Brussels, 24/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - Presenting the priorities of the Greek Presidency on social issues to the EP's Committee on Social Affairs and Employment, on 21 January, Dimitris Reppas, Greek Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, recalled the Presidency's attachment to the objectives defined at the Lisbon Summit regarding employment. "We want to put in place conditions guaranteeing stable employment, promoting the quality and productivity of employment, improving investment into human resources, enhancing qualifications and competitive possibilities for small- and medium-sized enterprises …, combating undeclared work and the underground economy, having immigrants participate in the labour market and tackling the problem of the ageing of the population", said Reppas. To achieve that, according to him, focus needs placing on a few targeted actions, especially: enhancing the quality of work, reducing regional inequalities regarding employment and unemployment by targeting isolated and underprivileged regions, placing qualified personnel at the disposal of companies so that they can take on the changes without their competitiveness suffering. Mr. Reppas also placed emphasis on strengthening the contribution of all social actors and partners in these processes, and on the "central role of the European social model", exclaiming: "the welfare State is no luxury". As for "the important and concrete role that social protection must play in the global European strategy", Mr. Reppas considered that "the different systems of social protection are a source wealth for Europe", but that, "one could opt for a single procedure for co-ordinating actions that would codify the acquis to date and that could act as complement to the European employment strategy". The President of the Social Affairs Council also mentioned legislative initiatives that the Presidency would like to take (for example, push ahead with the work on the issues of "temporary work", the "protection of workers exposed to health risks at the workplace", enhancing the European social dialogue), and hoped that the tripartite Social Summits would be institutionalised, "a decision that will have to be taken at the Spring Summit in Brussels in March".
Responding to many MEPs, Mr. Reppas stipulated: 1) broad guidelines for employment (Mr. Pronk, Dutch, EPP-ED): "the Lisbon Strategy has failed for different reasons; that was inevitable as we did not have the tools to succeed, but progress has nevertheless been achieved"; 2) Open method of co-ordination (Mr. Hughes, British, PES): this method is "good", according to the member, but according to Reppas, "there needs to be greater participation of your Committee in our work to progress with it … We want the EU to take more interest in social policy, to create the conditions for genuine social policy strategies. But not all Member States are prepared to accept the element of control that accompanies this policy"; 3) European Convention (Mr. Katiforis, Greek PES, chair of the Convention's "Social Europe" working group): "We want commitments on political principles defining the way ahead for Europe: full employment, social cohesion, public services, social dialogue, etc.".