Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Laszlo Andor welcome the fact that Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, and Slovakia have already submitted the first draft implementation plans to the Commission for consideration, the Commission said after a Paris conference on youth unemployment which drew the leaders of 24 of the EU's 28 members, including Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic.
The EU conceived the Youth Guarantee scheme as recommendations that every young person under 25 should be provided with good job offers, continuation of education or internship within four months of leaving school or losing a job. Every member country accepted the scheme and has to submit an implementation plan, including financing, by year's end.
The Commission said that Croatia submitted the first draft implementation plan in October and that the final draft was being written. Brussels said the government strongly supported it and that it was considering the possibility of offering the scheme to young people under 29 within six months.
According to temporary projections, Croatia could get EUR 61.82 million within the Youth Employment Initiative.