Motion for a resolution | Doc. 12869 | 01 February 2012

Mass-unemployment as a systemic threat for the future of Europe, democracy and human rights

Author(s): several Assembly members

Signatories: Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Þuriður BACKMAN, Iceland, UEL ; Mr Viorel Riceard BADEA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Michael CONNARTY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Arcadio DÍAZ TEJERA, Spain, SOC ; Mr Jim DOBBIN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Lydie ERR, Luxembourg, SOC ; Ms Susanna HUOVINEN, Finland, SOC ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Ms Athina KYRIAKIDOU, Cyprus, SOC ; Mr Pietro MARCENARO, Italy, SOC ; Ms Liliane MAURY PASQUIER, Switzerland, SOC ; Sir Alan MEALE, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Federica MOGHERINI REBESANI, Italy, SOC ; Ms Carina OHLSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS, Greece, UEL ; Mr John PRESCOTT, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Jim SHERIDAN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Leonid SLUTSKY, Russian Federation, SOC ; Ms Maria STAVROSITU, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Björn von SYDOW, Sweden, SOC ; Lord John E. TOMLINSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Latchezar TOSHEV, Bulgaria, EPP/CD

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

In more than five Council of Europe member States, more than one third of all the young men and women under the age of 25, although they have finished school, studies or another vocational training, are without any employment. They are desperate. Their chance to find a satisfactory job in the coming months is very small.

This situation is a “sleeping” bomb. Because what our societies do to these young people expectations and because their future is violence, their chances in life are limited. These young people will never accept this situation forever. Furthermore, this violence undermines all our values. When a democracy cannot guarantee a decent future to so many young people, they will lose their belief and their confidence in democracy and will look for other ways to defend their interests.

That is why the Parliamentary Assembly should elaborate a report analysing the size of the existential difficulties of the young people in the Council of Europe’s member States, exploring their causes and consequences, and developing propositions on ways to overcome them.