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184
9. Horizontal and vertical
coordination of the European
Youth Guarantee
Irene Dingeldey, Lisa Steinberg and
Marie-Luise Assmann
1 INTRODUCTION
The European Union launched the Youth Guarantee (YG) in 2013 to
combat the increase in youth unemployment following the nancial
and economic crisis. The goal of the YG was to ensure that all young
people under the age of 25 would receive a high-quality, concrete oer of
employment or training within four months of leaving formal education
or becoming unemployed. The measures at national level were to combine
various activities: early intervention and activation, supportive measures
enabling labour market integration, assessment and continuous improve-
ment of the scheme, and its swift implementation. An additional emphasis
was to be placed on building up partnership-based approaches and
eective coordination across policy elds such as employment, education,
youth and social aairs (Council of the European Union, 2013).
To advance these goals, the EU for the rst time dedicated a specic budget
to youth employment policy, creating the Youth Employment Initiative
(YEI), which supplements the nancial aid provided under the European
Social Fund (ESF). The YEI budget was directed primarily at young people
not in employment, education or training (NEETs) who were living in
regions where youth unemployment rates were higher than 25 per cent in
2012 (European Commission, 2017c). In addition, the incorporation of the
YG into the Country Specic Recommendations of the European Semester
indicated that the scheme would be monitored more closely compared with
the implementation of other EU social policies. Altogether, decision makers
combined high expectations with particular support for the YG at EU level.
The goals conrm that the YG was rooted in the normative paradigms
of an activating labour market policy (Gilbert and Van Voorhis, 2001;
OECD, 1989) and a social investment welfare state (Giddens, 1998; Morel
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 185
et al., 2012). Comparative research has demonstrated dierent approaches
within these paradigms, namely a pro-market or work-rst approach in
contrast to a human-capital development/enabling approach (Bonoli, 2010;
Dingeldey, 2009, 2011a). A work-rst approach involves the prioritiza-
tion of immediate labour market integration of young unemployed
people, stressing, for example, subventions to employers. By contrast,
an ‘enabling’ approach treats improved qualications or upskilling as
the dominant goal of youth employment policies. The EU goals gave no
priority to one particular approach. The YG recommended the reduction
of labour costs and subsidies to employers, but also suggested improving
the quality of employment services and strengthening education and
vocational training (Council of the European Union, 2013).
The YG overall acknowledged the diversity of member states regard-
ing youth unemployment and institutional arrangements, nancial con-
straints and the capacity of the various labour market players (Council of
the European Union, 2013). In addition, the Commission stressed that in
most member states the implementation of the YG would require long-
term, in-depth structural reforms of training, job-search and education
systems to improve school-to-work transitions (European Commission,
2015b). Commission ocials characterized the YG as being a policy
approach rather than a programme with xed money and milestones. Its
value was to ‘oblige everybody to think globally about youth employment
programmes’ (Interview EC).
Despite its rather ambitious goals, the YG was subject to the Open
Method of Coordination. This method has been in use since 2001 in
sensitive areas such as European social and employment policies where
member states have not been willing to grant the EU political powers.
Hence, the ‘Recommendation’ is non-binding, rather it encourages overall
intergovernmental coordination, benchmarking and best practice without
threats of sanctions (Heidenreich, 2009; Heidenreich and Zeitlin, 2009).
To investigate the implementation of these ambitious goals by means of
rather limited, albeit strengthened forms of social policy governance, we
focus on the following questions:
●●How did instruments of vertical and horizontal coordination linked
to the YG work in a multi-level governance system?
●●To what extent do the goals and ideas related to the YG translate
into changes of national policies and institutions relevant to com-
batting youth unemployment?
To answer these questions and to be able to mirror the diversity across
member states, we chose contrasting cases for an in-depth comparison:
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186 Youth unemployment and job insecurity in Europe
Germany as a country with low youth unemployment rates, and two
Southern European countries, Greece and Spain, as cases with high unem-
ployment rates and YEI eligibility. These countries also dier as regards
the institutional setting for supporting young people in their school-to-
work transitions via the vocational education and training systems and the
public employment service (PES).
Our presentation in this chapter proceeds as follows: Drawing on
existing research, we outline our theoretical framework and research
approach. Next, we describe the institutional preconditions and the
national approaches to youth employment policy prior to the YG in the
three countries studied. We present ndings related to the coordination
and implementation of the YG as well as to the procedural change
aligned to European policies (Section 4). Finally, we analyse the policy
development in search of substantive change in the three member states
(Section 5). We end with a brief recommendation for future policies
(Section 6).
