Brussels, 14/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU employment and social affairs ministers are to meet informally on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 January in Gödöllõ (Hungary). Organised by the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council, the meeting will be devoted to the situation on the labour market and to the possibilities of employment-friendly recovery. László Andor is to represent the Commission. Representatives of European social partners and of the European social platform will also take part in the work, to be attended by the two future Council presidencies, namely Poland and Denmark.
Work will be shared out between two workshops entitled: (1) More Job Opportunities for Youth! “More JOY!” More and better ways to integrate young people into the labour market. Ministers will focus on the obstacles to the labour market integration of young people, hold an exchange of views on their countries' strategies to facilitate the employment of young people, and discuss the flagship initiative “Youth on the Move” that the European Commission presented last autumn. (2) How to facilitate an employment-friendly recovery? Exploring ways to promote the creation of more and better jobs. Ministers will focus on how to link employment and economic policies in the interest of job creation and what structural reforms could contribute to this aim at times of fiscal consolidation. Commissioner Andor will present the recently adopted annual growth survey 2011 and its findings
During lunch, ministers will discuss how the crisis has affected inequalities in their labour markets. They will also debate on how geographical mobility and active labour market policies can help to manage territorial inequalities. (G.B./transl.jl)