AER organised its first informal Breakfast Briefing in its new Brussels office, at rue d’Arlon 63-67, in order to inform its members about the latest developments on EU level regarding the EU Youth Guarantee Scheme and the Youth Employment Initiative, a financing tool and structure to implement the Youth Guarantee-Scheme.
In February 2015, the Juncker Commission announced “to make 1 billion euro from the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) available as early as this year. This change will increase by up to 30 times the pre-financing Member States receive to boost youth employment—reaching up to 650 000 young people and helping them get into work, faster.” The Commission is thus responding to the still continuing challenge of youth unemployment.
Our guest speakers were Linda Pauga and Ieva Valtmane from the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. After a quick presentation of the Youth Employment Initiative and the Youth Guarantee Scheme, the speakers gave an overview of the current discussions in the Council and the European Parliament in order to provide upfront money to the European Social Fund (ESF) to give Member States sufficient liquidity to implement their youth employment projects. The Council is currently waiting for a reply from the European Parliament.
The following issues were raised:
Furthermore, participants shared their needs and state of play of the implementation of the Youth Guarantee Scheme in their regions, showing the diverse picture of European youth employment in the territories.
Presentation of the Youth Guarantee Scheme
