National Governments fixing European Council failures?

Berlin, 3July 2013 // After the European Council missed the opportunity to meet young people’s expectations on youth unemployment last week, the National Youth Councils of France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain together with the European Youth Forum met today, at the margins of the Intergovernmental Conference on Youth Employment held in Berlin. These youth leaders came up with concrete suggestions in a statement that they presented to the European Commission and Parliament as well as Governments of member states to push forward real actions to fight youth unemployment.

The German Government organised today a conference in Berlin in order to discuss the fight against youth unemployment in Europe, which had as participants’ representatives of all EU governments. The Youth Representatives also held a debrief session with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz to discuss both the outcomes of the intergovernmental meeting and the follow up.

The intergovernmental conference concluded with the exactly commitment already agreed at the European Council meeting. French Government also committed to organise a follow-up meeting in November and youth organisations must be involved in the discussions. Young people therefore expect more action. They want actions for growth, actions fighting precariousness, such as a framework directive on contractual arrangement, and specific actions for young entrepreneurs, who can create their jobs and those of their peers.

Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum, stated: “How many meetings do European leaders need before agreeing to an overall strategy to effectively tackle youth unemployment? The European Council didn’t go beyond the already agreed measure of Youth Guarantee. And nothing new came out of today's Berlin meeting. European leaders and member states must take effective action now. Young people deserve real investments”.

National Youth Councils of France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, and the European Youth Forum also met in Berlin in order to input to the ministerial conference as well as to discuss further cooperation on this issue. With this meeting, the five National Youth Councils and the European Youth Forum want to push forward the cooperation among the National Youth Councils and underline that a coordinated advocacy is needed in order to succeed in the fight against youth unemployment in Europe.

We believe that the cooperation needs to happen towards the strengthening of European Institutions and not duplicate the levels of discussions and interventions. Our message is therefore clear: the importance of European cooperation to fight the youth unemployment with an overall strategy. The current lack of investment in the younger generations is costly. It is crucial that the European Council and the EU reverse the trend and invest in its youth today, to ensure long-term growth in the future.