Interrail for all teenagers

I'll be listening.

Back in 1966, my girl group went to Europe for approximately three months, without me, money the reason, of course. That was so long ago that we even called ourselves girls at 25, instead of women. As a group, we knew each other from school or work, had similar interests. They differed from each other, two of them latinas, and two of northern european heritage, thus calling themselves the Salts and the Peppers.. They split up to go to preferred places, depending on the places, and kept meeting up again.

One day, the Salts were in Firenze and the Arno overflowed very badly..
One Salt got heavily involved in the cleanup and the other one with a guy...

Anyway, much as I would have likely enjoyed going, I had my own stuff going on, so I wasn't crushingly envious. My point is, I learned a lot from all their stories, and they are part of my longtime interest in Europe. I'd been interested before, as I'm one of the kids who loved geography class in elementary school, but their trip brought it home to me that I could possibly someday travel that far.

The European parliament thinks that giving these tickets will create a feeling of being European and making young people being less against foreigners.
Travelling educats - yes - but you have to have knowledge to build on.
Young people have less geography in the schools, less history so they do not know essentials about Europe.
In the Swedish schools you can now choose between more languages than when I went to school - still more choose not to learn a language or if they start not end the course.
The money would have been better spent by having good education in the schools first.

I don't think that many countries would like if the EU interferes in national education - here in Germany, even the federal republic is out of that: education is states' affair here.


The EU-parliament had discussed this plan since March - a plenary debate is today.

As much as I like the idea - youth employment poses a concern in many EU countries and more/better programs supporting youth employment would be better.

I agree with there should be more programs for unemployed young people.
Money used for interrail comes from the beginning from the individual countries, which pay into EU.
When I said education I did not mean EU should mix into the national education.
That money - about 500 euro per person - could be used within the country for national education. Then it did not have to be first transferred to Brussels and then back again. Or a program regarding unemployment.

If the interrail idea goes thru it will cost something like 1,5 billion a year if between 50 - 70% of all 18 year old will use it.
As an average there are 21% young people unemploid in EU. This was in May 2016. So it will only be the rich countries where the young people can take advantage of the offer.
Greece has 50,3% as the highest and Malta the lowest with 7.1%
https://www.statista.com/statistics/266228/youth-unemployment-rate-in-eu-countries/

Well, it had been more than two years from the idea over discussions in parliamentary commissions and finally in the parliament - though all party groups (as far as I could find out) support it, I'm rather sure, it will become only a mini-version.
(Violeta Bulc, the European Commissioner for Transport, thinks of a lottery for the tickets, not everyone will thus get one at her/his 18th birthday)

A mini-version sounds better, but still it will only be the ones who can afford to travel who will take part.

Certainly you need more than just a free ticket if you want to travel.
But not only you would scream in horror if the EU would pay all and every thing for the holidays of some thousands of youth.

Sure and all the retired would like to travel free, and families with children, you name it ......

True. But this is just about interrail.

Seniors and families with children only get cheaper tickets what the national railway companies offer - or what national government add as aid.

In my youth, it wasn't just me who used the the "special-youth-trains" to travel in Europe. Tickets were relatively cheap ... but old carriages. (8-seat compartments)