Brussels, 19/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - This week, employment and social affairs ministers and the Commission will prepare their contributions to the European Spring Summit on 8-9 March. Their two joint reports, one on employment and the other on social protection and social inclusion, were presented by the Commission on Monday. The Employment/Social Policy Council, meeting in Brussels on Thursday 22 February, is set to adopt them. The two joint Commission-Council reports will then be put to heads of state and government and included in the Spring Summit conclusions. The Council, co-chaired by German federal ministers Franz Müntefering (Labour and Social Affairs) and Ursula von der Leyen (Family, Older People, Women, Young People), will, on Thursday, look at demographic changes, and more especially at the contribution older people can make to society's economic and social development. Ms von der Leyen is expected to set out her desire for a “European Pact for Families”, a matter which will be on the agenda of the next EPSCO Council in Brussels on 30-31 May.
Here is the programme for Thursday's meeting, at which Commissioner Vladimir Spidla will take part: (1) Preparation of the Spring European Council: ministers will begin with a public debate on the two joint reports (see above). They will exchange views on the Commission communication “Implementing the renewed Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs: 'A Year of Delivery'”, and on the Commission report on “equality between men and women, 2007”. They are also expected to reach a political agreement on the Commission recommendation for a Council recommendation on the 2007 update of the broad guidelines for the economic policies of the member states and the Community, and on the implementation of member states' employment policies. The presidency will inform the Council of the preparation of the tripartite Social Summit, which will take place in the morning of 8 March. (2) Demographic change: ministers will then hold a second “structured” public debate on the “opportunities and challenges of demographic change in Europe”. They will adopt a resolution on the “contribution of older people to economic and social development”. (3) Various: the chairmen of the employment committee and the social protection committee will, at the end of the meeting, present their work programmes for 2007.
Joint report on employment 2006-2007
This report provides member states with sometimes very specific recommendations, as, for example, on the pensions system, on their labour market. This year, only 19 out of the 25 member states (with Bulgaria and Romania only just joining the EU, they could not provide a complete report at the end of 2006) received at least one recommendation on areas where further implementation efforts are needed. Estonia, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden did not receive any recommendations since their progress in implementing reform programmes has been significant. “This report takes account of the various aspects of the Lisbon Strategy and notes that progress, while not uniform, has been made by member states,” stressed Robert Strauss of the European Commission at a press briefing. In drafting this report, the Commission focused on three priorities of the European employment strategy, he said: (1) attracting and retaining as many people as possible onto the labour market “worked rather well in all member states in general”; (2) implementing policies to invest more in human capital by improving education and competences “is making some progress, although there is virtual stagnation on life-long learning”; (3) policies to improve workers' and companies' adaptability “are falling behind somewhat”. “That is why the Commission is emphasising the 'flexicurity' approach, which should ease the transition between the various stages of life and help increase productivity and improve the quality of employment,” he added. A Commission communication on this issue is expected for summer 2007. It will set out a series of options to help member states find the right combination of policies to suit their labour markets, says a press release, which states that (1) unemployment fell from 9.1% in 2004 to 8.8% in 2005 and the employment rate rose by 0.8% in 2005 - the biggest increase since 2001, although a further 22 million jobs will have to be created if the EU is to reach its 2010 targets; (2) the number of older people in employment rose from 41% in 2004 to 42.5% in 2005, but much remains to be done to reach the 50% target by 2010.
Joint report on social protection and social inclusion, 2007
This report, which does not make recommendations for member states, as Jérôme Vignon (Commission) said at the same press briefing, examines the “first ever integrated national strategies” on social inclusion, pensions, healthcare and long-term care. It is against a background of demographic ageing and increased globalisation, the Commission notes. The report examines the broad trends in the EU and its member states (apart from Bulgaria and Romania for the same reasons as above) and provides country by country files setting out the key challenges in each one. The main massages from the examination of national reports are: (1) member states must back their commitments to reduce child poverty; 2) social inclusion is the best way to integrate the greatest number of those excluded in society; 3) in the field of long term health care, member states have to guarantee equal access to all high quality services through more efficient use of resources in the context of distribution and spending; 4) need for modernising pensions. (gb)