Mizzi promotes entrepreneurial skills in Europe

Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi today stressed the importance and urgency of having more initiatives and a progressive entrepreneurship action plan for young people. 

Only through such initiatives could young people increase their prospect of success in today's cut throat job-market. Mizzi's comments come in view of a reply by the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska on young entrepreneurs in the EU.

Mizzi had asked the Commission what measures the EU was taking to support young entrepreneurs in the European Union.  

"The current economic crisis in Europe has been described by many as being primarily a jobs crisis, further aggravated by the rapid skills shortage in the labour market. While I agree that a strong focus on tackling obstacles for existing companies is needed, at the same time, I also believe that exiting the crisis is not a one way solution and what we urgently need is to support more entrepreneurs in Europe," said Mizzi.

In her reply, Commissioner Bieńkowska said that the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan has a strong focus on youth entrepreneurship helping young people to acquire entrepreneurial skills and encourage business creation. In addition, the EU programmes like COSME and Erasmus+ support the implementation of relevant actions.

The European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) will also be available to support young entrepreneurs.

For the 2014-2020 period, EUR 59 billion will be focused overall on SME support measures, of which EUR 32.4 billion fall directly under the SME competitiveness objective of the European Regional Development Fund, including for start-up support.

Reacting to this reply, Mizzi, an entrepreneur herself, welcomes the Commission’s efforts to invest in people who have the ideas and are ready to take chances and set up new companies.

Supporting more young entrepreneurs could become a beacon of job creation and growth in Europe.

"Nevertheless, I think that successful and sustainable entrepreneurship requires more than financial support to start-up companies and what is really lacking is the entrepreneurship culture. Entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial training should be developed at all levels of education and training starting from basic education, vocational training and higher education curricula", said she said.

"We need to build on what the Commission has done and continue the dialogue and cooperation between educational institutions and the business community, aimed at developing educational programmes which equip young people with the right entrepreneurial skills and competences needed for a successful business. It is with this in mind that I am hosting a special event on the 23rd of June in the European Parliament in Brussels - Teaching Entrepreneurship? New Needs - New Methods", said Mizzi.

The event will gather representatives from all European Institutions and the private sector to continue the discussions on how Europe can stimulate more entrepreneurial spirit and develop more entrepreneurial skills such as creativity, critical thinking, and teamwork in particular for young people, as an effective way of combating unemployment and increasing Europe's competitiveness.