Securing agreement on the EU budget with the European Parliament is “vital” but will not be easy, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore has told an Oireachtas committee.
Addressing the European Affairs Committee yesterday, Mr Gilmore described as “productive” discussions on the issue with European Parliament president Martin Schultz and European Commission president José Manuel Barroso in Dublin last week.
“We now have a clearer picture of where each of the players stands,” he said. “The challenge ahead will not be an easy one, but I am confident that with goodwill on all sides we can reach agreement.” The budget, known as the Multi-annual Financial Framework , will cover EU spending between 2014 and 2020.
EU-wide recovery
“Timely implementation of the MFF is critical to underpin recovery across the EU; and to facilitate implementation of vitally important programmes ranging from Horizon 2020 to the Cosme programme; to the CAP; and to cohesion and regional funding,” Mr Gilmore said.
He noted that Ireland is now one-third of the way through its presidency of the EU. “I think we can justifiably take some pride in our achievements to date . . . We are making a contribution in taking Europe beyond the crisis.” Mr Gilmore said “two landmark breakthroughs” were brokered last week by the Irish EU presidency: agreement on capital requirements and agreement on the so-called Youth Guarantee. The first, he said, responded “to the concerns of citizens and government about the unbridled bonus arrangements which impacted on the risk profile of the banking system”. Bonuses would now be regulated in “a sensible way”, he added.
“The Youth Guarantee, when implemented, will assure young people under the age of 25 of a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed,” he said.
Youth employment
“I know that the committee shares my concern on levels of youth unemployment across the EU. There are currently 7.5 million young people in Europe not in employment, education or training. This is 12.9 per cent of those aged 15 to 24. As Minister Burton said last week, the economic and social costs of this are ‘simply devastating’.”
Mr Gilmore noted that although each EU member state faces different implementation issues, progress should be supported by the €6 billion youth employment initiative under the MFF.