Brussels, 13/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - The EU informal Employment and Social Affairs Council will be held on 20 January in Villach under the co-chairmanship of Ministers Ursula Haubner (Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection) and Martin Bartenstein (Economy and Work), with Commissioner Vladimir Spindla taking part. Preparation for this informal meeting will be carried out on 19 January at a meeting of the European Social Troika (Ministers responsible for Social Affairs and Employment from the Austrian, Finnish and German Presidencies) and officials from the social partners, the European Commission and European Parliament. The Austrian Presidency has provided those taking part with two discussion documents, one on “flexicurity”, flexibility through security, and the other on “the social dimension of the revised Lisbon Strategy” in the context of the rationalisation of social policy processes.
There will be two sessions at the informal Council on Friday: under the chairmanship of Martin Bartenstein, the morning will be given over to employment matters and, as previously announced by the Presidency (see EUROPE 9102) “flexicurity” (a concept which describes how to reconcile a more flexible labour market with the welfare rights of the individual); and in the afternoon, Ursula Haubner will chair discussions on the “social dimension of the revised Lisbon Strategy”. Here is a brief glimpse of the Presidencies discussion documents.
I) Flexicurity With flexicurity comes the question of how to maintain European competitiveness and the social model, which are interdependent, as is reflected in the revised Lisbon Strategy on growth and employment. European employment systems face the challenge of how to reconcile flexibility, as a basis for adaptability and competitiveness, and a high level of social security. With regard to the elements of flexicurity strategies (responsibility for which lies with Member States), the Presidency notes that, firstly, these strategies try to find the ways and means of creating a balance between flexibility and social security in Europe, and that, in principle, the elements of social security should be provided by the public sector. To encourage flexicurity, an active labour market policy and promotion of human capital are required in order to provide high employment and rapid transition from one job to another, while also enhancing productivity. The Danish example will be presented during the discussions. Secondly, flexicurity must promote easy transition between employed and self-employed work. Entrepreneurship is becoming more and more important in this period of rapid structural change, so flexicurity is a key element, as demonstrated by Sweden's situation. Thirdly, flexible types of employment are part-time work and fixed term employment with, as in the Dutch case, minimum standards to raise employees' security. Fourthly, the establishment and maintenance of an adequate social protection mechanism is an indispensable prerequisite of flexicurity and competitiveness. The Presidency also talks about the draft Directive on the portability of complementary pensions and the example of the Austrian Betriebspensionsgesetz (Company Pensions Act).
The outcome of the discussions will be summarised and presented at a conference on “Innovations in Labour Market policies - Challenges in Times of Globalisation to be held in Vienna on 16-17 February. This exploratory debate will also inform the Commission's forthcoming Green Paper on the devolution of labour law.
II) Social dimension in the revised Lisbon Strategy The Presidency explains in its discussion document what the streamlining of social protection and social inclusion process are, and what social policy means within the context of the Lisbon Strategy, and refers to the European Commission communication Working together, working better: A new framework for the open coordination of social protection and inclusion policies. The Presidency calls on Ministers to consider the following questions: (1) How can the social dimension of the revised Lisbon Strategy be strengthened and made more visible and which experiences from your national reform programmes can contribute to this work?
(2) How can the streamlined process support the fight against poverty and social exclusion, the modernisation of pension systems as well as the area of health and long-term care? What concrete results do you expect?