Youth Guarantee program good Lombardy

(ANSA) - Milan, July 25 - A European Union youth jobs program that kicked off in 2014 ''is an excellent initiative that is working well'' in Italy's northern region of Lombardy, regional governor Roberto Maroni said on Monday.
    He was speaking on the sidelines of a conference organized by the regional government in Milan.
    The program, called Youth Guarantee, aims to ensure that every young person in Europe is offered a good-quality job, further education or work-focused training within four months after leaving education or after becoming unemployed.
    He added that ''57,000 young people, 87% of those who took part in the program, have found a job. It was money well spent. ''This is one of the main actions done by the regional legislature,'' he said, noting that he hoped that Labor Minister Giuliano Poletti would manage to secure refinancing of the initiative.
    The Youth Guarantee program had a two-year budget of 1.513 billion euros, with 1.134 billion euros in EU funding and the rest financed by Rome.
    ''Europe is proving to be more of a 'stepmother' than real help for regions,'' he lamented. ''At least as concerns Youth Guarantee and labor policies, it should get moving and give the necessary resources to continue this successful experiment. This is (an example of) best practice, the Lombardy model is working well and it should be supported and exported''.