – Investitionspaket von 2 Prozent des EU-BIP gefordert

Wien (OTS/SK) – Die SPÖ-Europaabgeordnete Evelyn Regner, Chefverhandlerin der sozialdemokratischen Fraktion zu Jugendbeschäftigung, setzt mit dem heute im Straßburger EU-Parlament beschlossenen Bericht “Bekämpfung der Jugendarbeitslosigkeit: mögliche Auswege” auf ein Umdenken der liberal-konservativen Akteure in den einzelnen EU-Staaten. “Das Europäische Parlament hat mit dem heutigen Bericht ein starkes Zeichen gesetzt. Vor allem die Sozialdemokratie konnte sich für die sechs Millionen jungen Menschen ohne Job in Europa einsetzen”, so Regner, Mitglied im Ausschuss für Beschäftigung und soziale Angelegenheiten des EU-Parlaments, am Mittwoch gegenüber dem SPÖ-Pressedienst.

Utl.: Jugendliche nach wie vor stärker von Arbeitslosigkeit betroffen - europaweit sind 23 % der Jugendlichen ohne Job.

Linz (OTS) - In einer gemeinsamen Aktion heute auf der Linzer Landstraße wiesen die JugendkandidatInnen der SPÖ-OÖ, Donjeta Krasniqi und Corinna Kovac, gemeinsam mit dem EU Abgeordneten Josef Weidenholzer auf die prekäre Situation arbeitsloser Jugendlicher in Europa hin.

Original photo

Labour MEP Emer Costello, has said that €40 to €50 million of the €150 million expected to be ring-fenced for the Youth Guarantee in Ireland should be poured into communities around Dublin where youth unemployment is worst.

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE EUROPEAN YOUTH GUARANTEE

How to guarantee a brighter future for young people?

FRIDAY, 12 JULY, 9.15am-1pm 

LIBERTY HALL, DUBLIN 1

Youth unemployment is the biggest single challenge facing Europe. The European Union is providing €6 billion to help combat youth unemployment in Ireland and across Europe.

These funds will be spent to implement Youth Guarantee programmes in areas with high rates (above 25%) of youth unemployment.

These programmes are intended to offer a young person quality employment, training, an apprenticeship or further education within four months of finishing their education or becoming unemployed.

Most of these European funds will be spent in 2014 and 2015. The Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has now brokered agreement on a European-wide framework for the Youth Guarantee.

The next six months are therefore crucial for the design of Ireland's Youth Guarantee programmes.  

This public event is intended to enable young people and organisations working on their behalf outline how they believe the Youth Guarantee should be implemented in Ireland so that it will make a real impact on our youth employment crisis and to guarantee a brighter future for young people.  

Participants (see agenda below) will include representatives of youth organisations, local partnership groups, unemployed groups, and Government and European bodies involved in preparing Youth Guarantee programmes.

As places are limited, if you would like to attend this public seminar, please register by contacting me at [email protected] or 01.8746109 before 5.00pm on Wednesday, 10 July.

AGENDA

9.15am            Registration (refreshments provided)

9.45am            Welcome and introduction

Emer Costello MEP, Leader, Irish Delegation, Socialists and Democrats Group, Member EP Committee on Employment & Social Affairs.

10-11.15am     Tackling youth unemployment through the Youth Guarantee

Lidia Salvatore, Eurofound

David Treacy, City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee

Mary Murphy, NUI Maynooth,

Lorraine Mulligan, SIPTU Trade Union

11.15-11.30     Coffee break

11.30-12.45     Ensuring the effective implementation of the Youth Guarantee

Ita Mangan, Chair of the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare

Brid O’Brien, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed

James Doorley, National Youth Council of Ireland

Mick Creedon, Ballymun Job Centre

12.45               Closing Remarks

Emer Costello MEP.

Ahead of a joint meeting on youth unemployment between French and German finance and employment ministers in Paris tomorrow, S&D Group leader Hannes Swoboda called for an "effective and adequately financed youth guarantee".*

In a letter sent to the French and German ministers, he urged them to extend the scope of the youth guarantee to include all young people up to the age of 30 and to increase the funding from the €6 billion proposed so far.

On 23 April, the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) called for an enlargement of the scope of the youth guarantee. Considering the devastating youth unemployment situation, the committee adopted a report that aims to further protect and support one of the most vulnerable groups in today’s Europe.