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH
APPROACH
Research on the European YG is still rather poorly developed. Yet, even
this limited research involves a controversy regarding the relevance and
impact of the YG. Critics have highlighted issues like undernancing with
respect to the number of young unemployed in the dierent countries
(Cabasés Piqué et al., 2015), as well as the limitations of soft modes of gov-
ernance seeking to inuence member states mainly through voluntarism
(De la Porte and Heins, 2015). Such criticism has culminated in claims that
YG implementation is dominated by a path-dependency logic and does
not lead to convergence of the specic elements addressed by the Council
Recommendation (Dhéret and Roden, 2016; Madsen et al., 2013). Other
scholars have argued that the link between European funding instruments
and the YG points to stricter forms of vertical coordination, generally in
combination with the European Semester. It follows that the YG is likely
to foster a greater degree of Europeanization, at least in countries eligible
for YEI funding (Costamagna, 2013; Dhéret and Roden, 2016).
To provide new knowledge about how the YG has worked and pos-
sibly changed national policies and institutions, we drew on historical
institutionalism theory (Pierson, 2000; Thelen, 1999) in combination
with a multi-level governance approach (Marks and Hooghe, 2004)
and the Europeanization literature (Börzel and Risse, 2006). Historical
institutionalism points to the importance of institutions in shaping policy
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 187
over time. The approach explains how actors tend to adapt to existing
institutions. Positive feedback processes restrict institutional change to a
path-dependent development (Pierson, 2000; Thelen, 1999). Accordingly,
external shocks like crisis, war or critical junctures may lead to path-
breaking changes (Pierson, 2000). Others, however, have pointed out
that policy learning may be a driver of change. More recent literature
also points to gradual institutional shifts that may lead to path-breaking
changes in the long run (Streeck and Thelen, 2005). To some extent, a
multi-level governance approach and the Europeanization literature have
integrated these explanations.
A multi-level governance approach outlines the institutional background
of regulations and competences between dierent levels. Furthermore,
the particular mode of governance is relevant. For instance, one would
consider the open method of coordination for the YG as a soft form
of governance. Zeitlin et al. (2014) have identied ve mechanisms for
inuencing member states’ social policies. These mechanisms include: (1)
external pressure (to meet commitments); (2) external support (nancial
or technical); (3) socialization and discursive diusion (internalization of
common cognitive frames via reviewing); (4) mutual learning (awareness
of policies, practices and performance in other member states); and (5)
creative appropriation (strategic use by dierent actors).
The Europeanization literature focuses on European integration as a
driver for domestic change. In order to explain dierent reform trajecto-
ries, however, scholars point to domestic institutional settings as relevant
inuence factors. Such settings may include the political system of a coun-
try, the particular forms of vertical governance structures within federal
states (Pierson, 1995) and the established institutions of the particular
welfare regimes (Weishaupt, 2014: 227). Moreover, this literature also
sees weak economic and administrative capacities as inuential factors
(Weishaupt, 2014) and mostly as obstacles to successful and unitary imple-
mentation of EU policies. However, another research strand contests this
view, arguing that adaption pressure increases with the mist between
European policy goals and national preconditions (Cowles et al., 2001;
Falkner et al., 2005). Beyond these dierent understandings of the mist
between European goals and national conditions, the Europeanization
approach tends to neglect the fact that EU policies are not the only
inuence on national policies. For instance, we have to consider whether
European-level policies really have initiated the adoption of the YG in a
member state. We need to carry out an empirical investigation to clarify
which of these competing assumptions best captures the situation in dif-
ferent member states.
To characterize the kinds of changes in the member states, we need
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188 Youth unemployment and job insecurity in Europe
precise concepts of change. Building on the work of Weishaupt (2014),
we make a distinction between substantive and procedural changes.
Substantive changes are dened as ideational (shifts in positions of
actors), agenda-setting (weight that actors place on particular issues) or
programmatic (shifts in legislative and administrative rules and prac-
tices). Procedural changes are related to changing governance and poli-
cymaking arrangements. They include horizontal coordination (between
dierent policy elds/administrations) and involvement of non-state
actors, but also enhanced national steering capacity (monitoring evalu-
ation) and improved vertical coordination (i.e., between governance
levels). As we focus our analysis on the implementation of the YG, we
give less attention to decision-making processes. To explore substantive
changes, we limit our analysis of the YG to agenda-setting and program-
matic changes. With respect to procedural changes, we focus on two
aspects, namely reinforced coordination between dierent policy elds
or administrations and the increased involvement of non-state actors,
particularly of the social partners. In contrast to Weishaupt (2014), but
in accordance with YG guidelines (European Commission, 2017c), we
see these two aspects as being related to horizontal coordination (see
Table 9.1).
