EU Commissioner calls for educational strategy

The EU is slowly exiting the financial crisis which crippled many countries in and outside Europe, however it still faces grim challenges, such as unemployment, European commissioner Maros Sefcovic said.

Addressing a young crowd at a public dialogue entitled Back to the F(eu)ture in Valletta, in which MEP Roberta Metsola and candidate for the upcoming MEP elections Cyrus Engerer were also present, the European Commissioner for inter-institutional affairs said that despite the economic crisis, the Eurozone remained the biggest single market and includes five of the world's 10 largest economies.

However, Sefcovic said that there was room for improvement, adding that "it is in the interest of all member states to strive for a more competitive market".

With the latest latest Eurostat figures showing that around 19 million people are out of work across the Eurozone, Sefcovic said that the EU has to address this by embarking on a European education strategy to tackle the growing mismatches between students' skills and the market's demands.

While noting the large number of students in tertiary education across Europe, Sefcovic pointed out the irony in having two million vacancies across Europe.

"The number of youngsters attending Universities across Europe is big, but sometimes these skills do not match the requirements of the labour market," he said.

Turning to the growing euroscepticism, the commissioner said that this could be attributed to a number of factors, including a wrong perception on EU institutions.

Dubbing the phrase 'The Brusselsisation of failure and the Nationalisation of success', Sefcovic said that decisions taken at EU level - however unpopular - were a result of compromise between the institutions and member states.

"Decisions are made in Brussels and not by Brussels," he said, admitting that a lack of information on the EU could also foster euroscepticism.

"It seems that, whereas the national systems are explained quite well, the roles and functions of the EU institutions are not always understood," he said.

Sefcovic said that decisions made at top-European level had to be explained to the people who will be affected by such legislation, thus bringing the EU and its institutions closer to the people.

Meanwhile, Sefcovic paid tribute to Malta's representation in European institutions, citing 'a young average age' and 'excellent level of English' as reasons for Malta's performances on a European level. He said that, despite Malta's comparatively low representation, the country remained 'very competitive'.