Europe can’t afford to have “a lost generation of young people”, Minister says

JOANNE HUNT

Eu rope can't afford to have "a lost generation of young people", the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald warned yesterday.

The Minister was speaking at the EU Youth Conference in Dublin about high youth unemployment rates across the region. Hosted by Ms Fitzgerald and part of Ireland 's presidency of the EU, the four-day event is the culmination of consultations with 11,000 young people across the region, in which unemployment was highlighted as their biggest concern.

Transition
"Young people identified the transition from education to employment as the time they are most vulnerable to social exclusion," Ms Fitzgerald said. She said better facilitating this transition was critical to young people becoming independent and active in economic and community life.

Speaking at the event, EU commissioner for education and youth Androulla Vassiliou said Europe's young people had "borne the brunt" of the crisis. She said youth unemployment was directly connected to social exclusion, which an "alarmingly high" number of Europe's young were now facing.

Asked about emigration, the commissioner said “the brain drain” was one of the worst things that could happen in Europe. She said the proposed “youth guarantee”, a ¤6 billion EU pledge to tackle youth unemployment, could provide alternatives . She said there were two million job vacancies in Europe, unfilled because of skills shortages.

Ms Fitzgerald said the guarantee, due to be formally adopted in May, meant that every state “should ensure its young people receive a quality offer of employment, continued education, apprenticeship or training within four months of being unemployed”.

The president of the European Youth Forum, Peter Matjasic, said being young in Europe today was hard and "not as easy as it used to be". He said, "The best-educated generation ever is also worse off than their parents."

Director of the National Youth Council of Ireland Mary Cunningham said she differed from Ms Fitzgerald in that she didn't think Europe was "at risk"of a lost generation – "we have a lost generation now", she said.

Ms Cunningham said the conference, which brings together 150 young people and 100 policy makers from 27 member states, must not be “an end in itself” but “must translate into action”.

Protest
Meanwhile a group of up to 30 people formed a noisy protest outside the conference. The members of youth services for Ballyfermot, Cherry Orchard and St Michael's estate, Inchicore, Dublin, said cuts of up to 14 per cent to their services were driving young people into poverty and crime.