Mr Celestino Corbacho, the Spanish Employment Minister, recently announced that the European Commission is working on a plan to provide EUR 100 million (USD 139 million) in microloans to unemployed youth under the age of 25 and the long-term unemployed. New statistics released by Eurostat indicate that the unemployment rate for Europeans under 25 reached 21.4 percent in December, compared with an average unemployment rate of 9.6 percent across all age groups in the European Union.

“The microcredit program would target those people who tend to have difficulties getting loans from banks and evaluate potential loan recipients based on social rather than financial criteria.”

By: Stefanie Rubin, Research Assistant

About the European Commission (EC):

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. It drafts proposals for European laws and implements decisions of the Parliament and Council. The EC was set up in the 1950s under the EU’s founding treaties.

Additional Resources:

Source Article: DW-World.de: “EU Plans Microcredit Line to Tackle Youth Unemployment,” http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5194867,00.html

MicroCapital Universe: European Commission: http://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=European+Commission+%28EC%29