Sittings · Document

DRAFT REPORT (2025/2184(INI)) 2026-02-26

On the implementation of the Council Recommendation of 30 October 2020 on A Bridge to Jobs – Reinforcing the Youth Guarantee and replacing the Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs · Rapporteur: Hristo Petrov

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This draft report by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs assesses how the reinforced Youth Guarantee has been implemented. It finds uneven results, low awareness and weak monitoring, and calls for targeted improvements. It asks member states to strengthen public employment services, outreach to vulnerable young people, prevention of early school leaving, validation of informal skills and monitoring systems. It recommends rebalancing offers towards skills development, adding volunteering as a fifth strand, launching an open method of coordination on quality, and keeping EU funding earmarked. It calls on the Commission to adopt decisions for member states whose youth unemployment and NEET rates exceed the EU average.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes that Parliament find the reinforced Youth Guarantee has not fully achieved its objectives and needs further improvement, and calls for targeted administrative capacity, outreach, prevention, quality and funding measures, including Commission decisions for member states with above-average youth unemployment and NEET rates.

Key points

  1. The Youth Guarantee promises every young person under 30 a good quality job, continued education, apprenticeship or traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education.
  2. Youth unemployment has fallen by almost ten percentage points in a decade and more than 60 million young people have benefited, but it remains nearly three times higher than for the population as a whole.
  3. NEET numbers remain alarming in several member states and affect women, Roma, young persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups more severely.
  4. The report finds a lack of detailed data on NEET profiles and says young people must be involved in designing measures intended for them.
  5. It finds a plurality of national models, but says this cannot justify excessive performance gaps; too many young people do not receive an offer within four months and follow-up data are lacking.
  6. The majority of NEETs, especially those furthest from the labour market, remain outside Youth Guarantee schemes, and authorities often lack the human and financial resources to reach them.
  7. Awareness of the Youth Guarantee is low, and in several member states it is embedded into broader schemes to the point of becoming invisible.
  8. The report calls for prevention, including action against school dropout and post-placement support, and for individualised guidance, psychosocial support and basic skills training before reintegration.
  9. It calls for validation of skills acquired in informal or non-formal settings and warns that extending the Youth Guarantee to 25–29-year-olds without additional resources dilutes efforts.
  10. It says subsidised jobs do not always guarantee long-term integration and calls for rebalancing offers towards skills development, and for volunteering as a fifth strand with additional funding.
  11. It calls for an open method of coordination on the quality of offers, stronger partnerships between ministries, public employment services, social partners, youth councils, NGOs and local authorities, and synergies with the Child Guarantee and other EU inclusion strategies.
  12. It calls for adequate funding in the next multiannual financial framework, including maintaining the earmarking of EU funds, and for the Commission to adopt decisions for member states with above-average youth unemployment and NEET rates.

Who is affected

  • Young people under 30 in the EU, who are promised an offer within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education.
  • Young people not in employment, education or training, especially women, Roma, young persons with disabilities and those in rural or marginalised areas.
  • Member states, which are asked to strengthen public employment services, outreach, prevention, validation systems and monitoring.
  • The Commission, which is asked to launch an open method of coordination and to adopt decisions for member states with above-average youth unemployment and NEET rates.
  • Public employment services and partner organisations, which often lack qualified staff for complex situations.

Figures and deadlines

  • Under the age of 30: the age limit for the Youth Guarantee offer.
  • Within four months: the deadline to receive an offer after becoming unemployed or leaving education.
  • Almost ten percentage points: the fall in EU youth unemployment over a decade.
  • More than 60 million: young people who have benefited from Youth Guarantee schemes.
  • Around 15 %: the youth unemployment rate, almost three times the rate for the general population.
  • 11.1 % in 2024: the NEET rate in the EU.
  • 54 %: participants in 2024 who remained in the preparatory phase for more than four months.
  • 45.1 %: positive and timely exits from the preparatory phase.

Legal basis: Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union and Articles 145, 147, 149, 165, 288 and 292 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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