EU Funds to support unemployed, marginalised and youth

Slovakia will have €2.2 billion from the EU budget available for the 2014-20 programme period to use on the investment into employment and social inclusion. The Government is to have access to money from the Operational Programme Human Resources that has already been approved by the European Commission (EC). The money received should be allocated to investments in human resources and should help the unemployed find work. According to the EC, the three main priorities are the fight against youth unemployment, the provision of aid to disadvantaged groups and assistance to marginalised Roma communities. Projects financed from the budget should focus on young people gaining skills and knowledge that employers require and on the accessibility to pre-school facilities. According to the EC, 250,000 unemployed should be positively affected, in particular the long-term jobless and those with low qualifications. It's expected that as many as 80,000 young people will benefit from the Youth Employment Initiative. Resources from the programme will also be available to 150 villages where marginalised Roma communities live, to be invested mainly in education, financial literacy, health awareness and social activities in these communities.