Brussels, 16/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers has, in the opinion of most members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), performed very satisfactorily. Some regrets came to the fore, however, from the benches of the Employees' Group as agreement between European Parliament and Council on parental leave (see EUROPE 10240 and 10271) proved to be out of reach during this Presidency. As announced, the Employment/Social Affairs Council to be held in Luxembourg on, Friday 17 June will focus essentially on the European Parliament amendments (see EUROPE 10398).
Giving his assessment of the six-month Hungarian Presidency of the Council of Ministers to the EESC plenary session, Hungarian Minister for European Affairs Enikõ Gyõri highlighted the implementation of the new EU 2020 strategy and the agreement on economic governance and financial services. Countries must work more closely to achieve all necessary reforms in economic matters, she said. “Under the current economic situation, we need more than ever a greater Europe. Speculation should be excluded from our lives. We should go back to an EU economy based on real work”, she argued.
Henri Malosse (France), for the Employers' Group, said that all in his group were of the view that this had been “a very satisfactory Presidency”. Despite some slight scepticism from some at the beginning of the Presidency, everything went well with the Hungarians even managing “to make sure that a 'Stronger Europe' was not just a logo, but also a reality”, he stated.
Especially interested in how the economic crisis and further adjustments were going to affect social protection in Europe, the Employees' Group, through Gabriele Bischoff (Germany) expressed regret that an agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on parental leave had not been reached. “We cannot stand a society where an entire generation of well prepared and educated youngsters is left aside”, she said.
On behalf of the Various Interests Group, Ioannis Vardakastanis (Greece) thanked the Hungarian Presidency for the work it had done on the coordination of action to help disabled people in the EU. Czech Roman Haken raised concerns on the next reform of the common agriculture policy and future funding for farmers. (G.B./transl.rt)