Unpaid internships are out of date

The European Commission today puts forward a proposal on traineeships and internships, which is welcomed as it aims to better regulate the rights and payment of internships. This is a good first step, but something essential is missing from the proposal: the ban on unpaid traineeships. The current proposal allows companies to continue exploiting interns. The Commission seems not only to represent the interests of big business, but also ignores the interests of young people and the call of the European Parliament. Internships are also work. And for work, you are supposed to earn money.

The European Youth Event in 2021 called for a ban on unpaid internships, as did the Conference on the Future of Europe in the same year. In 2023, the European Parliament also called for a ban on unpaid internships, following hard work by the European Greens. Unfortunately, these three requests are not enough for the committee to proceed with a ban. And that while as many as half of all internships in Europe are unpaid. Even in the Netherlands, employers are allowed to exploit interns under the guise of "learning".

Therefore, we call for an end to this practice and urge all MEPs, especially those from GL-PvdA, not to accept this proposal and demand more. In this way, we want to prevent the voice of our young people and the European Parliament from being ignored. Click here to sign the petition. Want to let the Commission know what you think about this? Then you can also join this tool from FYEG. 

Finally, we cannot ignore our disappointment in list leader Nicolas Schmit of the European Social Democrats, who is co-sponsoring this proposal without standing up for the rights of more than a million exploited interns every year