EU targets youth unemployment
Greece’s share from the European Youth Employment Initiative amounts to 160.24 million euros, according to a decision reached at a summit of EU leaders in Paris on Tuesday.
The funding is part of the 6 billion euros allocated to the project from the new European Union budget for the 2014-20 period.
The money is destined to fund subsidized employment and training programs in EU regions where unemployment among the under-25 age group is over 25 percent.
Most of Greece’s regions qualify for this criterion, and the funds will become available from January 1, 2014, to the end of 2015, but the government will have to have all of its programs ready by the end of this year for the absorption of the subsidies to start in January.
Cyprus has been allocated 10.81 million euros, with all of its regions being eligible for funding.
Greece’s youth unemployment currently stands at 57.3 percent, while in Cyprus it amounts to 43.9 percent.
