The high levels of unemployment in the EU particularly among the youth remain blight on the body politic. In March 2013 there were 5.7 million young people without work in the 28-nation bloc of whom 3.6 million were in the eurozone. These figures are twice as high as the overall rate of unemployment. In the crisis stricken countries the figures are worse. In Spain more than half of the population under the age of 25 is jobless, while in Portugal it is 40% and in Greece in February it was a record high at 64%. The EU was at the centre of the global financial crash of 2007-08. In the years of recession that followed, the member states of the EU adopted the policies of austerity and unemployment. These policies are a direct attack on the working class. As talk of a “lost generation” spread and fearful of the youth causing destabilising social unrest, the EU has resorted to schemes to tackle unemployment. Economists dismiss the schemes as a public relations exercise.

 One of the measures adopted by the member states of the EU to combat unemployment is the Youth Guarantee Scheme. Under this scheme, all young people up to the age of 25 receive an offer of a job, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. The EU is to help member states fund the Youth Guarantee schemes through the use of EU structural funds, notably the Youth Employment Initiative. The EU leaders agreed to front-load the Euro 6 billions that had been earmarked for the Initiative so that these funds are available in 2014-2016. The EU member states also launched the European Alliance for Apprenticeships in July.  The programmes are designed to link up the private sector, social partners and businesses to create apprenticeships .The EU member states also agreed to strengthen existing initiatives such as helping young people find employment across borders as well as fostering cross- border vocational training.

 The grand sounding Youth Guarantee Scheme and other measures adopted by the EU appear not to be working. Thus Arnaldo Abruzzi, the head of the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry in a TV interview said “Roughly 80% of the new jobs in the last five years have been created by other means; therefore if we do not want to fight youth unemployment, we need to take care about the growth and competitiveness of Europe as a means”. The association also called for an annual EU summit to address such issues as providing training and apprenticeships to young people who have left their formal education. One of the reasons given by experts for the failure of the Youth Guarantee Scheme is the lack of the individual political will on the part of EU states to implement the Youth Guarantee Scheme. In Britain the government’s own advisors have branded its flagship scheme to tackle youth unemployment, the £1bn Youth Contract, a failure. It provides temporary wage subsidies to employers worth up to £2,275 if they provide a six month “job start” for under 25s. A quarter of the way through the programme, of 160,000 subsidies provided, there were only 21,000 applications and 2,070 payments made for young people completing 26 weeks on the scheme. One of the government’s advisors said the programme did not “make a meaningful dent in appallingly high levels of youth unemployment”. One third of jobless 18-24 year olds (250,000 people) had been out of work for more than 12 months and 15% (115,000) for more than 24 months, the highest level since 1994. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission has warned “Our judgement is that here the UK Government was too late to the party and what it is doing is so far having too limited an impact.” David Cameron at the Tory Party conference in September threatened unemployed under 25s that they could lose their right to housing benefit and Jobseeker’s Allowance if they were not in work or training.

Punishment for unemployment, as if it was the fault of those who could not obtain jobs and not intrinsic to capitalism with its industrial reserve army, is being meted out in the USA and Britain through the introduction of workfare. Workfare, a welfare to work scheme, forces welfare recipients to work to earn their benefit. It was introduced by the Labour Party in Britain in 1998. The present Con Dem government introduced its own scheme, MWA (mandatory work activity), which states that if you are referred to this scheme you must do 4 weeks of 30 hours unpaid labour at government offices, charities and private companies. Cait Reilly, a young graduate was forced under this scheme to go to work for Tesco, a supermarket, to stack shelves for free under threat of losing her benefits. She challenged this order in the courts and the Supreme Court ruled that the workfare scheme was illegal. This will not stop the government rewriting the law to ensure the scheme carries on. Resistance to its reintroduction by campaigns like Boycott Workfare, through demonstrations and other forms of protest are set to continue.

As more than 1,000 young people a day join the ranks of Europe’s unemployed, the failure of EU policies on youth unemployment become more glaring. For millions of people, the European dream has turned into a nightmare. Far right parties are on the rise. Alexis Tsiparas, leader of the left wing Syriza Party in Greece in reaction to the EU’s failed policies says, “Europe needs an anti- austerity and anti-recession front, a solidarity movement for its working people, north and south. This could deliver a pact for democracy, development and social justice”.