French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday announced a Franco-German "offensive" on youth unemployment, saying Europe needed to give hope to the "post-crisis generation" as it had done sixty years ago with the post-war generation, dpa reported. Six million young people are out of work in Europe. "We have to urgently act," Hollande told a seminar at Sciences Po university in Paris, announcing an agreement with Chancellor Angela Merkel "to achieve a real plan for youth employment as of this year." Despite vastly divergent youth unemployment levels - Germany at 8 per cent of people aged 15-24 and France at 25 per cent - leaders from the two countries sang from the same songsheet on the need to get young Europeans working. The two countries' labour and finance ministers attended the Europe: Next Step conference at Sciences Po, before meeting with Hollande. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was also to meet later with Hollande. In Spain, every second young person is unemployed. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said winning the battle against youth unemployment was crucial to "winning the battle for European unity." The action plan that France and Germany aim to present at an EU summit in June and formally launch in Berlin in July does not commit new money to job creation. "The money is there," German Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen said. Instead, Europe's two-biggest economies want to harness existing resources. The European Investment Bank is expected to help finance small and medium-sized businesses, which are seen as the best hope for job creation but which often struggle to raise money. Hollande also announced plans for a programme to allow all young Europeans to complete part of their traineeships in another EU country and called for the speedy implementation of a 6-billion-euro (7.7-billion-dollar) EU youth job creation initiative. The initiative is included in the bloc's 2014-20 budget, which has yet to be ratified by the European Parliament.
