Firing parents to employ their children at half their wages was no solution and the EU Youth Guarantee proposal should not be seen as an opportunity to abuse young people.
This was stated by Independent MEP Marian Harkin in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The Midlands-North –West MEP who is a member of the Parliament’s Employment Committee was responding to the statements of the European Commission and Council on the ‘Outcome of the High Level Conference on Employment in Europe”, held in Milan on October 8th.
She described progress on the Youth Guarantee and on the Youth Employment Initiative as uneven and much too slow. She stated that €9 billion was not even close to being sufficient to fund the Youth Guarantee.
“Chancellor Merkel, at one level, is right that money should be spent before looking for more but the real question is do member states have the resources or the freedom to use these resources for job creation”, she said.
She agreed with the view of Italian Prime Minister Renzi who stated that current rules were designed ‘for another world’ the Europe of years back. “Our governments must have the capability to respond to change and not to be stuck in the moment, to believe that one size fits all”, she said.
The Independent MEP said that budget consolidation could not be the only solution to the on-going economic crisis as that was a negation of what the EU was all about.
“In the EU those countries who wish to spend are not allowed while those who can spend have decided not to”, she said. This was a recipe for stagnation, deflation, slack growth and, sadly, erosion in citizens’ belief that the EU could work together to effectively tackle its problems, she added.
The Independent MEP concluded “At a seminar in the European Parliament last week a young Portuguese unemployed person said that ‘firing their parents to employ their children at half their wages is no solution’ and yes, while we all need to serve our apprenticeships and internships, the Youth Guarantee cannot be an opportunity to use and abuse young people. I agree with the Swedish Prime Minister who said we need decent jobs”.
