WIREDGOV

Employment Incentives to Implement the Europe 2020 Strategy, a meeting of the Chairpersons of the Committees on Social Affairs and Labour, which was organised in the framework of the parliamentary dimension of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, concluded its work by adopting the Conclusions.

The Conclusions focus on the problems of youth unemployment. The document stresses that the unemployment rate for young people (23.5%) is twice the rate for adults. Youth unemployment rates diverge significantly across the EU. For example, the share of young people without work in September 2013 represented 7.7 % in Germany and almost 60% in the Member States most affected by the economic and financial crisis, such as Greece and Spain.

Participants of the meeting welcomed the frontloading of €6 billion by the European Council for the Youth Employment Initiative for the period of 2014–2020. They note that, according to the International Labour Organisation, an estimated €21 billion is needed in the euro area alone to decisively tackle the youth unemployment problem.

The Conclusions encourage Member States to set up their Youth Guarantee Implementation Plans as soon as possible. In addition, “the Youth Guarantee scheme should be monitored and evaluated in the National Reform Programmes in the context of the European Semester and it should be integrated into the broader framework of active labour market policy.”

Regarding implementation of the EU’s employment guidelines, it was stated that the fight against social exclusion should be an integral part of employment and social policy. The EU Member States should pay particular attention to creating employment opportunities for individuals most detached from the labour market. The Conclusions support the Communication of the European Commission on strengthening the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), adopted on 2 October 2013, and note that there should be a closer permanent link between the EU’s economic and financial policies, on the one hand, and social and employment policies, on the other.

The Conclusions also note that “due to the ageing and shrinking of population, maintaining the current level of working-age population might require, according to the Commission’s estimate, 60 million additional immigrants into the EU by 2060.” Participants of the meeting call on the Commission to prepare a comprehensive study into what effect such flows of immigration will have on Europe.   Attention is drawn to the brain drain problem that is affecting most of the new Member States. The Conclusions stress that this serious challenge should be addressed not only at the national but also at the European level.

The Conclusions of the meeting are available here.