"We cannot and we must not accept the fact that young people feel they do not stand a chance in Europe", emphasised Martin Wansleben, Chief Executive of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), in a speech at the European Parliament.
"In this issue in particular we have a shared responsibility, independent of from which country we originate", said Wansleben during an event hosted by SME Intergroup, the cross-party working group for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).
SME Intergroup and the European Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Eurochambres had organised the event under the heading "Youth employment and rethinking education". The background is the enormous rate of youth unemployment, which, according to data from the European statistical office Eurostat, currently averages at 24 per cent across Europe and by far exceeds 50 per cent in the crisis states Spain and Greece.
In Brussels, Wansleben pointed to the relatively low rate of youth unemployment of currently less than 8 per cent in Germany. The DIHK Chief Executive reported that this "is largely due to the successful dual system of vocational education and training". He continued to point out that "chambers and businesses play a strong and institutionalised role in the vocational education and training system."
Wansleben discussed how to combat youth unemployment in Europe together with Member of the European Parliament and correspondent Katarina Nevedalova and the Deputy-Director General of the Directorate-General for Education and Culture at the European Commission, Xavier Prats-Monné.
Combination of theory and practice required
During the discussion he said that, in addition to foreign language skills and the willingness towards more mobility, the development of entrepreneurial skills as early as during school, university and apprenticeship is of immense importance. Practically relevant vocational education and training as practised in Germany conveys the required combination of theory and practice, Wansleben stated. It thus provides an efficient means to combat youth unemployment in Europe.
Wansleben: "To this end, the DIHK is willing - as are indeed the chambers in Austria and Luxembourg - to put at the disposal of other European countries and their chambers their respective knowledge and well-proven experience." The DIHK Chief Executive recalled the already existing co-operation projects between the DIHK and the chambers in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal for the purpose of developing dual vocational education and training structures in those states.
Eurochambres and the national chamber associations therefore intend to become mainstays in the "European Alliance for Apprenticeships" planned by the European Commission. Already at the end of 2012, in their "Luxembourg Declaration", the chambers of industry and commerce, the chambers of crafts and the economic chambers in Germany, Luxembourg and Austria agreed on increased levels of European educational co-operation throughout Europe.
The meetings of the SME working group are organised in alternating co-operation with the European governing bodies Eurochambres, European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME), Businesseurope and EuroCommerce in Brussels and in Strasbourg. They respectively focus on an EU political topic of current relevance that is of particular importance for SMEs.