“What jobless in crisis-hit south think of the European elections?” BBC journalist Patrick Jackson is traveling to “unemployment hotspots” of the Eurozone and collects opinions from Spain, France, Italy and Greece.
First stop is Seville, in the Spanish region of Andalucia where general unemployment reached 36.3% last year and youth unemployment 66.1%.
Luz, 42. She worked as a shop assistant before she lost her job. Employed for 17 years by a fashion chain, she is not entitled to unemployment benefit because her recent jobs were all traineeships.
Patrick Jackson spoke with several unemployed people 32-52 years old who struggle for a living without a job.
An excerpt:
European elections: From a jobless perspective in #Seville
Andres: Just another government.
Alicia: Right now, it’s just the north of Europe and Spain is left out of it.
Jorge: It’s a necessary broken dream. Europe used to be a very important factor for the development of Spain but now it looks like our worst enemy.
Luz: As a country, Spain was not ready to join the European club so we could never maximise the benefits of membership.
Tono: They could have corrected our economic activity back then instead of waiting until it was too late.
So, if you live in Spain, France, Italy or Greece and you’re unemployed, why don’t you join the discussion? Speak about the upcoming elections, your unemployment condition but also about issues like a national currency.
If you are willing to speak to BBC, email your views to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject title ‘EU unemployment’.
You can also follow Patrick Jackson’s Twitter chat and the informal debate with five unemployed Seville residents. Here are the highlights, and to find out more read Patrick’s blog on Tumblr.
Patrick Jackson will be in Greece in the week starting May 5th 2014.