Luxembourg, 16/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - European labour ministers met in Luxembourg on Thursday 16 October for a policy debate on the mid-term review of the EUROPE 2020 strategy, including the European semester process. Though the current situation and economic forecasts leave scant hope of achieving the strategy's social objectives, the member states are not looking to alter anything with regard to their collective aims.
The European Commission, the Council of the EU, the employment committee and the social protection committee are all on the same wavelength: there must be no change in the goals of the strategy. Thus, providing jobs for 75% of the EU population aged between 20 and 64 and reducing the number of people affected or threatened by poverty or social exclusion by at least 20 million by 2020 remain two of the lofty objectives. And this against a backdrop of unemployment in the EU still at historically high levels and where the numbers of the poor and excluded continue to rise.
Structural reform and the individual responsibility of the member states were the two themes most often raised in the debate - and always the one with the other. The attempt by Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner László Andor to bring greater macroeconomic substance, and thus a certain spirit of collective responsibility, to the debate - opining, for example, that structural reforms alone were not enough, speaking of the need to move from a crisis management strategy to a long-term strategy, and suggesting that the EU adopt a common minimum revenue scheme to bring greater social convergence between the member states - came to nought.
Most of the ministers preferred to limit themselves to speaking about the EUROPE 2020 strategy, the European semester and the responsibility on each member state to stand by its commitments. Only a few, like the Polish and Slovenian ministers, cared to mark themselves out from the rest, the former stating that priority had to be given to economic growth and the latter responding that growth cannot be an end in itself. The debate, then, was more basic, touching more on the procedural details of the European semester.
There must be no question of major changes to this process, emphasised the UK and Lithuania. There was general agreement on this, even though several delegations, such as the German, Slovakian, Croatian, Danish and Romanian, stressed the need for the Commission to inform them earlier in the process of its country-specific recommendations. Others again raised the need for better synergy between the Employment and Social Affairs Council and the Economy and Finance Council. Only a few states, including Portugal and the Netherlands, clearly suggested closer coordination of social policies.
As for the EUROPE 2020 strategy, its detailed objectives remain just as valid and relevant as they were in 2010, ministers unanimously agreed. All that remains is for a little more effort nationally and for the incoming Commission to provide fresh impetus to economic growth. The message which ultimately the Council wished to send is that it is not the final lap that counts but just that we keep trotting along. Following all these consultations, the Commission will bring forward recommendations at the start of 2015 on the remainder of the strategy. (JK)