European Union News - 02 July 2012

Two studies undertaken for the European Commission on apprenticeships and traineeships in all EU Member States recommend that these schemes should be more responsive to labour market requirements. European enterprises currently offer company training positions for a total of about 9.4 million students. Apprenticeship-type students represent approximately 40.5% of total secondary education students in the 27 Member States.

The euro area unemployment rate was 11.1% and the EU was 10.3% in May 2012. In both cases, it represents a slight increase compared with April 2011, according to Eurostat. The lowest unemployment rate was once again registered in Austria (4.1%), and the highest in Spain (24.6%).

A new report from the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) calls for kick-start in cyber insurance market. According to ENISA, if the cyber insurance market can be kick started, Europe’s citizens and businesses could benefit from better protection for their computer systems and data.

The European Commission is gathering views on its first draft of a revised communication on the application of EU state aid rules to short-term export credit insurance. In light of the comments received, the Commission will adopt a reviewed communication in December 2012.