Brussels, 24/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - EU Employment and Social Affairs Ministers meeting up informally on 24 January in Nafplion (see EUROPE 23 January p 11) examined revisions to the European Employment Strategy (EES) that has existed for five years. Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou focused on the need to create more jobs of better quality, whereas some delegations highlighted that quantitative aspects. During the debate, participants agreed on the following points: that employment policy is not synonymous with the labour market: she goes further because it integrates the aspects of "inclusion" into the labour market (in checking the level of women's, immigrants and disabled people's participation in the labour market; reducing bureaucracy (notably having fewer guidelines and fewer 200 page reports); more social partners to be involved in the EES.
On the other hand the debate was much more tense on three issues: 1) the objectives laid out: Anna Diamantopoulou pointed out that such objectives already exist in the Lisbon strategy: "Even if everybody does not agree in accepting the political objectives outlined, we have the technical indicators which deserve to exist, even before Lisbon", she stressed, quoting as an example of an technical indicator, the "activation indicator", namely, the number of people unemployed who are currently being trained or who benefit from training in their companies. Ms Diamantopoulou restricted herself, therefore, to a limited series of objectives to add to make the employment strategy more effective but failed to outline what they were (they will not be set out before next April). An example of the new objective in connection with the integration of immigrant workers into the labour market; a comparison with the level of unemployment in the population and that for non-EU foreign nationals; 2) immigration: Anna Diamantopoulou stressed that the Commission Communication on the future of the European Employment Strategy did not have immigration policy as its objective as that belonged to the area of Justice and Home Affairs. According to Ms Diamantopoulou, "What this policy ought to say is that as soon as Member States accept workers from third countries on their territory, they must ensure their real integration into the labour market. The integration of immigrants on the labour market goes hand in glove with European immigration policy. It is clear that the EU has a priority need for the input of immigrant workers on its labour market for helping to fill labour shortages"; 3) involvement of social partners in the strategy: the majority of delegations believe that it is not up to Europe to determine to what measure social partners should be involved in the employment strategy. "No-one can dictate to Member States the type of governance sought…but the EU seeks to encourage social partners to be more closely involved in this strategy because the adaptation of the workers' capabilities and working conditions (under the slogan: flexibility and security on the labour market) inevitably goes via agreements with social partners", emphasised the Commissioner. She also pointed out that Europe had made some progress in this area, for example, with the directives on temporary work and short-term contracts.