Parteciperò a Barcellona, lunedì 29 e martedì 30, al EU Integration Forum, di cui potete trovare i dettagli sul sito http://www.euif.eu/

Ho scritto un articolo sui temi della conferenza, che è la disoccuatione giovanile. Vi propongo l’articolo, che è stato pubblicato su www.werenotleaving.com: http://werenotleaving.com/2014/09/27/guest-article-the-lost-generation-of-europe-once-again-the-same-solution/

Ve lo propongo. A breve lo tradurrò in sardo

Each year the Robert Bosch Foundation brings together 100 young leaders from all 28 European Union (EU) member states in order to discuss a hot topic within the EU political sphere. This year we gather in Barcelona to deal with the issue of youth unemployment.

Some months ago the Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi told journalists that his generation is the “Erasmus generation”. Maybe Renzi, at thirty-nine, belongs to that generation. But as for us young Europeans aged between 18 and 35? I believe it would be more accurate to refer to ourselves as a “lost generation”.  We are the sons and daughters of baby boomers, and we envy them. If we have a job (often we don’t), it is highly precarious and awards only a very low salary. We are not capable of sustaining a family of our own, with many of us still living with our parents.

The concept note of the European Union Integration Forum (EUIF) states that “while there are signs that the EU is now gradually emerging from the crisis, with the first ‘green shoots’ starting to appear, many experts fear we could be heading for years of stagnation similar to Japan’s lost decade, with stubbornly low economic growth and persistently high unemployment”^[1].

I cannot agree with the first part of the statement. It is simply not true. We do not see any sign that EU is now gradually emerging from the crisis. Last weekend, just to mention the most recent economic outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that the already slow growth in the EU will be lower than originally projected. Add to that the fact that, even when there is an economic improvement such as that currently seemingly occurring in Spain, this does not mean that young generation are finding jobs and living better. Our societies will experience a relatively new framework: economic growth and poverty growth.

The political-economic recipes we have tried thus far, these so-called “solutions”, are not working. Furthermore, this lack of real growth is not due to social unrest or so-called “extreme political groups”. These are the products of the crisis, not its causes. History tells us this. Indeed, we should be discussing more openly what exactly “extremist political groups” are. Do we put Syriza, Podemos and the indignados together with the likes of Neo-Nazis?

In 2012, in order to save the “lost generation” and the EU itself, Emiliano Brancaccio, a prominent economics professor, proposed a “European Wage Standard”^[2]. Besides the economic technicalities that scholars and researchers can analyse better than me, the quoted paper posed a fundamental question: “What do we put first? The people or the markets?”. The European Wage Standard is a progressive way of unifying salaries and workers’ conditions, so that we can balance the actual inequalities.

The EUIF will face these issues and many others, and it will do it in Spain, where youth unemployment and poverty are at unacceptable levels. It will do it in the home of Podemos, a political movement of young people who, according to the polls, has the support of more than 20% of the electorate today.

EUIF also takes into account local governments and asks “what role should the different levels of governance – European, national, regional and local – play in this?”. I am city councillor in Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia. We have always been extremely cautious in the administration of our budget. We do not have debts, and we are universally recognised as a “healthy” municipality. Therefore, we can state with authority that within the existing financial rules it is impossible to have a pro-active role as a local government in tackling unemployment and poverty. The stability pact and the fiscal compact forced us to cut social services and not to intervene in crucial sectors, such as social housing.

We need a great leap forward in Europe. Within “History of the Idea of Europe“, Federico Chabod, in says that “change” is one of the deepest characters of Europe. Yet, at a moment when the current policies are generating a lost generation of young people, we continue on a failing path. We must change, and in this way we will really renovate the idea of Europe. Otherwise, we will die, as we already are doing.

Enrico Lobina
@EnricoLobina

Enrico Lobina is a councillor in Cagliari, Sardinia and supporter of L’Altra Europa. He is an activist with the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) and provincial secretary of the National Association of Partisans (ANPI) which celebrates the history of anti-fascism in Italy. He can be found at http://www.enricolobina.org.

• ^[1] http://www.euif.eu/networks/files/file.168269
• ^[2] http://mesharpe.metapress.com/content/q03881805n760j68/?id=q03881805n760j68