Luxembourg, 09/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - Co-chaired by Laurette Onelinx and Frank Vandenbroucke, the EU's Employment and Social Policy Council, meeting in Luxembourg on 8 October, saw a historic moment, with the definitive adoption of the regulation relating to the statute of the European Company (EC) and the directive that complements this statute regarding the involvement of workers, text that will take effect in 2004. The Council also made progress on different issues, like the modernisation and simplification of Regulation 1408/71, the fight against social exclusion and poverty, the quality and viability of pensioners and pensions (see yesterday's EUROPE, pp.9-10). Here are some details of the Council's Conclusions:
1 European Company (EC): the statute will provide companies working in several Member States with the possibility of setting themselves up as companies under Community law and to evolve as single operator throughout the Union. Several options are placed at the disposal of companies of at least two Member States who want to form themselves into a EC. The EC will have to take the form of a capital share company, with a capital of at least 120,000 euro.
As for worker involvement in ECs, the directive adopted aims to guarantee that the creation of ECs does not lead to the disappearance or weakening of existing schemes in the companies concerned. Given the diversity of rules and practices in Member States regarding the involvement of worker representatives in company decision-making processes, a single European model is not being envisaged. Worker information and consultation procedures at trans-national level will nevertheless be assured. When rights of participation exist within one of several companies forming a EC, these rights will be preserved by transferring them to the EC, on its creation, unless the parties involved decide otherwise.
2. Co-ordination of social security systems in the framework of the free movement of persons: the debate, carried out on the basis of a draft Presidency text proposing twelve parameters (see EUROPE of 6 October, p.8), allowed ministers to clarify certain points thus enabling the Council to make the political choices necessary for future work on the Regulation. In answer to questions it set, the Presidency concluded that: 1) the question as to whether or not pensioned border workers must continue to receive sickness benefits in the Member State of their last employment raised problems for some Member States, among other things because it would create discrimination in relation to other pensioners, who do not benefit from that right. These Member States do, however, acknowledge that, in some concrete cases, a pragmatic solution has to be found (for example in the case of medical treatment begun before their taking their pensions); 2) following differences of views that remained over the attribution of the competence to the State of the last job regarding the payment of unemployment benefits, the debate has still to continue. Concerns were expressed in Council over the fact that the authorities competent for helping someone seek a new job and those competent for paying unemployment benefits would not be the same and would not be in the same State, and that the financial burden would be spread unfairly; 3) no Member State was against extending the co-ordination of social security systems to nationals of third countries living legally in the Community, along the lines of the Tampere conclusions. The controversial problem was that of the legal basis to apply to this extension, and it was decided to hand a mandate to Coreper to find a solution (see EUROPE of 8/9 October, p.10). It is now expected that the parameters will be adopted at the Employment and Social Policy Council of 3 December 2001 and then have these forwarded to the Laeken Summit of 14 and 15 December. At the same time, a timetable will be established for examining the provisions of the regulation under the Spanish and Danish Presidencies.
Finally, the Council: - took note of information from the Presidency on the introduction of the gender perspective in EU policies and on social mediation in Europe; - adopted a resolution on the "information society for all", affirming that the potentials that it offers should be open to all and not a further source of exclusion; - heard the Social Protection Committee on the state of work in the setting up of indicators regarding combating social exclusion, indicators that should be adopted at the 3 December Council and forwarded to the Laeken Summit; - took note of the documentation supplied by the Commission on its proposal on worker exposure to asbestos (see EUROPE of 20 July, p.16).