Substantial EU financial support to youth employment measures is provided by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI).

25. Recalls that the Commission has not proposed any commitment appropriations for the Youth Employment Initiative in 2016 as a result of its frontloading in the years 2014-2015; decides, in line with the Regulation on the European Social Fund which foresees the possibility of such a continuation, to provide the Youth Employment Initiative with EUR 473,2 million in commitment appropriations, namely an amount corresponding to the initial annual instalment foreseen for this programme; is convinced that funding for this important programme, which addresses one of the Union's most pressing challenges, should not stop in 2015; underlines that the additional funding should be used to scale up the programme, thus assisting a greater number of y ...[+++]oung people in their search for a decent and permanent job; urges the Member States to do their utmost to speed up the implementation of the Initiative on the ground, for the direct benefit of young Europeans; urges the Commission to report to Parliament on Union funded measures to combat youth unemployment and on the results achieved with those measures;

26. Recalls that the Commission has not proposed any commitment appropriations for the Youth Employment Initiative in 2016 as a result of its frontloading in the years 2014-2015; decides, in line with the Regulation on the European Social Fund which foresees the possibility of such a continuation, to provide the Youth Employment Initiative with EUR 473,2 million in commitment appropriations, namely an amount corresponding to the initial annual instalment foreseen for this programme; is convinced that funding for this important programme, which addresses one of the Union's most pressing challenges, should not stop in 2015; underlines that the additional funding should be used to scale up the programme, thus assisting a greater number of y ...[+++]oung people in their search for a decent and permanent job; urges the Member States to do their utmost to speed up the implementation of the Initiative on the ground, for the direct benefit of young Europeans; urges the Commission to report to Parliament on Union funded measures to combat youth unemployment and on the results achieved with those measures;

37. Welcomes the reduction in youth unemployment rates, but points out that they are still at alarming levels in many Member States and regions, and do not necessarily reflect net job creation; stresses that job insecurity and underemployment have also risen, and that in 2014 43 % of young people were in temporary employment while 32 % were in part-time employment; welcomes the Commission’s decision to release EUR 1 billion as advance funding for the Youth Guarantee Scheme; calls on the Member States to use all ...[+++]available funds swiftly and efficiently in order to implement the Youth Employment Initiative with minimum quality standards; calls, moreover, for those funds to be carefully and continuously monitored so as to ensure that they help young people gain a long-term foothold in the job market; calls on the Member States to prioritise language learning and to facilitate mobility through programmes such as ERASMUS+ or ERASMUS for Young Entrepreneurs, and also to take part in the EURES employment network; also stresses the importance of promoting and encouraging apprenticeships as a way for young people to gain the professional qualifications which will facilitate their access to the job market;

39. Warns that the alarming rates of youth unemployment threaten to bring about the loss of an entire generation, especially in less developed regions and those regions which have been hit hardest by the crisis and unemployment; insists that advancing the integration of young people into the job market must remain a top priority, to the attainment of which the active contribution of the EU is indispensable, and to which the integrated use of the ESF, the ERDF, the Cohesion Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative ...[+++] (YEI ) can make a major contribution; considers that a more results-oriented approach should be taken in this regard in order to ensure the most effective use of available resources, thereby boosting employment and competitiveness, generating more revenue and benefiting the entire EU economy; underlines, in this context, the vital role of the Youth Guarantee in helping young people under 25 either to find a good quality job or to acquire the education, skills and experience needed to find employment; highlights that all resources needed to implement the Youth Guarantee and the other measures covered by the YEI must be provided as soon as possible; believes that clear and readily understandable impact indicators should be used by which the contribution of EU funds to growth and employment can be gauged properly;

7. Welcomes the Commission’s measures to combat youth unemployment which should, alongside the EU’s Youth Employment Initiative and, especially, the Youth Guarantee and in line with the EU 2020 Strategy, seek to put forward solutions to encourage the creation of decent, high-quality and sustainable jobs and equal opportunities for young people, promoting social inclusion, reducing job insecurity and the risk of poverty, giving young people a sense of dignity and an independent life and fighting the brain drain; –considers that such m ...[+++]easures should also encourage and strengthen existing mobility programmes and better recognition of skills and qualifications within the EU, and promote increased cross-border and inter-regional cooperation while limiting existing administrative obstacles and removing the current barriers for apprenticeships, traineeships and internships to better combat geographical mismatches between supply and demand of jobs as part of a roadmap for the future of a more economically, socially and territorially cohesive economic and monetary union; calls for the Member States and regional and local authorities to quickly implement the measures drawn up under the Youth Guarantee Scheme, and to promote exchanges of successful models that have resulted in positive trends in terms of reducing youth unemployment, in particular among the NEETS group; notes, however, that funding to fight youth unemployment is inadequate, and stresses that the proposed EUR 6 billion funding for the 2014-2020 EU Youth Employment Initiative is not sufficient to have any significant impact on the situation of young people.