Thu, 09 Oct, 2014 04:02:46 AM FTimes- Xinhua Report, Oct 9  European leaders attend an European Union (EU) extraordinary summit "Growth and Employment" on October 8, 2014 in Milan. European Union leaders headed to Milan today for an emergency jobs summit that was set to be overshadowed by a deepening split over the rules governing the euro. Matteo Renzi, Italy's reform-minded young prime minister, called the meeting to kickstart a discussion on balancing budget deficit ceilings which he and others blame for aggravating the current economic downturn with measures to bolster growth. Photo AFP-Lehtikuva. European Union (EU) leaders in a summit on labor held in Milan on Wednesday called for a more efficient use of European funds to beat Europe's current main challenge, youth unemployment.
Billions of euros in potential funds to help labor market recovery already are on the European agenda, including 6 billion euros (7.6 billion U.S. dollars) to be destined to projects over 2014 and 2015.
"However, these instruments are not always used in a proper way ... we need to make further steps to avoid that funds remain only on paper," European Parliament Speaker Martin Schulz told a joint press conference after the meeting.
Existing resources should be transformed into concrete projects to boost employment before new money is put at disposal, French President Francois Hollande pointed out.
Hollande said European countries should especially push for more training centers, especially centered on new sectors such as the digital industry, as well as for credit and microcredit initiatives to encourage youth entrepreneurship.
"How to boost employment? We need to work continuously at the European and national levels," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy highlighted.
He stressed that a whole generation of young Europeans risks to be lost due to the plague of unemployment.
Europe's future, he said, depends on the capacity of member states to address the challenge of key structural changes, starting from less taxes and more flexibility in the labor market.
A 300-billion-euro public-private investment program to stimulate the European economy over the next three years suggested by European Commission president-elect Jean-Claude Juncker last summer was a "good proposal", Van Rompuy stressed.
The program, however, should be "specified in more details" and "should be given top priorities" to boost youth employment and economic growth, he said.
A fundamental point in Wednesday's meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the press conference, is that "there will be funds and they shall be used correctly."
Merkel also added that though it is important to invest more in jobs, at the same time it is fundamental to prepare the rules and training for jobs of the future.
She agreed with Hollande that the digital industry will especially provide new space for employment in the coming few years.
Although Europe has managed to overcome the 2008 economic crisis, unemployment rate has kept increasing and is currently at 11.9 percent in the eurozone, differently from the United States that have brought it down to 5.9 percent, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi noted.
Young people were hit particularly hard by the slow jobs market in his country, where the youth unemployment rate has exceeded 40 percent.
This week was crucial for the parliamentary progress of a labor reform aimed at making Italy's job market more flexible in terms of hiring and firing workers, widening unemployment benefits and improving the efficiency of public employment agencies. (1 euro = 1.26 U.S. dollars)
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