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.

 11 July

Thanks to you the Youth Guarantee is now on top of the EU agenda!

Thanks to your mobilization and to the tireless action of the Party of European Socialists (PES), PES Women and Young European Socialists, the European Youth Guarantee is now closer than ever to become a reality.

In the last weeks, our joint action was decisive in making sure that EU leaders give a chance to young people all over Europe.

•  During the PES Council on 22 June, party leaders launched an urgent and strong appeal to increase the speed and substance of the European Youth Guarantee (EYG).
  
  
• In the run-up to the European Council of 27-28 June, in the debate on youth unemployment, the progressive family in Europe made sure the Youth Guarantee was at the top of the agenda:
  
  
  • PES Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers gathered in Brussels on 27 June to give a concerted and substantial push to combat youth unemployment in Europe in advance of the European Council
    
    
  • In Paris, Harlem Désir, First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (PS) and Sigmar Gabriel, Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) highlighted that youth employment should be Europe’s absolute priority
    
    
  • On the eve of the EU Council, the PS Belgium organized a conference on youth unemployment, gathering the voice of several progressive leaders in a common declaration calling for a youth guarantee to be urgently implemented in Europe. Participants included PS Belgium President Paul Magnette, European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Italian PD Secretary General Guglielmo Epifani, PSOE leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Sp.a Belgium leader Bruno Tobback and S&D Group President Hannes Swoboda
    
    
  • In an article on Financial Times on 24 June, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta clearly stated that the EU should focus on the fight against youth unemployment and strongly endorsed a Youth Guarantee
    
    
  • Swedish Social Democratic Party leader Stefan Löfven and Finnish Finance Minister and SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen published a joint article in the Swedish and Finnish press calling for a European Youth Guarantee
    
    
  • Austrian MEP Evelyn Regner underlined that the EU Council needed to deliver a concrete commitment to the EYG with the corresponding allocation of financial resources
    
    
    
• Thanks to the action of the S&D group in the European Parliament, the fact that the fight against youth unemployment must take priority will be reflected in the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework. Not only does the frontloading of earmarked resources means that Europe can start supporting Youth Guarantees immediately and decisively, the flexibility in the budget opens the way for additional funds to be used
  
  
• Following this political pressure, another key event was the PES Social Affairs Ministers’ meeting that took place in Berlin on 3 July.  The Ministers were joined by German Social Democratic Party (SPD) candidate for Chancellor, Peer Steinbrück and together they issued a strong call to speed up EU efforts to overcome youth unemployment. 

• In its recent report on “Progress on equality between women and men in 2012”, the European Commission acknowledged that women have been harshly hit by the crisis, especially due to the austerity measures introduced by conservatives. In this sense, PES Women is calling for more gender-sensitive youth policies and a better consideration of the gender dimension in the Youth Guarantee
  

• In its latest publication Youth employment: Making it happen, the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions gathers best practices on youth guarantee schemes from all over Europe. Order the book now
  
  
• In Ireland Minister Joan Burton, Emer Costello MEP and Deputy John Lyons marked the announcement of funding for a year-long pilot Youth Guarantee project in Ballymun. Ballymun was selected as one of the first Youth Guarantee schemes to proceed in the EU following funding approval by the European Commission and the Irish Government.

We are closer and closer to have a Youth Guarantee implemented in Europe but, together, we need to keep the momentum going.

We invite you to join the campaign, organize and join events in your region and spread the word to your family and friends. 

Remember, your support is key to tackle youth unemployment in Europe!

COMING UP

Dublin, Ireland, 12 July, 9:00am
Public seminar on Youth Unemployment and the Youth Guarantee

Gümüldür, Turkey, 14-21 July
YES - Young European Socialists Summer Camp

On the eve of the European Council of 27-28 June, several progressive leaders gathered in Brussels to define an action plan in the fight against youth unemployment in Europe. Hosted by the Parti Socialiste (PS) of Belgium and its leader Paul Magnette, the meeting saw the participation of Bruno Tobback (s.pa Belgium), Guglielmo Epifani (PD Italy), Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (PSOE Spain), Martin Schulz (European Parliament President), Hannes Swoboda (S&D Group in the European Parliament) and Philip Cordery (PS France, representing Harlem Désir).

