Combating youth unemployment tops EU leaders’ agenda

The number of young people who are unemployed or not in education has reached worryingly high levels in Europe. Heads of state, among which will be Malta's PM Joseph Muscatwill discuss how to address this issue, in particular the Youth Guarantee and instruments to support youth employment. “Our aim should be above all to agree on tangible measures to bring down the high unemployment levels that our countries are facing, especially for young people”, said Herman Van Rompuy in his invitation letter to heads of state and government. “As a matter of priority we should speed up the Youth Employment Initiative, set up Youth Guarantee schemes, mobilise all available resources in support of youth employment, and increase youth mobility, all of this with the full involvement of social partners.” Another key issue on which leaders are expected to send a strong signal is access to financing. In the present economic context it is crucial to restore normal lending to the economy and facilitate financing of investment, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises. The leaders are also expected to endorse the country-specific recommendations. The recommendations will feed into member states’ decisions on national budgets, structural reforms and social policies. The endorsement will conclude the yearly cycle of member states' economic policy coordination, called the European Semester. Leaders will take stock of work on the deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union and discuss measures to support it.