Van Rompuy: Italië en Letta staan niet alleen bij bestrijding van de crisis (en)

EUROPEAN COUNCIL THE PRESIDT

Rome, 31 May 2013

EUCO PRESSE 228 PRPCE 113

Remarks by President of the European Council

Herman Van Rompuy i after his meeting with Prime Minister of Italy Enrico Letta

Signore e Signori, buon pomeriggio. Sono davvero lieto di essere qui a Roma oggi su invito del Presidente del Consiglio, Enrico Letta

It is already the third time we meet since the President assumed the responsibility of leading the Italian government - and the first time here in Rome. Earlier this morning I also met President Napolitano and the President of the Senate, Grasso

Allow me to highlight two issues that I discussed at length with the President Letta: How to tackle the current economic crisis and how to fight youth unemployment

First on the economic crisis. We are now in that most difficult of moments: in-between. After the violent storm, but before the clouds start clearing. And in this "in-between" moment, it is essential that we remain committed and keep our direction. The direction was firmly agreed by all leaders in the European Council in March. Our strategy has four fundamentals:

The first one is to restore and maintain financial stability. And we are on the right track. The large drop in the so-called "spreads", not least for Italy, proves that market confidence is on its way back. And the existential threat to the euro zone is over

The second fundamental is to make our economies more resilient - through sound public finances and improved competitiveness. In this context, I am happy to congratulate Italy and President Letta for the positive recommendation to close the so-called Excessive Deficit Procedure. This is an important acknowledgement of the Italian budgetary efforts over the last years. And it is a reminder of the importance of fully implementing the necessary structural reforms. All with the same singular objective - bringing Italy onto the path of growth and jobs

The third fundamental is the strengthening of the Economic and Monetary Union. I thanked President Letta for his strong commitment to building more and not less Europe. In particular, we the view that the next weeks will be crucial for making progress on the banking union

The fourth and final fundamental is the immediate fight against unemployment - not least youth unemployment. The President and I agreed already at our first meeting on 1 May to put youth unemployment high on the agenda of the June European Council

Today in Europe there are more than seven million young people, who are neither in job nor in education or training. It is a challenge for all of them. It is a political, economic and social challenge for our societies. And it is a challenge that we need to meet - as a matter of urgency

Let's be clear. Social and employment policies are first and foremost a national responsibility. But the European Union can and must support this fight against unemployment. This is why I - together with President Letta - have put the fight against youth unemployment on top of the agenda of our next European Council meeting in June. And it is the reason why I wrote to all Heads of State and Government last week to prepare for the summit

The main goal is to mobilise everybody in this fight. I want the European Council in June to be a "rallying point" of national governments, social partners and European institutions. We need to mobilise efforts at all levels around one shared objective: giving young people a guarantee of receiving a job offer or an offer of education or training within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving school

I thank President Letta for being among the first to provide very substantial and constructive ideas, such as accelerating the availability of the 6 billion euro Youth Employment Initiative. In this context, I also welcome the new ideas and initiatives announced by Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande in Paris yesterday evening. At EU level, we have already agreed and undertaken a number of concrete actions - like the Youth Employment Initiative of six billion euro, the Youth Guarantee and the Compact for Growth and Jobs

But we can and must go further. We are working on a number of additional concrete measures that include:

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  One, the idea of speeding-up our new initiatives against youth unemployment in order to ensure that EU co-financing of regional projects starts flowing as of the first of January 2014;

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  Two, accelerating - as President Letta also suggested - the setting up of the youth guarantee schemes in all of our countries;
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  Three, focussing other available resources - like the European Investment Bank and the European Globalisation Fund - better on tackling youth unemployment;
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  Four, involving the European social partners - the employers' and employees' organisations - more in finding practical solutions and exchanging best practise - not least in job training; and last but not least
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  Five, increasing mobility across borders. The existing European job portal, EURES, currently has more than 1,3 million job vacancies. And setting up cross-border vocational training programmes via the "Erasmus for All" initiative, which could be jump-started immediately

Whatever we decide to do must complement and support the necessary reforms at national level that address the root causes of unemployment. Like reducing taxation on labour and eliminating the segmentation of labour markets

In June we will also discuss the issue of credit to the economy, particularly to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME). The current situation is not satisfactory. In several countries, including Italy, access to credit for SMEs is more difficult and more costly than for SMEs with similar characteristics in other Member States. This is probably one of the biggest obstacles to the recovery right now. The European Investment Bank (EIB) can help solve this problem. We expect the EIB to significantly expand the volume and the scope of its activities in support of SMEs. The European Central Bank is also looking at options of addressing the current fragmentation in financial markets and there is scope for joint actions between the EIB and the ECB

To succeed at our June European Council we all need to work hard. And I look forward to continue working with the President and the Italian government. Thank you. Grazie mille

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