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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
2014 - 2019
Plenary sitting
15.7.2014
B7-0000/2014
MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
on Youth Employment
tabled by Marian Harkin on behalf of the ALDE group
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United in diversity
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the European Parliament,
– having regard to the Commission communication of 20 December 2011 entitled ‘Youth
Opportunities Initiative’ (COM(2011)0933),
– having regard to the question for oral answer to the Commission and the accompanying
resolution of Parliament of 24 May 2012 on the Youth Opportunities Initiative,
– having regard to the Commission communication of 5 December 2012 entitled ‘Moving
Youth into Employment’ (COM(2012)727),
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having regard to its resolution of 16 January 2013 on a Youth Guarantee,
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having regard to Council recommendation of 10 March 2013 on Quality Framework for
Traineeships,
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having regard to Council recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth
Guarantee,
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having regard to its resolution of 11 September 2013 on tackling youth unemployment:
possible ways out,
- having regard to its resolution of 15 January 2014 on respect for the fundamental right of
freedom of movement in the EU,
A. Whereas the EU economy is gradually recovering and for the first time since 2011,
employment, GDP and household incomes are growing;
B. whereas unemployment levels for young people remain alarming, where in April 2014 22,5
% of active young people were jobless, ranging from 7,8% in Germany to over 50 % in
Greece, Spain and Croatia indicating marked geographical differences;
C. whereas 7,5 million Europeans under the age of 25 are neither in employment nor in
education or training (NEETs); whereas these figures continue to rise, posing the risk of a
lost generation;
D. whereas active labour market policies and activation strategies are key to help
unemployed find a decent job;
E. whereas an EU growth strategy, capitalising on the use of the full potential of our
common markets, is equally necessary to ensure sustainable job creation;
F. whereas despite high overall levels of youth unemployment, certain sectors such as the
ICT and health sectors face increasing difficulty in filling vacancies with qualified
personnel;
G. whereas an increasing gap between the qualifications of graduates and the skills
requirements of the labour market can be observed in some Member States;
H. whereas by emphasis on practical skills, the dual system of vocational training and the
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combined academic-vocational degree courses employed in some Member States have
proved their worth during the crisis in particular, keeping levels of youth unemployment
lower by making young people more employable;
I. whereas geographical mismatches between the supply and demand of jobs and skills can
be observed both within and between Member States;
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whereas there are 2 million vacancies across the EU and there is an opportunity to tap the
potential of the freedom of movement of workers, however where mobility between
Member States only counts for 2.8%;
K whereas EU financial support can help Member States in combating youth unemployment,
most notably from the the European Social Fund and in the context of the Youth
Employment Initiative and the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund;
1. Urges the Member States to take strong measures to fight youth unemployment, in
particular through preventive action against early dropout from school, or from promoting
training and apprenticeship schemes (e.g. by implanting a dual educational system or
other equally efficient types of framework), to develop comprehensive strategies for
young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) and to
implement the national Youth Guarantee Schemes in full;
2. Calls on Member States to foster growth promoting policies and calls for action at EU
level in terms of a European growth strategy where investment in and development of key
sectors such as the digital market, the telecom market and a common energy community
will provide sustainable jobs;
3. Believes further that easier access to financing and simpler rules to the setting-up of new
businesses have to be prioritised in order to boost both new and ensure the survival of
existing SMEs, in which most new jobs are created;
4. Calls on the European Commission to actively ask for support and initiatives as well as
other forms of cooperation with the private sector in tackling youth unemployment;
5. Calls on Member States to eliminate red tape for self-employed and small enterprises,
introduce favourable tax policies, establish a more favourable climate for private
investments and address disproportionately punitive bankruptcy laws when combating
unemployment;
6. Urges Member States to share successful and best practices and to coordinate their
strategies and find common solutions to the problem of youth unemployment, both as it
in some geographical areas can be best tackled by joint cross-border measures but also as
the unemployment level constitutes a challenge to the EU economy as a whole;
7. Emphasises that the dual vocational training system and twin-track studies, with their
focus on practical experience, have stood the test of the economic crisis particularly well,
helping to reduce youth unemployment by making people more employable, and calls,
therefore, on crisis hit Member States to reform their training systems along these lines;
8. Calls on the Member States to improve cooperation between businesses and the educational
sector at all levels, with a scope of better linking curricula to the demands of the labour
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market;
9. Stresses however that the national Youth Guarantee Schemes must be implemented
alongside with structural efforts and reforms of education systems and labour markets in
order to make all Member States fit for the challenges of the future;
10. Calls on the EU Member States to actively incorporate an application under the Youth
Employment Imitative when applying for the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
where applicable and asks the Member States to prioritise Youth entrepreneurship in this
programme;
11. Stresses that the European economy needs efforts in enhancing free movement and labour
mobility in the EU and not a limitation to it, and calls on the Member States to ensure the
free movement of all citizens and workers in order to allow the development of a genuine
Union labour market, to remove bottlenecks and to allow EU workers to move to areas
where their skills are demanded;
12. Calls on the Commission and Member States to further improve the transparency
and recognition of qualifications within the Union, in particular through the European
Credit System for Vocational Education and Training, Europass and the European
Qualifications Framework;
13. Underlines the importance for young people to acquire transversal skills such as ICT
skills, leadership skills, critical thinking and language skills, also by studying abroad, to
improve their prospects on the job market, their adaptability to future labour market
developments and their active participation in society;
14. Reminds that in the context of the current economic crisis, education, training and
creativity are essential for creating innovation, productivity and growth in Europe; stresses
therefore the importance of Erasmus for All and encourages the Commission to address
the discrepancy in education standards between EU countries and the full recognition of
diplomas across the EU;
15. Urges Member States to remove existing barriers for cross-border apprenticeships,
traineeships and internships to better match supply and demand of work-based training
opportunities for youth;
16. Calls on all institutions to ensure a swift adoption of the Directive on conditions of entry
and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil
exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and au-paring, in
order to facilitate employability of young people;
17. Supports the proposal from the Commission in the 2013 Citizenship Report to reform the
social security coordination regulation to extend the mandatory minimum period that
home Member States must provide benefits for their citizens from three to six months;
considers such a proposal will help provide security for jobseekers when they move to
other EU countries and reduce the fiscal costs for host Member States;
18. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and the Council.
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