Luxembourg, 19/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday 19 June, EU28 labour ministers held a policy debate ahead of the European summit on 26 and 27 June on employment and social issues in the country-specific recommendations issued by the European Commission as part of the European Semester. Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic are the countries most opposed to the recommendations issued for them by the Commission, particularly on the question of pensions.
Greek Employment Minister Ioannis Vroutsis summarised the debate: the European Semester is viewed as a success, but needs to be changed as part of the mid-term review of the EUROPE 2020 strategy; the new social and employment scoreboard is important for the social side of economic and monetary union, but as Lithuania pointed out, it must not be the only tool for measuring the social impact of common economic governance; there is consensus over the need for the retirement age to match life expectancy.
On the latter issue, the consensus disappears when it comes to the detail of reform. Poland strongly criticised the Commission during the meeting for recommending that it scrap its special pension scheme for farmers. The Czech Republic refuses to speed up the process of increasing the retirement age. Hungary defended its policy of reducing the eligibility period for unemployment benefit, and Bulgaria rejected the recommendation that it optimise its network of hospitals. (JK)