Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced his plans to acquire €80 million from EU coffers in order to fight youth unemployment in Slovakia. He told journalists on Tuesday that the funds should come from the “The Youth Employment Initiative” project financed from EU funds, with six billion euro being allocated for the entire project. The sum should be divided between 10 to 11 EU countries, where more than a quarter of young people are without a job. This topic, along with the promotion of economic growth will be on the agenda of the upcoming summit of EU leaders in Brussels taking place on June 27 and 28.
Fico considers this idea extremely ambitious and costly, but he believes that it will not have the same fate as other plans of the EU in the past. However, Brussels will have to approve of the desired allocation of this money. According to Fico, it is not enough only to create jobs for young people, suggesting the promotion of the economy being the main priority. “It is why the Investment Plan for Europe is here, which aims to mobilise all funds of the European Investment Bank,” he said. The available money should thus be used as loans to small and medium enterprises. “Since the initiative is already here, our task will be to talk about it with the representatives of employers,” said Fico. He believes that if the EU countries fail to concentrate all their resources in the budget they will not be able to kickstart economic growth.
