Election campaigns are tough. Just ask those involved in the last one, or better yet ask one of their family members. It is understandable that after a campaign some time is needed to recover from the grueling hours and intense pressure. But this has not been possible for those elected in the last in the weeks following the campaign.
Indeed, MEPs have been busy with formulating the composition of the new Parliament. A process, the completion of which, is now very close. The Parliament’s presidency and bureau have been established as well as the leadership structures within political groups. MEPs have been assigned the committees on which they shall sit and the delegations they will form part of are currently being negotiated and should be finalized next week in Strasbourg.
The Treaty requires MEPs to be in Strasbourg for twelve separate times every calendar year - an additional absurdity to the two-seat phenomenon that I oppose very strongly. The May session did not take place because of the campaign. This explains why we are obliged to return again next week.
I explained in my last article for this paper that I was elected to serve as EPP Coordinator for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. The job is challenging but I must confess I am enjoying every minute of it. The coming plenary session will provide me with my baptism by fire as one of few resolutions on this first agenda concerns youth unemployment. Clearly this falls within the ambit of my committee and it is my role to prepare and table the EPP’s resolution. The coordinators of other groups will do the same. The objective is not to have five or six separate resolutions but to take these divergent views, find common ground and produce a document on which the political groups can agree. For this to happen negotiations take place in order to draft a joint motion for resolution that takes elements out of the various individual motions.
The coordination of joint motions is coordinated by one political group. Political groups take in turns to take responsibility for this coordination. It so happens that next week is the EPP’s turn.
The issue of youth unemployment is a delicate one. Delicate in the sense that initiatives at an EU level have their limitations. There is only so far the EU can intrude into labour law and unemployment benefits and the likes. And very rightly so. In how to address youth unemployment divergent ideological views between political groups at opposing sides of the spectrum emerge quite strongly.
The EPP’s position is that, among other measures, increasing the EU’s competitiveness is crucial for future growth and job creation. I agree. It is believedthat a reduction of red tape, enhancing start-up potential and developing a culture of entrepreneurship are important components for the realization of this objective. This is what will go a long way to create employment for our young people both now and in the future. It sounds abstract perhaps but it is not. Making starting one’s own business easier by modifying the regulatory framework to this end is fairly easily realizable.
More direct support is also necessary and the EU can provide such assistance through funding of further education and training, life long learning programmes and also through research into present and future labour market requirements and more immediately through better coordination of matching present skills with employer needs across member states.
The week ahead will be interesting, also because MEPs will also be asked to vote for Jean-Claude Juncker as the next President of the Commission. Juncker is a true European and a legitimate democratic choice for this post, following the EPP’s victory in May’s election. I am hopeful that he will be confirmed as the next head of the EU’s executive.
David Casa is a PN MEP