EMPLOYMENT : ROAD MAP TO TACKLE YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT.

European leaders spent an entire day discussing measures to combat youth unemployment. This time, there was no British rebate to interfere with the discussions: employment and nothing but employment were on the agenda, on 3 July. Eighteen heads of state and government,12 employment ministers, five representatives of EU institutions - including the presidents of the European Investment Bank, the European Council and the Commission - and all the social partners gathered in Berlin at the invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The meeting ended with adoption of a road map to tackle youth unemployment matched with an implementing timeframe.

"Today was practitioners' day: we analysed the funds available and the measures needed to take things forward. [ ] We hope to register progress before the next conference on the effectiveness of employment services, enhanced training structures, the use of funding and cooperation with the European Investment Bank," declared Merkel. France has agreed to host a similar meeting in November "to review what has been implemented".

RAFT OF MEASURES FORESEEN

The road map(1) identifies the actions needed to tackle youth unemployment, which has reached alarming levels since the start of the crisis. Nearly six million young people under 25 are currently jobless in Europe and 7.5 million young Europeans are not in work, education or training.

The employment ministers commit to ensure that needed structural changes are established in national law, such as work-related training, and that the necessary resources are put in place. They promise to use EU funds more effectively, if necessary through the payment of temporary wage subsidies directly to the employer in combination with the European Social Fund. The European Investment Bank will strive to make more microcredits available and to step up lending to projects that tackle youth unemployment. These should facilitate SME access to financial resources or promote the acquisition of job skills and continuing training through investments in training infrastructure and in vocational training programmes, and student loans to support mobility.

The document encourages the social partners to implement their "framework of actions on youth employment" and to facilitate on-the-job training. The Round Table of Industrialists promises to encourage and speed up traineeships and apprenticeships and to support entrepreneurship. The road map asks the public employment services to...