Brussels, 09/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - When it comes to social affairs, the Danish Presidency of the EU will focus, as will be seen in Kolding (see above), on helping set up a job market through dialogue between trade unions and employers, and combatting poverty and social exclusion. The Presidency's main aim will be to give work to as many people as possible, to make them autonomous and cut unemployment, to follow the Lisbon Strategy. In broad terms, this is what Danish social affairs minister Henriette Kjaer and employment minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen told the EP Social Affairs and Employment Committee chaired by Theodorus Bouwman (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), on Tuesday. The Presidency will focus on the question of retirement (the Presidency is expecting the Commission to prepare a synthesis report for the Spring Summit of 2003), health and caring for the elderly, analysing social security systems for the elderly and their access to them, extending regulation 1408/71 to non-EU Member States' residents (who should be treated in the same way as EU residents, explained Kjaer) and to EP assistants (currently being discussed by the Council's Social Affairs Group), sexual equality (focussing on two sensitive issues - violence against women and marginalisation because of gender), reviewing the European Employment Strategy (that has to be made more effective, more flexible and more fluid, said Fredriksen, but keeping the four pillars, if somewhat slimmed down), temporary work, company social liability, the importance of European social dialogue (dialogue between trade unions and employers) and the tripartite social summit for growth and employment, and draft directives to protect workers from noise pollution and electromagnetic fields and working conditions for the self-employed.
Responding to MEPs' questions (concerned about how the Presidency was planning to make progress in areas that Denmark has opted out of), Henriette Kjaer reassured them, saying that the Presidency would respect everyone's interests but this would not prevent the Danish delegation from doing its work and nobody should fear that Denmark would not fully participate in the discussions. On sexual equality, Kjaer said that it was an issue that concerned men too since in some situations they didn't have the same opportunities as women and what the Danish Presidency wanted was genuine sexual equality. On the extension of Regulation 1408/71 to EP assistants, she said that she agreed that the danger of opening up to other groups of workers was minimal and she would do her best to close the issue.