Acta literal de los debates

Jueves 13 de junio de 2013 - Estrasburgo

8.2. Preparativos con miras a la reunión del Consejo Europeo (27 y 28 de junio de 2013) - Acción europea para luchar contra el desempleo juvenil (RCB7-0270/2013, B7-0270/2013, B7-0273/2013, B7-0275/2013, B7-0276/2013, B7-0278/2013, B7-0279/2013, B7-0280/2013)

Mündliche Erklärungen zur Abstimmung

  Martina Anderson (GUE/NGL). - Mr President, there are many things which could be done by Member States in the EU to combat youth unemployment. Some of these things have been identified in the opinion by the Committee on Regional Development on the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy, which I authored.

The most important thing is the need for economic policies that counter the trend of austerity. It is a contradiction for the EU to implement policies that contract economies, leading to job losses on a large scale, while at the same time attempting to create jobs for young people. In order to create youth employment, we need conditions conducive to greater overall employment. This means investing in our economies. As it stands, funding allocated to youth employment initiatives is below what is required to address youth unemployment and to reverse its effects. The ILO states that it should be EUR 21 billion, so EUR 6 billion will not be sufficient. For these reasons I voted against the motion for a resolution.

  Phil Bennion (ALDE). - Mr President, I voted in favour of the report on youth unemployment. This is because I thought we needed a strong signal to reiterate the European Union’s determination to tackle the disastrous problem of youth unemployment across Europe.

Of course this is a highly regional affair and the problem is far worse in some of the Member States than it is in others. I do, however, regret that we retained the first part of paragraph 7, which asked the Commission to define a common level of unemployment allowance in the EU, something that I think is completely inadvisable. I think unemployment allowances must be determined by national authorities. It is also completely irrelevant to the rest of this report.

I voted in favour of the report as a whole because I think we have to make a strong statement, and I think a strong statement has been made.