By Cláudia Pinto, European Youth Forum 

Joining the EESC's call to ban unpaid traineeships is the European Youth Forum, the biggest platform of youth organisations in Europe, which has been advocating for quality traineeships for the last 10 years. Our special guest, EYF's Cláudia Pinto, dissects for us the latest Commission proposal to improve the quality of internships in the EU and lists all its flaws – despite describing it as a major step forward.

Job searching for young people nowadays is often limited to one unpaid internship after another. The promise? That unpaid internships are a gateway into the labour market, providing young people with access to networks and offering them new learning experiences. 

What an unpaid internship clearly does not provide is financial independence. How do you buy food, pay rent and all those bills that pile up when you are working for free? 

Unpaid internships are a form of exploitation of young people in the labour market. They reinforce social exclusion, as working for free is only for those who can afford to, and thus young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are excluded from the get-go. What makes matters even worse is that they are replacing entry-level jobs, thus contributing to an even more precarious labour market. 

The European Youth Forum has been advocating for good quality internships for the last 10 years. Over the past two years we’ve been actively running the "Can you afford to work for free?" campaign, demanding a directive to ban unpaid internships in the labour market in all EU Member States. 

The European Commission finally published its proposal to improve the quality of internships in the European Union last March. And they did call for a directive! This is a major step in the right direction, which was achieved thanks to the tireless advocacy of young people across the continent. Unfortunately, despite the step forward, the directive does not clearly ensure paid internships in the labour market. 

The European Youth Forum’s main concern regarding the proposed text is that it tackles only one side of the problem. It only looks at bogus internships - actual jobs which are disguised as internships with the aim of lowering working conditions, especially remuneration - instead of focusing on all interns in the labour market. What the European Commission is proposing is an enforcement directive. Because of this, it places a lot of pressure on labour inspectorates, who are already underfunded and overworked. 

Therefore, the European Youth Forum is very concerned about the practical implementation of the directive and how the rights of young people can be upheld in practice. Essentially, the proposal does not grant rights to interns, but rather defines what internships should not be. It includes a principle on non-discrimination of interns. However, the European Youth Forum is concerned about how the Member States might transpose it into national legislation, possibly leaving room for employers to continue exploiting young people. 

Together with a proposal for a directive, the European Commission also proposed a new Council Recommendation to update the Quality Framework for 1 of 2 Traineeships, by broadening its scope to all types of internships and including principles on access to pay and social protection. It is great to read these principles in a proposal, though unfortunately the Council Recommendation is non-binding. 

The European Youth Forum will continue defending the rights of young people and fighting for fair working conditions. We call on the European Council and the European Parliament to strengthen the text and ensure that there are no loopholes that could allow the continuous exploitation of young people. For a full breakdown of this proposal, make sure to read our article Two Steps Forward One Step Back.

Cláudia Pinto leads the advocacy work on young people’s transition from education to the labour market at the European Youth Forum, with a focus on policies to improve the quality of internships in Europe. With expertise in European social and labour policy, she has previously worked at the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions.