Stockholm, 23/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - During the social dialogue summit, held during the afternoon of Thursday 22 March in Stockholm, the European social partners gave their support to the Lisbon strategy. They expressed their intention to make social dialogue move forward on work relating to life-long training and to promote the modernisation and adjustment of working relations, in the wake of the Lisbon strategy. Social partners believe teleworking should be the subject of negotiated guidelines at European level. They briefed the Commission on the state of progress of their negotiations on temporary work - which, we recall, were still not successful Thursday midday (see EUROPE of 23 March, p.11) - and agreed to meet Anna Diamantopoulou in Brussels in coming days in order to try and find a solution to a "matter that concerns workers closely", as the Commissioner said. She also believes a solution will be found. It is Ms Diamantopoulou's opinion that "social dialogue is therefore still alive since the two sides in the dialogue - trade unions and employers - have agreed to meet her and not to give up any hope before seeing her".
"I noted with interest the approach announced by Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, whose spirit I admire, to convene social partners in order to better clarify their positions", commended Emilio Gabaglio, General-Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). While recalling that "if the negotiation between social partners fails, the Commission must take up the initiative on the legislative side", Mr Gabaglio said he was "open to and in favour of a meeting between social partners in order to seek clarification of the employers' positions". He also underlined the "clear and precise declaration" by President Romano Prodi in this respect: - "I know full well some people think that social dialogue is no longer necessary, that it is outmoded and that its validity should be questioned. But I believe that it is the cornerstone of the European social model".
Georges Jacobs, President of the European Employers Confederation UNICE, also said he was "fully open to the proposal by Commissioner Diamantopoulou for clarifying positions to prevent all misunderstanding". He went on to add: "We do not understand the decision taken by ETUC, a decision that we regret. Our offer, which is very attractive, remains on the table as it is". "Our offer is attractive because it proposes a worker protection mechanism through a principle of non-discrimination guaranteed at European level", continued Thérèse de Liedekerke, UNICE Director.
Ms Guigou and Ms Onkelinkx call on Stockholm Summit to grant priority to quality employment
During the social dialogue meeting (which, we recall, brings together the current, past and future presidencies of the EU Council, the Commission and the European social partners), Laurette Onkelinkx, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment and Equal Opportunities, and Elisabeth Guigou, French Minister for Employment and Solidarity, presented a "common position" for the European Council to be held in Stockholm. They affirm that the Stockholm Summit must provide "the opportunity to confirm the high degree of political priority and collective determination shown in Lisbon regarding economic growth, full employment and social cohesion". This Summit "could tackle the quality of employment, the balance between flexibility and security for workers and enterprise, the response to the challenge of an ageing workforce, and true equal opportunities between men and women". Ms Guigou and Ms Onkelinkx consider that the Summit must grant priority to the definition of constitutive criteria for the quality of employment and should "give a mandate with a view to the European Summit of Laeken so that, on the basis of the Commission's Communication, the quality of employment is included in the guidelines for employment 2002 and serves as a foundation for strengthening the base of common standards with regards social policy".
Mr Vandenbroucke insists on coordination of social security systems and worker mobility
Belgian Social Affairs Minister Franck Vandenbroucke described the social dialogue summit as "very interesting and useful with highly political and profiled debates". He stressed the need to "continue along the lines of the Lisbon Summit by strengthening economic, employment and social policies". It is essential to "define the common social objectives concerning pension systems", he pointed out, announcing that the Belgian EU Presidency was going to open an "indepth debate on population and define objectives for providing a better framework for an open coordination process on pensions. It is a process where we shall not harmonise but clearly define objectives and exchange experiences in order to encourage governments to act", insisted Mr Vandenbroucke.
Regarding the policy of immigration of highly qualified workers, which is also the subject of a discussion during this meeting, the Belgian minister said he had "considerable hesitation". "This is a solution too easy for our problems. There are quite a few people in Europe still without work. The aim of full employment must be followed up at all costs and we must invest in human capital. If there is a shortage in the European employment markets, then intra-European mobility should first of all be increased and, in this connection, it is important to coordinate the social security systems on the basis of Regulation 1408/71, that must be simplified and amended as a matter of urgency, and also launch, on the basis of decisions to be taken at the Stockholm Summit, a political debate on this issue, in order to ensure that the mobility of workers in Europe may continue without altering their social rights".