The EU 2020 strategy included a Youth on the Move Initiative, which has since been translated into a series of concrete political actions like the Youth Opportunities Initiative, the Youth Employment Package and the Youth Employment Initiative; culminating in the Youth Guarantee.

The ETUC pushed EU institutions to launch the Youth Guarantee and welcomed its implementation. The ETUC and the ETUC Youth Committee urged the establishment of such a guarantee in Europe as early as 2009.

However, the ETUC remains critical of the existing approach by European and national authorities, which so far tackles only the demand side, within a social and economic framework dominated by austerity measures and labour reforms.  Also, as stated by the European Council, the trade union movement should be involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of such schemes in order to guarantee their effectiveness. The ETUC calls on European Institutions to implement fully the core principles of the European Youth Guarantee: a guaranteed offer or intervention within four months of leaving the education system and/or unemployment, implemented, in the long term, as a universal guarantee.

More ambitious and long-term funding is needed to guarantee effective outcomes. The ETUC calls for the continuation of the budgetary lines beyond 2016. Our benchmark in terms of appropriate funding of the Youth Guarantee is the ILO’s estimate of €21 billion per year.