Brussels, 11/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Many of the measures aimed at strengthening economic and financial governance have already been taken. Today, it is a matter of doing the same for the EU social dimension, said Lithuania's minister for social security and labour, Algimanta Pabedinskiene, who, on Tuesday 9 July, presented the priorities of the next six months' work at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO). The Lithuanian Presidency thus hopes to make progress in all fields, not only with regard to blocked issues, such as the European fund for aid to the most deprived and the directive on posted workers, but also when it comes to the setting in place of European Commission recommendations by member states in order to combat unemployment in general and youth unemployment in particular (via the youth guarantee, social investment package).
European labour ministers are currently meeting in Vilnius in an informal two-day Council. Other than the social dimension of EMU, the meeting is largely devoted to one of the subjects raised by Pabedinskiene when addressing the European Parliament committee on employment and social affairs. The setting in place of the European alliance for apprenticeships is thus being discussed and the Presidency hopes to fuel future debates by presenting a declaration in the near future, an outline of which, prepared by the Commission and the social partners, was presented on 2 July.
The recent agreement obtained on the broad guidelines for the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) gives hope to Pabedinskiene that a compromise with the European Parliament will be found during the second part of the year. The objective is for the EGF to come into play from the beginning of 2014, she stressed. Along the same lines, regarding measures aimed at protecting workers, she said she wished to obtain an agreement at the EPSCO Council in December on the creation of a European platform against undeclared work, which is one of the key points of a proposal that the Commission has just placed on the European agenda.
In the files giving rise to controversy, the Presidency hopes to take talks forward on the European fund for the most deprived. The task will be tough and, citing the main two challenges, Pabedinskiene gave an illustration of this saying it is necessary to break the divergence between member states over the compulsory or voluntary nature of participation in the fund, while at the same time setting a limit for the budgetary envelope. Another major dossier is that on posted workers on which the Presidency hopes to have consensus in the next six months, in order to begin interinstituional negotiations, replied Pabedinskiene in answer to concerns expressed by MEPs. (JK/transl.jl)