"What is the amount of funds allocated to Croatia for the implementation of the program Youth Guarantee," is the question that Dubravka Šuica submitted to the European Commission in order to emphasize the need for Croatia to prepare high-quality applications in order to take advantage of all available resources.
"It is high time that Croatia actively tackle the problem solving youth unemployment. Every day more and more young and highly educated people leave Croatia because that are looking for a job while at the same time the government is using cheap political to trick divert public attention from the real problems, "said Šuica.
According to the latest data from EUROSTAT, after Greece and Spain, Croatia has the highest rate of youth unemployment, which is as high as 55.4% in the second quarter of 2013 while additional growth of the youth unemployment rate is expected by the end of the year. Unemployment of young people under 29 years of age has constantly grown in recent years so that the rate of youth unemployment for those under 29 in Croatia 2012 reached a rate of 34.6%.
"The Commission will put a certain amount at the disposal of Croatia and it is up to the Government to prepare the ground to fully use these resources. I also hereby ask the Croatian government what it is doing?", said Šuica. She continued, "According to EUROSTAT and Croatian Employment Service indicators unemployment in Croatia is growing steadily, and the measures the government has taken so far are insufficient to turn around the negative trends. The government seems to think that they can put out the fire with a teaspoon of water."
Along with the question she posed to the European Commission, Šuica will speak about the problem of youth unemployment in today's session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where she will welcome the June agreement by European leaders on 6 billion euros for youth and where she will express hope that the agreement will actually be reflected in the budget for 2014. Šuica will continue to follow the topic of youth employment in her parliamentary work.