Drawing on the theoretical outline, the YG combines mechanisms of
external support with external pressure. We therefore expected a general
willingness of member states to comply with the respective YG goals and
started the empirical investigation with the following two hypotheses:
●●First, in line with the historical institutionalist approach, we expected
a path-dependent implementation of the YG according to the previ-
ously established youth employment policies of member states.
Table 9.1 Forms of change
Substantive
change
Agenda-setting Salience of topics on political agendas in
the EU or member states
Programmatic New legislation or regulation
Procedural
change
Reinforced
horizontal
coordination
Integration between independent policy elds
via, e.g., inter-ministerial bodies or working
groups
Involvement of
non-state actors
Creation and strengthening of consultative
and participatory structures of
policymaking and implementation
Source: Based on Weishaupt (2014).
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 189
●●Second, in line with the Europeanization literature, we expected
to nd substantive changes and procedural changes in Spain and
Greece rather than in Germany because of greater external support
and mist.
To assess the empirical support for the two hypotheses, we adopted a
three-pronged research approach:
First, to set a starting point in how to assess ‘change’, we examined
national institutional settings and policies in the eld of school-to-work
transitions. In line with Bonoli (2010) and Dingeldey’s (2011a) typologies
of activating employment policies, we distinguished between a work-rst
approach and an enabling approach. These approaches can be found
in combination with the institutionalization of dierent school-to-work
transitions guided by primarily school-based or dual vocational training
systems (Eichhorst et al., 2015; Solga et al., 2014). Gangl (2001) and Hora
et al. (Chapter 7 this volume) suggest that overall a dominant (dual)
apprenticeship system implies rather smooth transitions from school to
work, whereas in school-based systems a large proportion of low-skilled
labour market entrants and a lack of in-work experience together lead
to high youth unemployment. Additionally, the PES is important in
providing unemployment benets and services like counselling, placement
in training measures and jobs. Hence, relevant indicators for the ecient
implementation of such policies were the administrative capacity of the
respective PES (caseload and nancing), the incentives provided for young
unemployed people to register and the governance structure of the PES
(centralized/decentralized).
Second, building on the Europeanization literature, we assessed the
particular European instruments of vertical coordination in relation to
the YG: the provision of EU funding and the ‘YG implementation plans’.
We treated EU funding through the YEI as a mechanism of external
support. We examined whether the EU achieved the goal of providing
particular support to countries with the highest problem pressure or if
specic regulations might have caused problems. We considered the YG
implementation plans both as mechanisms of external support as well as
external pressure. On the one hand, the plans provide a framework for
country-specic goal-setting, developing indicators and policy assistance
by European actors. On the other hand, these plans also put pressure on
member state governments, given that the European Semester monitors
their implementation. We understand the monitoring as a sort of external
pressure in the form of ‘naming, faming and shaming’ (Zeitlin et al.,
2014). We investigated whether the YG implementation plans were built
on a partnership approach, delivered according to the required rules
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190 Youth unemployment and job insecurity in Europe
(punctuality) and/or whether a country had to reformulate the plans.
The investigation provides insights into how the mechanisms of vertical
coordination used inuenced procedural processes in the member states.
Third, we analysed whether the YG implementation was in line with the
previously established approach for youth policies or whether it followed
a dierent path, implying a need for substantive change. This assessment
is based on the analysis of national policy discourses, the newly introduced
programmes, and reform initiatives in the eld of employment and voca-
tional training.
As sources, we used secondary literature and ocial documents as
well as data from seven interviews with EU ocials and stakeholders
conducted in spring 2017. In addition, we drew on national reports written
by NEGOTIATE project partners based on four to ve expert interviews
conducted in summer 2016 in each country at national and local level.
3 CONTRASTING APPROACHES OF YOUTH
EMPLOYMENT POLICIES
Member states’ active labour market policy varied according to the level of
youth unemployment and the institutions of school-to-work transitions in
the three countries (see Table 9.2). When youth unemployment was high,
Table 9.2 Characteristics of youth employment policies in Germany,
Spain and Greece
Characteristics Countries
Germany Spain Greece
Youth unemployment Low High High
Youth labour market policy Enabling Work-rst Work-rst
Institutional
conditions
for school-
to-work
transition
Type of vocational
education and
training system
Dual system School-based
system
School-based
system
Unemployment
benets as
registration
incentive
Moderate Very limited Very limited
Capacity of PES High Weak Weak
Governance
structure of PES
Centralized Non-
centralized
Centralized
Source: Author’s interpretation.
