Brussels, 30/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - Adopting the report by Herman Schmid (GUE/NGL, Sweden) on progress in five years of the European Employment Strategy, the European Parliament called on the Commission to 1) assess whether it would be a good idea to change the Employment Strategy to facilitate the upcoming extension of the European labour market; 2) propose that the National Action Plans that each Member State is expected to draw up be debated by the parliament of the country in question once it is aware of the guidelines and recommendations set out in the Annual Employment Pact; 3) beefs up strategies to develop local and regional labour markets in both urban and rural areas; and 4) encourage the integration of legal immigrants into the workforce, in close cooperation with European trade unions and employers and immigrant associations.
Parliament regretted that in their National Action Plans, various EU Member States have not set out the percentage of women in the labour market. Despite recent economic growth, this percentage is still 5% under the targets established in Lisbon. The EP welcomed the Commission's recent Communication on rationalising economic and employment policy coordination cycles and the guideline on fighting gender discrimination in access to education and professional training.