"Youth unemployment is a major problem of both Lithuania and the EU which needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Good initiatives alone are not enough, they must be implemented. Young people want to join actively the labor market and contribute to building the EU's well-being. Our common task is to provide them with such opportunity," the President said.
According to the President, greater employment of young people would serve to boost Europe's economic growth. Currently, almost six million young people are jobless across the EU, with every fourth young person having no job in Lithuania.
The Lithuanian presidency will seek to accelerate the implementation of the so-called Youth Guarantee Initiative to ensure that all young people up to age 25 receive a quality offer of a job, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed. It is planned to allocate EUR 6 billion from the EU budget 2014-2020 for implementation purposes. Support will be given to the member states where youth unemployment rate is above 25 percent.
Lithuania will also strive for setting up a European Alliance for Apprenticeships, with an objective to reach an agreement on joint action by member states, social partners and businesses in expanding apprenticeship schemes. This would help young people gain more experience, expertise and make it easier to join the labor market.
Lithuania will have one more task during its presidency - to complete harmonization of legislative acts aimed to ensure better protection of employees and to seek progress in securing equal opportunities in the labor market.
Lithuania's presidency agenda also includes negotiations on specific EU's multiannual framework programmes, including in respect of implementation of the European social policy.
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