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 191
member states tended to prioritize quick labour market integration, while
member states with lower youth unemployment rates were more likely
to provide support for vocational training. Dierences in education and
vocational training systems reinforced such contrasts. Accordingly, Spain
and Greece pursued a work-rst approach, where employment policy
was aimed at integrating young people quickly into jobs, for instance by
providing subsidies for employers (Ayllón and Ferreira-Batista, 2016;
Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016; OAED, 2013). By contrast, Germany
had practiced an enabling policy approach, where measures were focused
on the attainment of school or vocational training certicates as interme-
diate steps towards labour market integration (Dingeldey et al., 2017). The
historical development of the respective member states’ institutions sup-
porting young people in their school-to-work transitions had inuenced
these contrasts.
Germany has a long-established dual vocational training system. Since
the initial vocational education and training system at upper-secondary
level became popular, more than 50 per cent of all students have enrolled
in it. Although the social service professions have relied on school-based
vocational education and training systems, still more than 40 per cent of
all students have enrolled in the dual-track employment-based systems
(Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung, 2014; OECD, 2014).
By contrast, in Greece and Spain, a school-based vocational education
and training system has dominated, while work-based training has played
a minor to marginal role (OECD, 2014). Dual tracks either did not exist or
the governments provided only a few dual-track places (ReferNet Greece,
2009; ReferNet Spain, 2012; also see Dingeldey et al., 2017).
Despite trends towards municipalization in labour market policy and
decentralization in the context of New Public Management, the German
PES has remained a centralized national agency. Vertical coordination
has been strong, meaning the level of exibility in delivery at regional or
municipal level has been low (Dingeldey, 2011b; Mosley, 2008, 2011). In
2014 the capacity of the PES in Germany was high, with a comparably
low annual average caseload of less than 150 clients (of all clients served
by sta in the PES). The expenditure on such services (as a percentage of
GDP) was above the EU average of 28. The regulation of access to unem-
ployment benets gives moderate incentives for young people to register
with the PES, resulting in coverage rates of the young unemployed of 50
or more per cent in Germany (Matsaganis et al., 2013).
In Greece the structure of the PES and of labour market policy has
also remained centralized notwithstanding decentralization trends in
recent decades (Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016; Kyvelou and Marava,
2017). By contrast, the PES in Spain has been decentralized. The level of
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192 Youth unemployment and job insecurity in Europe
exibility in delivery at the regional or municipal level has been medium
and the autonomous communities have even had their own vocational
education and training systems (Mosley, 2008, 2011). Both in Greece and
Spain there were indications of weak capacity in the PES. The expenditure
on PES was under the EU average in both countries, although Spain
spent slightly more (0.144 per cent of GDP) on labour market services
than Greece (0.012 per cent of GDP; European Commission and ICON
Institute, 2016; Eurostat, 2016). Nevertheless, annual average caseload
was very high in Spain at 2683 in 2014, while we may regard the annual
average caseload of 488 in Greece as ‘medium’ but still too high to provide
eective counselling. With coverage rates of unemployment benets under
15 per cent in Greece and Spain, the incentives to register were very limited
(Matsaganis et al., 2013).
These indicators suggest that even before the YG was launched,
Germany not only followed an enabling labour market policy approach,
but also combined a rather well-established PES and a comparatively high
rate of registration with a vocational education and training system. By
contrast, young Spaniards and Greeks were more likely to be unsupported
in their transition from school to work. School-based vocational train-
ing systems were established in combination with a practiced work-rst
approach and a rather overloaded PES that did not register all unem-
ployed young people.
