Brussels, 07/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - Since the start of its presidency of the EU, Germany has been stressing the need for the EU to step up its efforts to promote high quality work, and this was the focus of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in Berlin on 18-20 January (see EUROPE 9345 and 9349). The European Commission pledged last year to promote decent work for all in order to boost justice, social cohesion and economic performance (see EUROPE 9199 and 9197). Against this backdrop, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) hosted a conference in Brussels on Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 February on 'Decent Work and European Market Integration - a Contradiction? European Panel 2007', jointly organised by the Hans-Bockler Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education, Health and Safety and the German Trade Union Federation.
At the conference, EU Social Policy Commissioner Vladimir Spidla repeated what he said at the Berlin EPSCO Council about what exactly decent, high quality work is, namely adequate salary, access to lifelong learning, reconciling work and home life, focussing on social dialogue and ensuring equal opportunities for all. Concerning lifelong learning, Vladimir Spidla said we need all levels of education to get high quality work - one level of education for young people, another for the less young and another for old people. Everyone will then be able to benefit from lifelong learning, he added. On 'flexicurity', Spidla said that the Commission had raised five crucial issues in its join report on employment 2005-2006, namely the need for a flexible contract, an active labour market policy during worker transition periods (when they are between jobs), a lifelong learning system, a modern social security system to back up salary where necessary, and mobility. (gb)