Brussels, 20/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - On 20 February, the European Commission unveiled a Communication on the scoreboard on the implementation of the Social Policy Agenda. This is the second scoreboard and it sets out progress across the board in all Community level instruments (legislation, open co-ordination method, aid for raising awareness and exchanging good practices, the European Social Fund and social dialogue), setting out perspectives for 2002. It complements the annual synthesis report to the spring European Council in Barcelona with regard to the actions which are part of the Social Policy Agenda and will be examined by the 7 March Employment and Social Policy Council in the run-up to the Barcelona Summit. The EP and Council have both stressed the importance of an annual scoreboard to keep track of achievements and verify the contributions made by the different actors in executing this agenda (the EP recently called for it to be more involved in changes to the Social Agenda - see EUROPE of 14 February, p.17).
In terms of future prospects, structural weaknesses persist in the short term in terms of employment which call for continued and reinforced attention with regard to a) the low employment rate of older workers (38.3% in 2001 compared with the Stockholm target of 50% by 2010); significant gender gaps (18% in terms of the employment rate and 14% in terms of pay); c) high levels of unemployment (some 8% of the workforce, of which 3.6% long term and over 16% for young people); and d) regional differences in employment and unemployment. Overall, the Communication stresses, the Agenda "is well on track in terms of transposing commitments into concrete actions. All new issues the Commission announced explicitly to launch before end 2001 have been addressed." Labour markets are being reformed through the European Employment Strategy. The Council and the European Parliament have been pursuing negotiations on a number of legislative proposals in fields including health and safety at work, the involvement of workers and equal treatment of men and women. The open co-ordination method is delivering concrete measures to fight poverty and social exclusion. In 2002, "the Agenda will be a good example of how all Community instruments can be combined to reach strategic objectives… of economic and social progress".