4 YOUTH GUARANTEE COORDINATION AND
IMPLEMENTATION – PROCEDURAL AND
SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE
Before addressing the procedural and substantive changes, we briey out-
line selected instruments of European vertical coordination, namely fund-
ing and the preparation of YG implementation plans. In 2013 the external
funding supplied by the EU within the framework of the newly created
YEI – the 6.4 billion euros provided initially in 2014−15 − were extended
by another 2.4 billion euros for the period 2017−20 to support the member
states actively in implementing the YG (Council of the European Union
and EMCO, 2016). This money is available to regions that had a youth
unemployment rate above 25 per cent in 2013. Thus, the amount of funding
provided relates to the level of problem pressure in the dierent member
states. Spain therefore received 881.44 million and Greece 160.24 million
euros, while Germany did not receive any money from the YEI (European
Commission, 2014a). EU nancial support makes up a substantial share
of total spending on youth employment policies in the Southern European
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 193
countries. Furthermore, the EU recommended using money from the ESF
for the YG implementation (see Bussi et al., Chapter 10 this volume). The
YEI has been part of the ESF framework and control structure and thus
required co-nancing from the member states (Council of the European
Union, 2013). Accordingly, they developed ‘operational programmes’ that
had to be approved by the Commission. Later the member states had to
submit implementation reports (European Commission, 2014b; Interview
EC; Interview UEAPME).
Particularly the principle of reimbursement, which has meant that
member states had to nance projects in advance, caused diculties to
countries with decit targets and led to delays (European Commission,
2015a). In particular, Spain had problems with the principle of reimburse-
ment, especially as it was also under EU pressure to cut the public decit
(Ayllón and Ferreira-Batista, 2016). Many countries claimed that they did
not have the national budget to release advance funding for YEI measures
(European Commission, 2015a). In 2015, in reaction to the delays and
problems indicated, the Commission increased the ‘pre-nancing’ from
part of the EU to member states by around one billion euros (European
Commission, 2016b). Subsequently, the YEI’s nancial resources allo-
cated to selected projects rose between 2015 and 2017 from 36 per cent to
68 per cent. Nevertheless, about one third of the total budget has not yet
been allocated (European Commission, 2017b).
In Greece, delays in the withdrawal of funding were connected to the
role of the ‘YG National Coordinator’ (Ministry of Labour): ‘Responsible
for the distribution of resources is the “National Coordinator” and we do
not know why they did not proceed so that funding could be absorbed.
The other stakeholders had few and poor proposals, but the “National
Coordinator” should put some pressure on them’ (interviewee in the
Greek PES, cf. Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016: 13).
Other reasons for late or no withdrawal might be that the complexity
of the application process created uncertainty amongst national decision
makers as to whether they would receive reimbursement of the costs of
the presented projects. This might have led to so-called ‘gold-plating’,
meaning that member states and public administrations might refuse good
projects or initiatives if they were not sure whether the projects would meet
the EU criteria (Interview UEAPME).
The YG implementation plans have represented country-specic goal-
setting supported at EU level. The plans have described the measures
and reforms that the countries intended to implement in order to comply
with the YG, including the time frame as well as the foreseen funding
and responsibilities. As mentioned before, the European Semester has
monitored the implementation of the YG. The YG National Coordinator
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194 Youth unemployment and job insecurity in Europe
has been the main point of contact to communicate with the European
Commission and has led the establishment and management of the YG
(European Commission, 2017a). The preparation of the YG implementa-
tion plans has been a crucial element in designing and realizing member
states’ involvement of non-state actors as well as horizontal coordination
across policy elds. Hence, the YG implementation plans might have
led to changes with respect to established procedures and systems of
coordination.
5 PROCEDURAL CHANGE IN HORIZONTAL
COORDINATION?
In the countries under study, the ministries of labour acted as National
Coordinators to manage and coordinate the design and implementation
of the YG, while each respective PES has been the central operative
institution. The involvement of dierent state and non-state actors such
as relevant ministries, social partners and other stakeholders has been
important for implementing the partnership approach and launching
structural reforms. Whereas Greece and Spain created new formal or
informal institutions, Germany used previously existing bodies.
For the YG design and implementation, Germany made use of several
already established forms of cooperation between schools and vocational
guidance services, PES and industry organizations (YGIP-Germany,
2014: 21–6). When designing the German YG implementation plan, the
Ministry of Labour invited several ministries, social partners, welfare
associations, PES and representatives of municipalities to discuss and
provide written feedback to a draft version. The participation of social
partners in single policies in Germany has varied but it has been intensive
in vocational training (Assmann et al., 2016; YGIP-Germany, 2014).
In line with established procedures, the role of non-state actors in the
consultation process to design and implement the YG has been of a quite
participative character. Nevertheless, the national trade union confedera-
tion criticized the denial of a proposed apprenticeship guarantee and also
the timing of the hearing for giving them little opportunity to prepare
remarks (Bussi, 2014: 33).
