Brussels, 10/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - At a workshop in Athens on Friday on "Economic Policy and the new sources of Growth in Europe", European Social Affairs Commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou, defended the European social model. The Commissioner admitted that the economic situation today is less favourable than in 2000, "and we must remember that we still need to create 15 million additional new jobs to reach our employment targets." "We must do everything we can to restore growth in Europe. We need to accelerate productivity growth… by building on the positive synergies between quality and productivity at work", said Diamantopoulou, adding: "We must look, in particular, to the European Central Bank to take a more proactive role in this respect. However, we still need to continue the process of labour market reform." Asking whether Europe had the right model, she said the argument that "Europe can escape its difficulties by pursuing a so-called flexible, US-style labour market model" is "overstated". "The US economy is in worse difficulties than the EU", explained the Commissioner, adding that EU "labour markets are "flexible", but in a different, more dynamic sense. Europe's flexibility has more to do with the quality of the workforce." Member States' employment and social policies "are helping modernise the EU economy", said Diamantopoulou: "In the period 1997-2001, employment in the EU expanded as much as in the US" and "living standards in the EU have continued to rise steadily".
Mentioning the Commission's Communication on the employment strategy adopted in January for the Spring European Council (see Europe of 11 January, p.9, 15 January, p.15, and 16 January, p.12), Anna Diamantopoulou said that "despite convergence, Member States are at different levels of economic and employment performance." She points out, for example, that in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK, employment rates are already significantly higher than the Lisbon target of 70%. While in Belgium, Spain, Greece and Italy, rates are still below the current 64% EU average. Therefore the challenges differ - Greece is trying to extend part-time work, for example, while in Sweden, where part-time work is already widespread, full-time work is being encouraged.