Brussels, 10/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - Vladimir Spidla, the European Commissioner for Social Affairs and Employment, on Monday 10 December presented the press with a new Commission action plan designed to promote job mobility in Europe, by attacking the obstacles which are still being encountered by people looking for work in another country of the EU. For the period 2007-2010, this plan lists 15 concrete actions to be undertaken by the national, regional and local authorities, and by the European authorities, in order to remove these obstacles, which range from legal and administrative constraints to the cost and availability of housing, job prospects for spouses and partners and the mobility of pensions, to linguistic barriers and the recognition of qualifications in the other member states.
These 15 actions cover four objectives, Commissioner Spidla explained: (1) improving social legislation, social security and the mobility of additional pension rights and simplifying online administrative practices, by the use of a European health insurance card. Mr Spidla stressed that he had “never said that I wanted to see harmonisation of the social security systems, etc. We need better legal certainty for people who go and work in another country. It is a matter of improving legislation to favour the mobility of the citizens, not of harmonisation”; (2) encouraging the member states to include geographic and professional ability as a priority objective in their national strategies for employment and education and life-long learning; (3) reinforcing EURES (European Employment Services), which combines a human network of 750 qualified counsellors and a powerful portal, which provides access to more than a million job advertisements; (4) promoting innovative activities in the field of raising awareness, exchanging information and best practice, such as the “Job Days”, which are a kind of employment exchange. Furthermore, nearly 2 million euros in additional funding will be made available to innovative mobility projects under the Community programme PROGRESS, up to 2013. Those who will benefit from this action plan are: (1) mobile workers and their families, who will have better access to more and better jobs; (2) employers, who will find it easier to overcome a lack of skilled workers and bottlenecks; (3) the national, regional and local authorities, which will enjoy better coordination and simplified management of pensions and security, whilst receiving additional aid for initiatives related to mobility.
The commissioner, who stated that “job mobility has been a political priority” since he took up office, pointed out that the two waves of enlargement of the EU, in 2004 and in 2007, had multiplied the opportunities for workers to find a job, and for employees to take on staff. Most of the member states of the EU15 have lifted or relaxed restrictions applying to the citizens of the member states which joined the EU in 2004, thus creating a vast flow of labour, to meet the challenges of the ageing population and of globalisation. Commissioner Spidla went on to remind his audience that three member states - the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden - had immediately opened up their employment market as of 1 May 2004, and that there are just five member states today - Germany, Austria, Belgium, France and Denmark - still applying restrictions to the countries which joined the EU in 2004. He pointed out that in the countries which have opened up their employment market, “the progress has been significant”. He clarified that “the United Kingdom, Ireland and all of the other member states of the EU15 which have opened up their employment market have benefited from the advantages of free movement, such as growth in employment, GNI and qualifications”.
However, Vladimir Spidla continued, the rate of worker mobility has remained relatively low: only 2% of the citizens (or 8 million people) of the 27 member states of working age live and work in another member state of the EU. The reasons behind this low level are uncertainty and obstacles to their mobility. In the view of the commissioner, “job mobility is a fundamental instrument of the employment market and one which helps to balance out the labour shortages in Europe”. Referring to recent statistics which show new trends in mobility patterns, Vladimir Spidla noted that more than 70% of young workers are currently aware that their career will require a certain form of mobility!
Please note the new address of the EURES website: http://www.eures.europa.eu . It contains 1,400,000 jobs online. This means that it can be used to find a job in another member state, to find assistance when moving between states, to find a suitable school for your children and to help your partner or spouse to find work. (G.B.)