European leaders pledged on Tuesday to make fighting youth unemployment in the bloc a priority but came up with no new ideas to tackle a problem that risks fuelling social unrest and distrust of mainstream parties, reports Reuters.
Nearly 6 million people under the age of 25 are without work in the European Union, with jobless rates among the young at close to 60 percent in Spain and Greece.
A July jobs summit in Berlin set out plans to devote at least 6 billion euros over the next two years to addressing the problem - a big headline figure that looks less impressive when spread among the many unemployment blackspots in the region.
Hosting a follow-up summit in Paris, French President Francois Hollande said any country that submitted a national plan to fight youth unemployment by year-end would immediately receive EU funds to implement their programme.
"It's crucial to act quickly," Hollande said. "We can't abandon a generation ... we need jobs and training that offer young people real prospects."
But with the leader of the euro zone's number two economy more unpopular than ever and bigger neighbour Germany still in political limbo following its election, conditions for advancing a potentially divisive debate could hardly be less favourable.
Though youth funds are to be rushed out, European leaders did not pledge additional money nor propose any new Europe-wide policy initiative to kick-start hiring of what EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said was a "lost generation".
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy urged member states to pursue labour market reforms to spur hiring and said that he expected joblessness to diminish in the coming year.
"The economic recovery is taking shape. ... We can hope that in 14 months' time from now all the countries in the euro zone will have seen a positive trend on jobs," he said.
Read more of this report from Reuters.