Brussels, 08/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - In the field of social affairs and employment, the German EU Presidency plans to focus on questions relating to flexicurity and demographic change. The Presidency essentially undertakes to do everything it can to safeguard employment and shape Europe's social future, develop the European Social Model, promote equal opportunities and participation on the labour market for all, and support an innovative and preventive health policy.
On the subject of job security and the shaping of Europe's social future, the German Presidency stresses: “Intensifying their cooperation is the primary way in which the Member States and the EU must demonstrate their commitment to a social Europe. This, it states, is crucial if Europe's citizens are to accept the idea of integration”.
The European Social Agenda “is designed to generate confidence in the face of change. Its goal is to combine the flexibility required for the labour market with social protection and social security (“flexicurity”)”, writes the Presidency, stating: “One focus of the exchange of experiences between the Member States should be on equal opportunities in the labour market”. The debate on the European social model “has to be fleshed out with concrete proposals”. In its programme, the Presidency specifies: (1) a ministerial conference held on the future of the European Social Model (Nüremberg, 8-9 February 2007) should “provide a platform to illustrate the positive effects of interaction between the three policy areas of economy, employment and social affairs through concrete examples of successful dovetailing”; (2) in the future, European draft legislation should “receive a greater public profile and be examined with regard to their social impact”; (3) in order to increase worker mobility, Germany hopes to focus on continuing work on the pensions portability directive “while taking care to protect the long tradition and evolution of national occupational pension systems”; (3) in cooperation with its European partners, Berlin will begin or continue the systematic evaluation of European directives on safety at work in cooperation with our European partners, and continue work on the Community strategy on health and safety at work.
The management of demographic change is a central theme in our societies, the Presidency programme reads. It states that “at EU level, ideas on how to make more effective use of the potential and experience of the older generation to benefit the economy and society, and how to increase the involvement of older workers in the workforce in the long term, should be shared more actively. Germany intends to continue the discussion on the economic potential of older people at European level”. Furthermore, together with its European partners, the German Presidency will implement the European Pact for Youth and the European Youth in Action Programme, which offer a comprehensive framework for the promotion of young people outside school, to combat the high rate of youth unemployment and ensure their integration on the labour market. Germany also wishes to “reach concrete decisions on better social integration particularly for disadvantaged young people”. Finally, the Presidency plans to encourage the “”exchange of experiences on sustainable family policy at European level and aims to adopt a European Alliance for Families”.
The issue of health continues to gain significance in view of demographic change, the Presidency states in its programme, announcing among other things that it will drive forward and possibly conclude work on the draft regulation on advanced therapies and the revision of the medical devices directive. A ministerial conference, it points out, will examine ways to involve and mobilise civil society more effectively in HIV/AIDS prevention measures and that it will “establish greater legal certainty in the integration and application of internal market regulations in the area of health policy”.
As far as promoting equal opportunities and participation on the labour market is concerned, the German Presidency will encourage the project for a European Institute on Gender Equality, and will call for a road map on gender equality for 2006-2010 to be applied at both national and European level, and an approach to be adopted to help reconcile family with working life in the long term. The Presidency will ensure above all that disadvantaged population groups benefit from equal employment opportunities.