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European enterprises will have to be at the forefront of the fight against youth unemployment. Governments spent significant amounts in order to reverse this dramatic trend but there has been little result thus far. Entrepreneurs who are on the ground are the best placed to find a solution to this tragic situation. According to the European Economic and Social Committee, every day since 2008, about 1000 young people have become unempoyed in Europe. 5,6 million young people are currently out of a job. Spain with 56% and Greece with 62% are the unfortunate top-ranking countries. Yet all governments around Europe continue to stress that this generation is the best educated ever! It is obvious that the authorities cannot solve the problem alone. But they must take action against this disaster and help companies to lower their operating costs by decreasing their social security contributions. In this context we must welcome initiatives such as those of the Swiss company Nestlé. The world's biggest food company which employs about 100,000 people in Europe offers jobs to 10,000 under 30s by 2016 and 10,000 by creating traineeships and apprentice positions. This initiative points out that promoting apprenticeships and traineeships is important. Just compare the differences in unemployment rates between Germany which is 6% and France which is 11%. There are 1,5 million apprentices in Germany and 400,000 thousand in France. The ability of companies to train young people is significant in countries which face the lower unemployment rates. It is now to be hoped that the example given by this Swiss company will have a ripple effect and influence the conduct of other major companies in Europe.

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