Brussels, 02/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 2 October, the European Commission unveiled a report on the social dimension of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Alone when presenting it to the press, EU Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Laszlo Andor said its main aim was to re-balance governance of Economic and Monetary Union in order to better respond to divergence problems in terms of employment and social situations.
The report includes a scoreboard of social and employment indicators, which is the only flagship measure in the report because the planned European unemployment benefit system has not been included, although it is briefly mentioned. The president of the European Parliament and the chair of the European Parliament's employment and social affairs committee, Martin Schulz (S&D, Germany) and Pervenche Berès (S&D, France) both felt that the report did not go far enough. On Wednesday 2 October, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, told reporters that some people will say that this is not the Big Bang they'd been expecting, but he said it was realistic, stuck to the EU treaty and didn't include things that couldn't be done.
The report takes a three-pronged approach based on a desire to make proposals doable in the short-term to strengthen the social dimension of EMU by ensuring better coordination of employment policies, explained Andor. The first approach is closer surveillance and the suggestion that a new scoreboard be added to the European Semester with five main indicators: changes in unemployment; the percentage of young people not in work or training (NEETS) and the rate of youth unemployment; real disposable household income; the risk of poverty among people of working age; and inequality (S80/S20 ratios). Other indicators will be incorporated in an Alert Mechanism Report, and used to detect economic imbalances.
The scoreboard should be in place for the 2014 European Semester, but will not act as an automatic trigger, explained Andor, because the indicators will be used to flag up the disparities that have mushroomed among eurozone members since 2008, but not to automatically adjust the European Commission's country-specific recommendations. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) regretted this measure on 2 October, asking what level the alert would be set at, and what the difference would be between “imbalances” and “risky disparities.” The Commissioner did not answer these concerns, saying it was something for the Council of the EU and the European Summit to examine.
The second approach is a mixture of pending matters and a repeat of old demands. There is an appeal to the member states to do more to ensure a socially useful use of Structural Funds. At the same time, the Commission is trying to influence the inter-institutioanl negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework to get at least a fifth of the European Social Fund allocated to social inclusion projects and fighting poverty (see separate article). Under this heading, it is pointed out that workers are not sufficiently mobile within the EU, although Andor has already said that this is negligible and would not solve the current social crisis (see EUROPE 10921).
The final approach is about social dialogue. The Commission says: “There is room to better consult social partners at key steps of the decision-making process under the European Semester.” The Commission has pledged to meet the EU social partners ahead of the adoption of the Annual Growth Survey each autumn; organise a debate after the Annual Growth Survey with EU social partners and their national affiliates; hold technical preparatory meetings before the March Tripartite Social Summit and other high-level meetings and encourage member states to discuss all reforms linked to the country-specific Recommendations with national social partners. (JK with MB/transl.fl)