European Youth Forum condemns Committee’s stance favouring unpaid internships

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4th March 2014

Press contacts: Sarah Farndale, European Youth Forum, + 32 2286 9436 / +32 490 390 665 sarah.farndale@youthforum.org / press@youthforum.org

European Youth Forum condemns Committee’s stance favouring unpaid internships

Brussels, 4 March 2014 // The European Youth Forum is disappointed at the outcome of the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER) on the Quality Framework for Traineeships and strongly criticises the recommendations as limited and weak.

The European Youth Forum welcomed the proposal from the Commission for a Council Recommendation on the Quality Framework for Traineeships (QFT), which was aligned to the Youth Forum’s own European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships in several ways, particularly on ensuring the educational value of internships.

However, the Forum believes that the Recommendation, as agreed in COREPER and to be approved by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) later this month, is limited.

The Recommendation is weak in its scope. It does not refer to internships that are part of academic or vocational training and does not necessarily apply to all internship opportunities that are funded through European social and structural funds. This is a cause for concern; any internship schemes created under the Youth Guarantee and with the use of the Youth Employment Initiative funds must come under a Quality Framework in order to ensure that they are a valuable experience for young people and can concretely contribute to getting young people into employment.

Furthermore, another key area that has been neglected in the proposal is the working conditions and rights of interns. Whilst the Recommendation refers to ensuring that the rights of interns are respected, it offers no concrete recommendations to do so: the access of interns to social protection is not guaranteed through the QFT, whilst the issue of appropriate remuneration of interns is also not tackled. This is a clear failure to address the widespread issue of unpaid internships and to put an end to the social discrimination at play when it comes to accessing internship opportunities.

Finally, the Youth Forum is also disappointed to note that the timeline indicated for Member States to take appropriate measures to apply the Framework is not more urgent.

The Recommendation as it stands is weak and can only be seen as the bare minimum in improving the situation of interns across Europe. The European Youth Forum urges Member States to urgently take strong action and ensure that the Recommendation approved in the March EPSCO does not remain a missed opportunity.

Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum, comments:

“At a time when youth unemployment levels are still high, now should be the moment to finally turn words into action. The European Youth Forum is extremely disappointed that the Committee has ignored many of the elements of a quality internship that we have persistently called for. Member States must now act urgently to finally put an end to the exploitation of young people as a form of cheap labour.”

The European Youth Forum’s European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships can be found in full below.

The Recommendation from the Permanent Representatives Committee on the Quality Framework for Traineeships can be found here.

Notes to the editor:

About the European Youth Forum

The European Youth Forum is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Independent, democratic, youth-led, it represents 99 National Youth Councils and international youth organisations from across the continent. The Forum works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations towards the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. For more information, visit www.youthforum.org