EMPL

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS (EMPL)

No one left behind: The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately hit research and development in some Member States. Students and early-career scientists are leaving their regions in order to obtain better funding in others, resulting in a vicious cycle of brain drain. How can the EU stop this trend whilst treating all regions fairly?

Submitted by: Anouk Oldenhuis Arwert, Grace Mbonu, Nienke Hut, Petter Hartman, Sofia Dobrovitskaya, Wies Blaauw, Joran Meijerink, Nikoleta Chapanova (Chairperson, BG)

The European Youth Parliament,

  1. Appreciating the Horizon Europe programme that will invest up to EUR 95,5 billion in supporting researchers and entrepreneurs by 2027,
  2. Noting that the programme’s predecessor, Horizon 2020, failed to equally distribute funding among the EU’s regions,
  3. Regretting the lack of a united approach to combat youth unemployment in the EU,
  4. Stressing the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic pandemic has worsened the disparities between the EU’s regions,
  5. Keeping in mind that the freedom of movement, as laid out in Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), should not be restricted,
  6. Appreciating the expanding possibility of remote working in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic,
  7. Concerned by existing disparities between different regions of the EU with regard to:
    1. investment in innovation,
    2. employment rates and average salary,
    3. economic performance;
  1. Congratulates the Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) on implementing investment programmes in research and innovation such as Horizon Europe;
  2. Requests that DG RTD takes into account The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) when distributing the aforementioned funds among Member States;
  3. Invites the European Commission to support the European youth in navigating the job market by:
    1. providing consultations for young job-seekers,
    2. creating a network of country-specific employment initiatives targeted at first-time employees; 
  4. Calls on the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) to: 
    1. identify systematic problems in the infrastructure of Member States,
    2. propose solutions to these problems,
    3. communicate its findings with DG RTD;
  5. Suggests Member States invest in information and communications technology (ICT) while ensuring equal distribution among schools and businesses;
  6. Request the European Commission create an EU-wide informational programme on online work and school.