Fotos disponibles aqui

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

On 29 November a delegation of 30 Spanish Socialist Youth members travelled to Brussels to debate the campaign for a European Youth Guarantee with Zita Gurmai, PES Women President, and with David Cordonnier, MJS Belgium President.

The next weeks will be determinant to implementing a Youth Guarantee in the EU.

With only six months of campaign, we start seeing the results of your action calling for a better future for European young people. 

• The European Commission will present a proposal on a European Youth Guarantee on December 5^th and we count on you to make sure your national leaders support it
  
  
• We received another strong endorsement from French Social Affairs and Health Minister Marisol Touraine. In a video interview, she highlights the need to provide good training to young people so they can easily adapt to the ever changing job market and to make sure that unemployed people are not left on their own
  
  
• As the Catalonian regional elections take place this Sunday, 25^th November, we are happy to announce that the Catalonian Socialist Party (Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya) has integrated the demand for a Youth Guarantee in its manifesto. This demand is an answer to the worrying situation of Catalonian youth – 52% are unemployed, with this rate having increased by 12% in the last two years of right-wing nationalist government
  
  
• In France, President François Hollande keeps prioritizing the fight to youth unemployment, focusing on young people without qualifications. As on November 8^th Mr. Hollande signed the first contracts of “employs d’avenir”, he ensured young people between 18-25 the access to a first full-time job. The goal of this programme is to generate  100,000 « emplois d’avenir » for next year

You too can join the thousands of campaigners calling for a European Youth Guarantee. Remember, your support is key to tackle youth unemployment in Europe!

COMING UP

22 November 
Youth unemployment in Europe Genève, Switzerland

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

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

In Catalonia, the Party of Catalan Socialists (PSC) has included the European Youth Guarantee promoted by PES, PES Women and ECOSY in its program for next elections to the Catalan Parliament of 25th November. The Catalan Socialist Party endorses this initiative as a right of young people that we want to be recognised at a European level.

Campaign update n°2

Last week we told you about the progress of the European Youth Guarantee campaign over the summer.

The support for a European Youth Guarantee is growing by the day and campaigners like you are now organizing events all over Europe to promote it:

• In Spain and in Portugal, PSOE and PS presented in their national parliaments draft resolutions to make the Youth Guarantee a reality in their countries. The conservative governments, stuck on their austerity ways, rejected these progressive proposals, but our campaigners won’t give up; they will present the Youth Guarantee to trade unions, NGOs and civil society associations in order to create public pressure to implement it.
• In Ireland, on September  8^th, Labour Youth gathered numerous of participants in a seminar to discuss how to reverse the high level of youth unemployment (1 out of 3 young people can’t find a job) and stop the emigration of youth. The speakers - including Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn, Emer Costello MEP and John Lyons MP - and the audience concluded that a Youth Guarantee can be part of the solution and make a difference to the lives of young people in Ireland.

• Also on September  8^th Bulgarian campaigners organized a meeting near Plovdiv, the second biggest city of Bulgaria. Among the conclusions, the participants proposed that the years spent studying are taken into account for pension purposes.

At EU level, thanks to the commitment of Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Laszlo Andor, the European Commission has put forward a concrete funding opportunity to introduce youth guarantees.

You too can join the thousands of campaigners calling for a European Youth Guarantee. Remember, your support is key to tackle youth unemployment in Europe. 

Check back next week, when we will have news on developments on France, UK, Finland and EU Committee of the Regions.

COMING UP
27^th September 
10.30-18.30 - PES Women Annual Conference - Combating Young Women's Unemployment

29^th September 
13h00-14h30 - Youth Unemployment Campaign meeting (as part of PES Congress)

En el Pleno del Congreso del pasado 11 de septiembre, el Partido Popular (PP) rechazó la proposición no de ley del Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) sobre la estrategia para combatir el desempleo juvenil en España y Europa. La propuesta, respaldada por todos los grupos parlamentarios excepto el PP, fue denegada por el gobierno conservador bajo el pretexto de que no era momento de “traer iniciativas que incrementen el gasto público”.