Brussels, 13/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Nicosia, employment and social affairs ministers held their first (informal) Council under Cypriot Presidency, on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 July. Given the ever-growing unemployment rate within the EU, emphasis was naturally placed on job creation, combating poverty and social exclusion, while special attention was paid to the involvement of social partners, local authorities and non-governmental organisations, not only in respect of measures to be developed by member states but also for proposals from the European institutions.
During the Council, the Cypriot Presidency sought to promote a bottom-up approach for keeping to the aims of the EUROPE 2020 strategy (75% employment rate, 20 million reduction in the number of people affected by poverty). After the Council, on Friday 13 July, the Cypriot minister for labour and social security, Sotiroula Charalambous, said: “Social partners, non-governmental organisations and local authorities, by having a thorough knowledge of the local realities, can promote targeted strategies that are directly entwined with the strategic targets of tackling unemployment, fighting poverty and social exclusion. The contribution of all these stakeholders is fundamental in the effort for effectively addressing the challenges Europe is facing as a result of the crisis”.
One might ask how, in concrete terms, third parties can be involved in the development of social and employment policies. Sotiroula Charalambous is of the view that the new mechanism within the framework of EU economic governance - namely the European Semester and country-by-country recommendations - is the ideal way for states to use local stakeholders as a barometer for assessing policies implemented. However, it is also a question of listening to suggestions made regarding future decision-making, which at the same time runs counter to the idea that policy choices are “imposed by Brussels”. To this end, three workshops had been organised by Cyprus, Poland and Denmark on the roles that these actors play in: (1) boosting Europe's employment, (2) fighting poverty and social exclusion, and (3) strengthening their involvement throughout the European Semester.
The last day of Council business was devoted to the employment package. Since its presentation in April this year (see EUROPE 10597), this package of recommendations and ideas for kick-starting employment and growth, conceived by the European Commission, now turns up at every meeting of employment ministers.
In the EPSCO Council, whether formal or informal, debates most of the time consist of exchanges of best practice, in the hope that they may be transferable to another member state. The issue is particularly difficult as it is a matter of each government's trying to put in place leverage, differing depending on the policy path taken by national authorities and having to respond to the particularities of each labour market, to boost growth and create jobs while reducing the deficits of national budgets. Debate, according to the Presidency, was “lively”, even though there is consensus that “growth and financial consolidation are the two faces of the same coin”. The debate tackled youth unemployment and gave consideration to the sectors that should be favoured, that is, the green economy, health and information technology.
Recovery measures should be put in place in close cooperation with the social partners. A Presidency paper, inspired by Commission proposals and presented to ministers in Nicosia, stresses that the social partners must be involved in: - assessment of the relationship between wages and productivity, inflation, domestic demand, unemployment and wage inequality; - drafting of country-specific recommendations; - the EU professional mobility programme (EURES); - and, more generally, economic migration.
Such a programme will have to take account of national practices which vary widely from one state to another. The same document also notes “varying” levels of cooperation between national authorities, Brussels and the social partners resulting from differing political and economic environments and differing approaches with regard to the objectives of the representatives of workers and employers and those established by the agenda of the European institutions. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that the last question put to ministers by the Cypriot Presidency was: “What could be the future of the European social dialogue?”
During discussions, ministers were also asked for their views on coordination with the Ecofin Council. At the last EPSCO Council (see EUROPE 10639), held under the Danish Presidency, several ministers were openly critical of the way the tasks and responsibilities had been shared with their colleagues responsible for the economy and finances. The Cypriot minister proposed debate on the need for “better/closer coordination” and the form this coordination should take, particularly with regard to the process of the European semester. (JK/transl.jl/rt)