Youth unemployment, socio-economic divergences and fiscal capacity in the euro area

While the European Heads of States and Governments, institutions, and social partners meet at the High level conference on youth employment in Paris, Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute published a Policy Paper on these issues, by Maria João Rodrigues in November 2013.

After having presented what kind of divergences exist in the EU and in the euro area in this context, the author assess the EU tool box to cope with these divergences and proposes solutions to brake them. She also answers the questions about the possibility for monetary integration to work without fiscal capacity or what kind of fiscal capacity is needed in the EMU and how to build it up. She finally asserts we need to re-balance the conditions to get financial support and proposes an alternative policy-mix in order to do so.

She concludes by saying that in order to cope with the scale of the problem of youth unemployment, a new policy mix has to be shifted towards more growth, investment and jobs creation, and financing costs of investment have to be reduced by new instruments to be developed to complete the EMU: banking union and a proper fiscal capacity.

ESO: Background information: New summit on youth unemployment http://www.europeansources.info/record/new-summit-on-youth-unemployment/

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