Dubravka Šuica, Head of the Croatian EPP Delegation, participated in a discussion in the European Parliament about the proposed amendments to Juncker's regulation on the European Social Fund (ESF) regarding the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), which would make an additional billion euros available to Member States for unemployed youth.

 
˝The numbers are alarming; five million young people in the European Union are unemployed, in some countries unemployment has exceeded 50 percent, and among them unfortunately is Croatia, which has one of the highest youth unemployment rates. In the EU, there are 7.5 million young people aged 15 to 24 years that are outside of the education and training systems, and this is causing great social problems. I do not like using the term ˝lost generation˝, but unfortunately this generation it could become this is we do not all together do something,˝ said MEP Šuica.
 
The Commission's proposal for the Youth Guarantee was presented in December 2012, the Council of Ministers of the EU formally adopted it on 22 April 2013 as a recommendation to Member States, while it is supported by the European Council in June of that year. All 28 Member States submitted their plans for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee and started to apply concrete measures, while the European Commission is responsible for overseeing the implementation of national Youth Guarantee programs under the European Semester.
 
˝It is necessary to do everything so that young people acheive dignity, and they will achieve this dignity if they find a first job. Given that the Commission understands the problem, I believe that with this billion euros to help EU Member States set up their operational programs youth employment will no longer be such a galling and urgent issue,˝ concluded Šuica.

Video (in Croatian language):