Furthermore, already existing horizontal coordination forms across
policy elds have been further strengthened and rened under the YG
scheme. An important innovative reform has been the establishment of
one-stop youth career agencies to combine PES, educational measures,
social youth services and other relevant institutions to support school-to-
work transitions at local level (Assmann et al., 2016: 6, 24–33). The YG,
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 195
however, has not been the trigger, rather has had an overall supportive
impact in these developments as the respective reforms were begun in
2010.
The centralized PES’s governance structure in Germany may have
been advantageous for implementing the YG. However, some of the
actors involved have criticized centralization because sometimes the local
employment agencies had to wait for the consent of the national PES,
which has hindered the rapid implementation of some measures at local
level.
Although in Spain the Labour Ministry has been the formal point
of contact for the Commission, it does not have the centralized power
to coordinate the YG. Due to decentralized coordination of the YG
implementation, we nd strong regional dierences in the YG design and
implementation in combination with a poorly equipped PES. Spain did
not set up formal coordination committees for implementing the YG,
rather has made use of informal multi-stakeholder bodies, including non-
state and state actors, ministries, the Youth Council, youth organizations,
autonomous communities, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and
Provinces, and the PES (European Commission, 2016a: 24; YGIP-Spain,
2013: 14–16). When further sources are taken into account (Ayllón
and Ferreira-Batista, 2016; BusinessEurope, 2014, 2015, 2016; Bussi,
2014), there seems to be a gap between what is described in the Spanish
ocial documents and statements from regional actors and trade union
and employer representatives: On the one hand, the Spanish ‘YG
implementation plan’ indicates that it has received various contributions
from interested parties and that it has passed a prior consultation before
approval. The reason could be that in some autonomous communities
several YG pilot projects were conducted prior to 2013 where stakehold-
ers had been consulted (Ayllón and Ferreira-Batista, 2016). On the
other hand, Spanish trade unions, employers and autonomous public
employment services have noted that participation in the YG at national
level has been poor, notwithstanding their requests for information and
involvement. Consultation meetings gave information about the nalized
YG implementation plan but did not allow for feedback (Ayllón and
Ferreira-Batista, 2016; Bussi, 2014). Hence, the Spanish social partners
expressed very strong dissatisfaction with the social dialogue in the YG
process (BusinessEurope, 2014, 2015, 2016). Thus, the informative char-
acter seemed to dominate when it came to the involvement of non-state
actors.
Moreover, it appears that decentralization in Spain has not only led to
regional dierences but has also counteracted the coordination of dier-
ent administrations. The competition of power between the autonomous
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196 Youth unemployment and job insecurity in Europe
communities and the national government even led to parallel registra-
tion systems for the YG implementation, creating complex bureaucratic
procedures. Young Spaniards who had already registered as unemployed
at the regular PES system additionally had to register in a particular
system for the YG. Furthermore, the inscription modalities were criticized
as complicated and not target-group oriented since it was the young
people who needed to get actively involved. The general weakness of the
governance structure of the PES has created overall obstacles to ecient
implementation and coordination of youth employment policies as well
as to evaluation and monitoring (Ayllón and Ferreira-Batista, 2016: 11).
In Greece informants did not report on major regional dierences.
However, the EU Employment Committee has addressed the ineciency
of its PES in the implementation of the YG in the Country Specic
Recommendations (Council of the European Union, 2013; Council of the
European Union and EMCO, 2016). In contrast to the other two countries,
the Greek Ministry of Labour as National Coordinator has concentrated
on the establishment of a formal institution with a particular focus on
the YG. The secretaries of relevant ministries set up a ‘Coordination
Committee for the implementation of the Youth Employment Initiative,
and in particular of the YG programme’. However, deciencies in the
social dialogue, amongst other problems, resulted in a revision of the YG
implementation plan (Bussi, 2014: 40; Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016: 5).
The revised version of the plan demanded non-state actors’ involvement
and stated that the Committee was to be comprised of social partners,
civil society representatives and youth employment experts, ignoring the
optional character of their participation. Additionally, the government
established a ‘Working Group on implementing the Youth Employment
Initiative and YG’ that also included representatives from relevant
ministries as well as the Association of the Regions and the Central Union
of Municipalities of Greece. However, the involved stakeholders assessed
the participation in these coordination bodies in contrasting ways. First,
since the government did not consult certain stakeholders in the process
of designing the YG implementation plan, we may see the inclusion of
non-state actors as of a mainly informative nature. Nevertheless, for the
Greek Ministry of Labour, horizontal coordination was quite a challenge,
since it was the rst time that they had to work eectively together on a
specic basis (Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016: 9). Thus, the setting up
of coordination bodies for the YG encouraged Greece to address youth
employment policy from a more holistic perspective by reinforcing hori-
zontal coordination across policy elds.
