Luxembourg, 03/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Employment and Social Affairs Ministers of the Union agreed on Tuesday in Luxembourg on a general direction for the new guidelines for employment, which, as Council President Dimitris Reppas stressed, reflect the "aims of the Lisbon strategy, namely to reach a high level of employment, create quality and more plentiful jobs and set in place labour markets that promote social cohesion". These guidelines fix ten strategic priorities for action in the Member States and contain individual recommendations (see EUROPE of 8 April, p.10). After the opinion of the EP, these new guidelines will be formally adopted during the next Council in order to be submitted to the Thessaloniki Summit. These ten priorities consist among other things in helping unemployed persons to find jobs, create an adequate environment for start ups, promote worker adaptability, and professional and geographic mobility, invest in human resources, and encourage employment of the older workers. Recommendations on employment especially concern active older persons, gender equality, lifelong learning, modernisation of employment services, etc. These recommendations take into account the suggestions formed at the Spring Summit in March (they have been made each year since 2000).
During a press conference, Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou noted that the ten future Member States had already taken major measures in this field and had prepared themselves for the European employment strategy. "The aim of the labour and employment market reform is to insist on quantitative objectives", the Commissioner stated, saying: "the usefulness of these reforms has still to be proved. Despite the economic slowdown, the EU job markets have become more resistant in favour of the five years of European employment strategy". Ms Diamantopoulou said the "new 25-member EU must, however, create 25 million more jobs by the year 2010 in order to achieve full employment, the goal set in Lisbon".
For the other points on the agenda, Ministers had to reach a political agreement on the status of European cooperative society as well as on the proposal aimed at creating a single advisory committee for health, safety and hygiene at work. They adopted two resolutions: - on the social and human capital in the knowledge society, and on the promotion of employment and social integration of persons suffering from a disability. Ministers also came to an agreement on the simplification and modernisation of social security systems (Regulation No 1408/71). As Dimitris Reppas underlined, "The Presidency has concluded three chapters of this dossier: pensions, retirement due to invalidity and the various advantages arising from this". The debates on this subject may therefore be concluded by the end of the year.
Ministers again heard Commissioner Diamantopoulou present recently adopted communications on: the streamlining of social welfare systems and mid-term review of the social policy agenda. They were briefed on the new communication, adopted on 3 June at the initiative of Anna Diamantopoulou and her Justice counterpart, Antonio Vitorino, on immigration, integration and employment (see other article). Ms Diamantopoulou also explained to them the progress accomplished in establishing the European health insurance card.