Brussels, 01/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission (DG Employment) will very shortly be publishing its consultation document on "the financial participation of the workforce in the EU". The aim of this document is to relaunch debate at European level on this issue and to include in the debate all the actors concerned (Member States, community institutions, social partners, companies, networks which work for financial promotion and participation, professionals in the sector). The Commission will take note of contributions received when it adopts its communication on financial participation, along with a plan of action.
To facilitate this consultation process, the Commission proposes focusing on three key areas: a) identifying general principles which inspire national policies (they can already be found for example in the PEPPER I and II -"Promotion of employee participation profits of companies and results, including participation in capital"), notably: voluntary participation, extension of the profits of financial participation to all employees, regularity of application of financial participation systems, clarity and transparency of these systems, distinction between wages and income arising from financial participation systems ; b) tackling transnational obstacles, which are essentially of three types: 1) tax differences between Member States, some granting tax incentives to financial participation systems, others not or at lower levels ; 2) national differences on the mandatory or non-mandatory payment of social security contributions on revenue arising from the financial participation ; 3) "sociocultural" elements which relate to different traditions, more or less favourable to financial participation, of Member States ; c) the establishment of a series of community actions which can contribute to improving understanding of the different financial participation systems, to organise exchanges on the practices and policies operated by Member States and for everyone to learn lessons.
In addition to the contributions on these three areas, the Commission submits still more questions for the consideration of the actors concerned: a) is there a need to foresee an EC initiative in the area of financial participation ? ; b) is it necessary to establish general principles at European level ? If so, which ones to promote an increased and more efficient use of financial participation systems within the EU ; c) which would be the actions at community level that the Commission should include in its communication and in its action plan ? ; d) is there a need to add other areas to the areas identified by the Commission's document ? If so, which ones ?