Brussels, 10/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - During their meeting on 9 March in Brussels, EU27 employment and social affairs ministers decided to tackle the negative impact of the economic and financial crisis. They agreed that despite the crisis, reforms should not be delayed. Ministers approved their key messages for the spring summit (for the debate, see EUROPE 9857), modification of the European fund for globalisation, their conclusions on “new skills for new jobs”, “vocational and geographic mobility for workers and their free movement in the European Union”, as well as the draft for a new directive on maternity leave, 2009 employment reports, social protection and social inclusion.
Key messages to the spring European Council
1) Employment and social policies in times of economic crisis: the economic crisis calls for urgent action. The Lisbon strategy has driven successful reforms but a lot remains to be done; building on solidarity and allowing social protection systems to fully play their role as automatic stabiliser is key to restore and strengthen confidence and help pave the way for recovery. Enhanced coordination between economic, employment and social policies, taking into account the territorial dimension, is necessary to ensure that they are mutually reinforcing and that budgetary efforts proposed in national recovery packages have immediate impact on labour markets and on social cohesion. A strong EU coordinated response, in the framework of the European economic recovery plan, should mobilise all available instruments, including the Community resources, and fully integrate growth, employment, social inclusion and social protection strategies
2) To confront rising unemployment without compromising labour market reforms: the Council urges members states to give immediate priority to: supporting access to employment and easing transitions within and into the labour market in order to shorten any spell of unemployment; reinforcing access to training and active labour market measures for the unemployed, workers at risk of dismissal and other vulnerable groups in order for them to remain active; improving anticipation and matching of skills with labour market needs so as to facilitate transitions towards new business activities generating labour demand; supporting employment and job creation through measures to stabilise the economy, promote the transition towards a low carbon economy and strengthen investment in
research & development as well as in fast-growing sectors; avoiding measures that induce premature withdrawal from the labour force, such as early retirement schemes or age barriers to training opportunities, so that participation in the labour market is retained and increased.
3) Strengthened commitment to the social inclusion and social protection objectives: in the perspective of the 2010 European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion, the Council calls on member states to focus on: pursuing poverty reduction and social cohesion, through reinforced comprehensive strategies to combat and prevent poverty and social exclusion of children and the emergence of new groups at risk of exclusion; sustained efforts should also tackle homelessness as an extremely serious form of exclusion, address the multiple disadvantages facing the Roma people and their vulnerability to social exclusion and promote the social inclusion of migrants; addressing long term adequacy and sustainability of pension systems through appropriate reforms; improving efficiency of healthcare systems in order to deliver quality long-term care and enhance the role of the Social Open Method of Coordination.
These conclusions can be located at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu (G.B./transl.rh)