PES President Sergei Stanishev said: “Commissioner Thyssen’s line is at least surprising: ‘the plan is successful, therefore we are going to reduce its funding. We don’t support the Commission’s reverse logic. On the contrary, we think we should increase the funding to €20 BN, so that all young people who need it can benefit from the Youth Guarantee in this long lasting crisis.”
The Youth Guarantee is a programme guaranteeing young people a job offer, an apprenticeship or a traineeship or an opportunity to study further within a 4 month period.
Stanishev said: “Our political family proposed the Youth Guarantee in 2012 and it was us who pushed for it. We also took care that it got financing to achieve quicker results in a context of economic depression. We can’t accept that this positive evaluation is not matchedwith adequate funding, we can’t be satisfied yet. Let’s be more ambitious and extend the funding, the duration and the scope so that this programme can help more young people in need.”
According to the European Commission, 9 million young people have benefited from it so far.
