According to figures released in Brussels, more than six million young people in the Union leave education and training "with lower secondary level qualifications at best."
The action plan warns that early school leavers "face severe difficulties in finding work, are more often unemployed and more often dependent on welfare benefits."
All of this "hampers economic and social development and is a serious obstacle to the European Union's goal of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth."
"Europe cannot afford that so many young people who have the potential to contribute to our societies and our economies are left behind. We need to realise the potential of all young people in Europe in order to recover from the crisis," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quoted as saying.
According to Eurostat figures, Croatia fares best as only 3.9 percent of young people leave school early.
However, the EU statistical office warns that data for Slovenia and Croatia "lack reliability due to a small sample size".
Noting that the current EU-average of 14.4 percent of early school leavers "masks considerable differences between countries", the action plan notes that seven member-states which have already achieved the 10% benchmark are Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
The worst situation is in Malta, Portugal and Spain with rates higher than 30 percent.
The action plan is to be included on the agenda of education ministers' meeting in Brussels in early May. The EU member-states are expected to define comprehensive strategies by the end of 2012 to tackle this issue.