In summary, we can identify several procedural changes in horizontal
coordination in all three member states, although in Germany the YG was
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 197
not a trigger for these changes. We cannot identify a clear change in the
involvement of non-state actors in Germany since this country used pre-
existing bodies. It seems that external support via the YEI, the preparation
of the YG implementation plans and external pressure due to monitoring
processes have together triggered procedural changes in Greece and
Spain. However, it is not clear whether the procedural changes will have a
sustainable character in these countries since the creation of coordination
bodies related only to the YG and the YEI.
6 SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE OF EMPLOYMENT
APPROACH AND INSTITUTIONAL SETTINGS?
The YG triggered changes in the discourse and promoted a stronger
focus on youth unemployment at national level and, occasionally, in
local administrations in Germany, Spain and Greece. Moreover, the term
‘young NEETs’ has received more attention from policymakers since the
implementation of the YG in the three countries (Assmann et al., 2016;
Ayllón and Ferreira-Batista, 2016; Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016).
Overall, this has contributed to putting topics related to youth employ-
ment policies at the top of the political agenda and therefore to substantive
change in agenda-setting.
However, in Germany, we see no substantive change concerning the
policy approach to youth employment, rather a path-dependent implemen-
tation of the YG according to the already dominating enabling approach
for the young. The majority of educational and labour market measures
in the YG remained preventive and aimed at pupils, jobseekers or training
seekers, or young unemployed with a focus on the attainment of school
or certied vocational training qualications. Similarly, Spain and Greece
developed the YG through a path-dependent implementation, albeit
by pursuing a work-rst approach. For instance, labour market policy
measures have given nancial incentives to companies to hire adolescents
in times of uncertainty. The Greek YG has included several voucher pro-
grammes combining short training periods with work experience. Spanish
policymakers considered an incentive for hiring often in combination with
the provision of atypical contracts (Ayllón and Ferreira-Batista, 2016: 21;
Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016: 9, 18).
Beyond path dependency and according to our hypothesis, we were able
to identify steps towards substantive programmatic change concerning
school-to-work transition systems in both countries. The Greek govern-
ment sought to make the vocational education and training system more
attractive. A new legal framework for apprenticeships (Law 4186/2013)
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198 Youth unemployment and job insecurity in Europe
was created in 2013 (Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016: 6; YGIP-Greece,
2014: 24–5). This framework seeks to connect vocational education
and training more strongly to the economy and the labour market.
Another innovation in line with these objectives was to introduce a dual
system by establishing the ‘apprenticeship class’ (YGIP-Greece, 2014: 25).
Vocational training schools oered a fourth optional year of an appren-
ticeship programme to provide workplace experience that led to a higher
qualication for upper-secondary vocational graduates. Furthermore,
to strengthen the link between labour demand and supply, vocational
training schools set up career oces (Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016:
6–8; YGIP-Greece, 2014: 25). However, according to national reports,
the recession was a limiting factor. Many Greek companies lacked the
necessary structures and nancial resources for apprenticeship training
(Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016: 12, 28).
Furthermore, institutional reforms in Greece restructured the PES
(OAED) according to the ‘Business Model Reengineering Plan’, high-
lighted as a crucial factor for delivering the YG. The reform aimed at
internal changes such as a better alignment between organizational units,
but more importantly concerned the way in which the PES approached
unemployed people. The objective was to treat them in a more individual-
ized way and to set up Individual Action Plans (IAP; YGIP-Greece, 2014:
17–20; Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016: 4–8). The reform also included
the establishment of an online portal and a call centre for employers and
jobseekers. However, these reforms had already started before the imple-
mentation of the YG, promoted by international institutions as part of
scal discipline policies under the Memoranda of Understanding between
Greece and its creditors (Kominou and Parsanoglou, 2016: 23).
In Spain a foundation was set up in 2012 to ‘establish the basis for the
progressive implementation of a dual training system’ (Royal Decree
1529/2012). The aim was to facilitate labour market integration for young
people by matching vocational skills with labour market needs (Ayllón
and Ferreira-Batista, 2016: 6, 22; YGIP-Spain, 2013: 27–8). The reform
oered several modalities of vocational education and training. These
oers included the option to provide training combined with employment
exclusively within an educational institution or within an enterprise. An
alternative was to oer young people training by a training centre in
combination with work-based training at an accredited company (ICF
GHK, 2012: 6). Again, since these developments started before 2013 we
cannot see the YG as the trigger. Overall, nancial resources within the
YG may have supported the increase in the number of participants from
4292 in 2012/13 to 15304 in 2015/16. Within that time also the numbers of
companies oering work-based learning rose from 513 to 5665 (European
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 199
Commission, 2016a: 59). Nonetheless, at the time of writing it was too
early to estimate the outcome of a proper vocational education and train-
ing system.
