The crisis in Europe hasn't only been caused by financial greed and irresponsibility of some governments, but also by the fact that many institutions such as the Eurozone haven't been built on solid foundations, said EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič at the European Information Centre in Bratislava on Thursday. “This crisis is perceptible everywhere in Europe and it seems to be waking up the demons from the past: intolerance, xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-immigration moods,” said Šefčovič, speaking during a discussion marking Europe Day (9 May).
According to him, Europe is going through a very difficult patch. “It's necessary to talk a lot about what has caused this crisis and how we are going to confront it,” said Šefčovič, adding that it hasn't been just the Greeks or the Portuguese that have landed us in this situation. High youth unemployment is one of the most difficult problems to be addressed at the moment, Šefčovič suggests. “Currently we're experiencing a situation we haven't seen since WWII. We have 7.2 million young people who are unemployed, that are not continuing in the education process and aren't part of any re-qualification programme - basically they are at home.” He went to point out that the generation that has received probably the highest quality education since WWI is losing its ideals. Suggesting possible solution for the state of affairs, Šefčovič highlighted that changes should be made to the education system. “We certainly have an excess of people in some positions,” he said. “In 2015, tens of thousands of IT specialists will be lacking in the EU and we will have to find them abroad,” he stated as an example of the imbalance between the education system and the labour market.
Christopher George
