The European Commission Action team is going to Spain, where unemployment is affecting almost 50% of young people, to develop targeted plans together with national experts to be included in the National Reform Programmes which will be submitted to the European Commission (mid-April) as part of the European Semester of EU economic governance.

After being travelled to Latvia or Italy, the European Commission Action team leaves for Spain in order to work in cooperation with the national authorities and social partners, in the labour market reform which has already started by the Spanish Government. It will focus on complementing and speeding the implementation of this reform, with special focus on tackling youth unemployment. A Commission's survey recently published had stressed that young people are the main drivers of movement on the EU labour market.

The unemployment is affecting almost 50% of young people in Spain. The current situation is due in particular to early school leaving – Spain's rate is very high compared with the EU average, with high levels of graduate unemployment and segmentation of the labour market characterized by frequent use of temporary contracts. Unemployment affects all groups of young people, but most at risk are those with low skills.

The Action team will see how to use the EU structural Funds that are still to be allocated in order to combat youth unemployment. According to the Commission, this combat requires coordinated action between education and labour market. Short term solutions focussing on the support of education and training, such as increasing the skills of youth unemployed through immediate training, strengthening the role of apprenticeships and vocational training, including via programmes as Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci, encouraging entrepreneurship, are all concrete actions that can be considered. The discussions will also focus on how to support and to accelerate the implementation of investments in the SME sector as a key driver of job creation.