Brussels, 27/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Ministers for Employment and Social Policy begun their work on Monday at 17h00 with Elisabeth Guigou, French Minister for Employment and Solidarity, in the chair and with the participation of Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commission for the same issues (see EUROPE of 25 November). The ministers immediately began tackling the "Autumn 2000 Employment Package" adopted by the Commission in September this year (see EUROPE of 7 and 11/12 September 2000), in the aim of reaching, in principle, a political agreement on the 2001 guidelines as well as on the recommendations to Member States relating to the implementation of their employment policies. The joint report on employment for 2000 was also practically adopted. The Council is expected to validate this package before transmitting it to the Nice Summit.
During the dinner and throughout the whole evening, the ministers tackled, in restricted session, a third project from the French Presidency, with a view to adopting a European social agenda (the two previous projects had been the subject of bitter discussion within Coreper). According to indications available, this third document insists that follow-up to the implementation of the social agenda should be presented each year by the Commission in the form of a scoreboard. The Commission considers that the scoreboard for the social agenda should follow the model established for the Internal Market.