On 19th September we met Commissioner Marianne Thyssen, responsible for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility at the Berlaymont in Brussels.
 
During the meeting we presented The Mobile Generation campaign on labour mobility and agreed on a set of common future actions to promote our 8 proposals for a truly mobile generation of European workers.
 
Additionally, we discussed the Youth Guarantee, the EU’s flagship programme for youth employment, and how it should be reformed and improved if it is to become a truly successful employment initiative.
 
We have not been very supportive of certain aspects of the Youth Guarantee in the past and we are happy to see the European Commission taking action in addressing such worries. We believe that with a more efficient communications approach and an emphasis on structural reforms it can be a helpful, additionaly tool for youth job creation. The structural reforms will need to extend cover to job creation schemes, strengthen the cooperation between the private and public sectors, improve training for teachers, enhance the role of EURES, introduce more effective SME, startup & self-employed support schemes, reduce bureaucracy and encourage Member States to give tax-breaks to companies who choose to hire young unemployed people.
 
The Commissioner explained the obstacles behind the implementation of the programme, as well as promising figures that suggest that the initiative can help youth job creation with the correct focus on structural reforms.