Youth Guarantee and Youth Employment Initiative

22.6.2016

Question for oral answer O-000094/2016
to the Commission
Rule 128
Thomas Händel, on behalf of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

On On 22 April 2013, by a Council recommendation, EU Member States committed themselves to establishing ‘Youth Guarantee’ schemes (YG) aimed at providing young people with ‘a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education’. At the same time, the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) was launched to provide support for young people under the age of 30 in regions where youth unemployment was especially high and to contribute to the implementation of the YG. To allow for greater impact the YEI was frontloaded within the first two years of the MFF (2014-15), while substantial funding was released to Member States in the form of pre-financing, which in 2015 was increased to 30 %.

While the Joint Employment Report 2016 highlights that the YG has become a driver for improving education-to-work transition and reducing youth unemployment, and overall youth unemployment has started to decrease, rates are still high in several Member States and regional differences remain considerable.

The YG and YEI are essential tools in the fight against youth unemployment. On 7 March 2016, the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) endorsed key messages on the way forward for the Youth Guarantee post-2016. The Commission is set to present an implementation report in October. In March 2015 the European Court of Auditors presented a report on implementation of YG schemes and the YEI.

1. Member States had to complete the first YEI evaluation by December 2015. Could the Commission inform Parliament about the main findings of those evaluations, including on the correct implementation of YG schemes, the quality of offers and the sustainability of results, so as to provide a timely and necessary input for the debate on the revision of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) that is due to start very soon?

2. Does the Commission consider the deployment of YG schemes and the uptake of YEI funding to be on track now? Did (increased) pre-financing accelerate uptake? What measures can be taken to further simplify and streamline access to funding through the YEI and/or the ESF?

3. Does the Commission believe that continued investment in the YG, including through an extension of the YEI, is needed?