Brussels, 02/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Parliament is to examine the report by Miet Smet, Belgian Christian Democrat, on the scoreboard on implementing the social policy agenda. The rapporteur reiterates in particular the EP's request to be fully involved in the mid-term assessment process for this agenda that will be held in 2003. The Smet report also hopes that, in the context of the European Convention and the next Intergovernmental Conference, work will be carried out for incorporating the open coordination method, a method that concerns a growing number of issues (employment, social integration, education and teaching, and pensions) in the Treaty. It also hopes that, on this occasion, the question of EP participation in the method will be settled.
Above all, the Smet report calls on the Commission to: - associate the Economic and Social Committee as closely as possible in the implementation of the social agenda; - intervene more actively, in concert with the Member States, to strengthen the participation of older workers on the labour market thanks to improved working conditions, by granting special attention to the possibilities provided by new technologies and the information society; - take the initiative in the fight against undeclared work; - accelerate its work aimed at a better understanding of poverty and social exclusion, by more especially taking into account women's generally inferior economic and social status, and to propose measures to improve the situation of women. Finally, the Smet report calls on the Commission to speed up its work especially as far as the review of the directive on works councils is concerned, so that the legislative procedure may be concluded as planned from this year on; and also concerning the development of a Green Paper on complementary health insurance for preparing a legislative initiative; as well as on illiteracy and social exclusion, in order to prepare an action plan and to set up a European observatory on illiteracy with CEDEFOP (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training).