Brussels, 31/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 31 January, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted an own initiative report on the social aspects of economic and monetary union (EMU), with very high ambitions compared with the views published by the European Commission and the European Parliament. The report includes a list of demands on the European Commission, adding further social and employment indicators, for example, including intra-national indicators, in the new European Semester scoreboard; setting “trigger thresholds”; publishing a Green Paper on automatic stabilisers; and working on the idea of an EMU-wide unemployment benefit system.
After the vote, the CoR rapporteur, Jean-Louis Destans (PES, France), did not attempt to hide his joy at winning almost unanimous support for his report from members across the board in plenary. He was all the more pleased because no substantial amendments were lodged. This level of support was far from a foregone conclusion because raising the idea of automatic stabilisers or an EMU-wide unemployment benefit system runs the risk of generating automatic resistance from political opponents of the Socialists, as seen at the European Parliament (see EUROPE 10957). The EP's rapporteur initially had the same ideas as those expressed in the CoR report, but almost all of them were removed from the final document. The European Commission is taking a serious look at many of the ideas set out in the CoR report (see EUROPE 10921) although more as an intellectual exercise than as an action plan as such (see EUROPE 10931). (JK/transl.fl)