EESC Section for employment, social affairs and citizenship
The Section adopted opinions Youth on move and Future of the European Social Fund
The EESC Section for employment, social affairs and citizenship held a meeting in Brussels on 24 February 2011 where two highly important opinions were discussed and adopted:
SOC/395 Youth on move
The Europe 2020 Strategy sets ambitious objectives for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth in the EU. Young people are key players in achieving this. Quality education and training for all, successful and sustained labour market integration, decent, and adequately paid work, and opportunities for greater mobility are essential elements in “unleashing the potential of all young people” and thus achieving the objectives of the 2020 strategy. As a result, the set of measures in the Youth on the Move initiative makes it one of the strategy's flagship proposals.
The EESC is aware of the need to focus on young people who are seriously affected by the current economic crisis. It recognises the utility of the Youth on the Move initiative as an integral part of the Europe 2020 measures, and welcomes the overall provisions set out in the communication. The EESC is ready to contribute to their implementation by joining forces and heightening the initiative's profile with the social partners and civil society organisations.
The EESC stresses that the objectives proposed by the Youth on the Move initiative should be monitored, and the progress of implementation should be measured using clear indicators, so that the Member States can step up their efforts if these objectives are not met in time.
At a time when the economic crisis has forced a review of budgetary priorities, the EESC stresses the importance of maintaining and increasing, wherever possible, the effective use of resources assigned at national and EU level to the education and training and employment of young people. Economic recovery policies must encourage the creation of stable jobs and prevent any interruption of studies.
SOC/391 Future of the European Social Fund
The implementation of programmes funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) for 2007-2013 has reached its midway-point. The Commission presented its general guidelines on the EU's future financial framework in the EU Budget Review (COM(2010) 700) and on the structural funds in the conclusions of the Fifth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion (COM(2010) 642).
In 2011, the European Commission will propose a new budgetary framework for the post-2013 period. This framework will be accompanied by legislative proposals on the structural funds, including the ESF. In this regard, the Commission presented a communication on 19 October 2010 on The EU Budget Review. This should also provide an opportunity to breathe new life into the ESF and make changes. There is a need to raise the profile of the ESF within the EU's new budgetary framework and to highlight its uniqueness.
The European Council decided that the structural funds were the financial instruments required to implement the Lisbon strategy, which had geared its work towards the least-qualified people and those facing the most difficulties in accessing active national employment policies. In this context, the ESF is the key instrument for supporting the implementation of the European employment strategy and must in future continue to be an effective instrument for ensuring an increase in quality jobs and social inclusion, within the framework of the "Europe 2020" strategy.
The ESF is the key instrument for supporting the implementation of the European employment strategy and it must continue in the future to be an effective instrument for investing in human resources and promoting a high level of quality jobs and social inclusion, within the framework of the "Europe 2020" strategy. In view of the current economic situation, therefore, the ESF must remain an important strategic and financial instrument and be given more resources to match the greater challenges it faces (higher rates of unemployment), reflecting the increase in the EU's general budget, namely at least by the 5.9 % proposed by the European Commission for the EU's 2011 budget as a whole.
Vladimíra Drbalová
International Organisations and EU Affairs
EESC Member