If we consider all the changes observed in Germany, we see that they
were primarily related to procedural changes and we can characterize
them as ‘system renement’. By contrast, we regard substantive changes in
the Southern countries as cases of ‘system-building’ (see Table 9.3). These
may represent initial steps of transition towards a dierent institutional
setting and policy approach.
7 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
Overall, the ndings presented support our expectation that the imple-
mentation of the YG would be path dependent, in the sense of largely
reproducing and strengthening a pre-existing approach to domestic youth
unemployment policies. German YG measures built on a previous ena-
bling orientation, whereas Spain and Greece tended to broaden the scope
of an already dominating work-rst approach to labour market policy
measures for young people. If we adopt a broader perspective including
relevant institutions like the PES as well as the system for vocational
education and training, we can observe dierent forms of procedural
and substantive changes. Although the YG Recommendation did not
necessarily trigger these changes, mechanisms of vertical and horizontal
coordination have supported them. Furthermore, there are reasons to
assess the changes in the Southern European countries as bigger and more
consequential than the changes in Germany. A more noticeable institu-
tional mist with respect to settings for providing smooth school-to-work
transitions in Southern Europe than in Germany may have contributed
to this dierence. Moreover, both the external pressure and the support
from the EU have been stronger in the Southern European countries than
in Germany.
However, according to stakeholders in all countries, both bureaucratic
rules to claim money and the principles of reimbursement created problems
overall in accessing EU funds, especially for member countries with decit
targets. This emerged as an area where there was scope for improving
vertical coordination at EU level. Although the EU has already responded
to these problems, for example with so-called ‘pre-nancing’, further
improvements seem to be necessary to ensure support for the member
states and the organizations implementing ESF and YEI programmes
(also see Bussi et al., Chapter 10 this volume).
Within this context one may also ask whether other forms of external
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200
Table 9.3 Youth Guarantee implementation and impact
Policy Inuences in a Multi-level Governance System Germany Spain Greece
Institutional mist − smooth school to work transition Low High High
Youth Guarantee
implementation
EU funding (external support) Not fully eligible
(weak)
Comprehensive
(strong)
Comprehensive
(strong)
Youth Guarantee implementation
plan (external support/pressure)
Minor problems due
to hierarchical PES
structure for local
level
Problems due to lack of
vertical coordination in
PES and approach of
National Coordinator
Problems, revision
and delays related
to ineciency of
PES and approach
of National
Coordinator
Forms of changes Procedural Reinforced horizontal
coordination
Support of one-stop
shops within PES
Creation of informal
multi-stakeholder
bodies
Creation of formal
multi-stakeholder
bodies
Involvement of non-
state actors
Participative Informative Informative
Substantive Agenda-setting Focus on youth
unemployment and
NEETs
Focus on youth
unemployment and
NEETs
Focus on youth
unemployment and
NEETs
Programmatic – Support of structural
reforms of vocational
education and training
Support of structural
reforms of vocational
education and
training
and PES
Overall characteristic of change System renement System-building System-building
Source: Author’s interpretation.
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Horizontal and vertical coordination of the European Youth Guarantee 201
pressure not dealt with in the present analysis (such as requirements for-
mulated by the Troika as part of crisis management) might have hampered
substantial reforms in the respective countries. For instance, austerity
policies may have prevented a necessary increase in the capacity of PES
that might have enabled improvement of the sta−client ratio and an
increase in the social protection to which young people would have access.
Probably the most positive inuence of the YG in all three countries has
been a greater awareness of the negative consequences of youth unemploy-
ment and job insecurity. At best the YG has encouraged member states to
address youth employment policy from a holistic perspective. Improved
horizontal coordination between dierent ministries and administrations,
as well as the participative involvement of social partners and other
stakeholders, are likely to be crucial for establishing new institutional
settings that can provide smooth transitions from school to work. Finally,
continuity of the nancial commitment to and political interest in the
support of youth employment policies through the Commission and other
European actors are essential for member states’ ability to combat youth
unemployment in eective ways.
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