The EU Wants Jobs for Young People

The majority of European leaders met on Tuesday in Paris to discuss the concrete measures that need to be taken at community and national level to fight youth unemployment

România Internațional, 13.11.2013, 13:21

Heads of state and government, high EU officials, ministers and social partners met in Paris at the invitation of French president Francois Hollande to tackle the common problem of youth unemployment amid the uncertainties and doubts generated by the economic crisis. There are 6 million unemployed young people in Europe at the moment, which is too much, according to the French president. The European Union thus needs to come up with a number of programmes, which can later be implemented by the national governments, as soon as possible. Attending the meeting in Paris, Romania’s president Traian Basescu spoke about this problem from a Romanian and European point of view:

“In Romania, we have three regions where youth unemployment exceeds 30%, namely the central, south-eastern and southern regions. The cause for this situation is not typical of Romania, but of other EU states as well. One of the problems is our education system, which sometimes does not pay heed to the demands of the employment markets in our countries. Many young people become specialised in fields that are no longer needed on the market.”

The summit in Paris established 3 priorities to curb youth unemployment in the next 2 years. One of these priorities refers to the use of all available resources to ensure the professional training of young people. Romania’s president Traian Basescu had this to say about this first measure:

“The new education law allows Romania to provide a positive response to the need for youth qualification in keeping with the demands of the employment market. The new law provided for the reestablishment of vocational schools. Also, the education ministry came up with an apprenticeship law, while the labour ministry created new professional training programmes.”

The second priority established in Paris was the employment of young people in difficult situations, while according to the third priority, dynamic young people should be given the possibility to set up their own businesses. If we were to choose three words to keep in mind following the summit in Paris, said president Francois Hollande, these words would be “rapidity”, given the urgent nature of the situation, “solidarity”, because we cannot abandon an entire generation, and “quality”, with young people being offered jobs and professional qualifications that provides them with real opportunities.