Summary The immediate fight against unemployment is "fundamental", says European President.
ROME (AFP) - European President Herman Van Rompuy on Friday called for an "immediate fight" against unemployment on a visit to Italy ahead of a summit next month set to focus on joblessness.
"The immediate fight against unemployment and especially youth unemployment" is "fundamental", Van Rompuy said at a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
"Today in Europe there are more than seven million young people, who are neither in jobs nor in education or training," he said.
"It is a political, economic and social challenge for our societies. And it is a challenge that we need to meet - as a matter of urgency," he added.
His comments came a day after France announced there were a record number of jobseekers in April and on the same day that Italy said its unemployment rate had reached a record 12 percent.
Van Rompuy said young people should have a "guarantee of receiving a job offer or an offer of education or training within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving school."
He said such "youth guarantee schemes" could be set up across the EU, and better use of resources from the European Investment Bank and the European Globalisation Fund could also be used to tackle the crisis.
Another proposal would be to accelerate the availability of the EU s 6 billion euro ($7.8 billion) Youth Unemployment Initiative.
Employers could also be more involved in finding solutions like job training, and mobility could be increased across EU borders for example through "cross-border vocational training programmes".
Such initiatives should be accompanied at the national level by addressing root causes of unemployment like cutting labour taxes and overhauling labour laws, Van Rompuy said.
