Brussels, 13/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - It is a first in the world of the European chemical industry: representatives of the social partners in the sector have just announced at the European Chemical Industry Social Partners Conference on 10 September in Helsinki that they want to see the creation of a real sectoral dialogue committee for the chemical industry. This will be the proposal by the presidents of the ECEG (European Chemical Employers' Group) Hans Paul Fray and the EMCEF (European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers' Federation) Hubertus Schmoldt to the European Commission.
The chemical industry is the second largest industrial sector in Europe and employs more than 2 million people. It ranks first by size among chemical industries in the world. By setting up a sectoral dialogue committee at European level, the social partners will be better placed to follow the development of their sector, in accordance with the thinking behind the Lisbon Strategy, which aims to make the EU the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010.
At the conference in Helsinki, the EMCEF and the ECEG also adopted a joint position on the topic "Education, Vocational Training and Lifelong Learning in the European Chemical Industry". The second stage will be a best practice comparison and exchange of information between the different national systems in the sector. The collected experiences will then form the basis for supporting future development in this area.