Three open questions

Healthcare, youth employment and combating tax evasion are three main areas currently addressed by the European Commission along with the other EU institutions, whilst equal commitment is put in the management of the delicate question of banking union, economic union, as well as the 2013 and the multiannual budget.Health on the internet. "eHealth" stands for online healthcare, which is spreading at a fast peace in a number of European States owing to the rapidity of intervention, which decreases the burden on traditional health structures and on national budgets. But technical and normative drawbacks, (coupled by diffidence) for teleradiology, teleconsultation, or telemonitoring remain. For these reasons the Commission has unveiled an Action Plan "to address barriers to the full use of digital solutions in Europe’s healthcare systems". The goal is "to improve healthcare for the benefit of patients, give patients more control of their care and bring down costs", which in some countries is as much as 15% of national budgets. Tonio Borg, newly appointed Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, said: "eHealth solutions can deliver high quality, patient-centric, healthcare to our citizens" by bringing healthcare "closer to people and improving health systems". The Executive’s Action Plan attempts to improve healthcare by "clarifying areas of legal uncertainty", improving interoperability between systems at transnational level, "increasing awareness and skills among patients and healthcare professionals", conferring to the patient a central role. The proposals, as those that will follow will be submitted for approval to the EU Council and Parliament.Formation and employment. "A high youth unemployment has dramatic consequences for our economies, societies and especially for the youth. That’s why we must invest in European youth: László Andor, Commissioner for Employment, presented a package of measures to promote the youth’s presence in the job market. "As requested by the European Council and European Parliament, the Commission’s Youth Employment Package includes a proposed Recommendation to Member States on introducing the Youth Guarantee to ensure that all young people up to age 25 receive a quality offer of a job, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed". These measures are suggested by the Commission, even without the possibility of acting against defaulting countries. Interesting suggestions were made regarding employment services, training (also through the European Social Fund), to experiences that have delivered results in a given national framework. As ascertained by Eurostat, some 5.5 million young people on the labour market (more than 1 in 5) cannot find a job, and 7.5 million young people aged 15-24 are NEETs – not in employment, education or training. With just one click. To this regard a few days ago the Barroso College launched the "EU Skills Panorama" a website presenting quantitative and qualitative information on skills requested in the Community job market. "The Skills Panorama shows that the occupations with the most unfilled vacancies in the EU today are those of finance and sales professionals". Other shortages most frequently reported concern biologists, pharmacologists, medical doctors and related professionals, nurses, ICT computing professionals and engineers. the strongest mismatch between skills and labour market needs exists in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Hungary and Ireland". The Panorama, will highlight the fastest growing occupations as well as the top ‘bottleneck’ occupations with high numbers of unfilled vacancies". Currently, there are around 2 million job vacancies across the EU despite high levels of unemployment: http://euskillspanorama.ec.europa.eu contains detailed information sector by sector, profession by profession and country by country. One trillion euros lost. Clamping on tax evasion and "Aggressive tax planning": these are two pillars of the proposals advanced by the Executive to fight on tax evasion and avoidance, considered serious problems in many Member States, capable of infringing free market and competition regulations, as well as creating disparity and injustice between enterprises and citizens. "Around one trillion euros is lost to tax evasion and avoidance every year in the EU. Not only is this is a scandalous loss of much-needed revenue, it is also a threat to fair taxation", said Algirdas Semeta, Commissioner for Taxation. A strong and cohesive EU stance against tax evaders, and those that facilitate them, is therefore essential", the Commissioner added. The plan sets out a comprehensive set of measures "to help Member States protect their tax bases and recapture billions of euros legitimately due".