Brussels, 20/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - EU heads of state have reacted favourably to the demands of the European social ministers and European social partners (trade unions and employers), who met in Brussels for the Tripartite Social Summit on Thursday 19 March 2009. They also agreed to Jose Manuel Barroso's idea of organising a special summit on employment in Prague or Brussels on 7 May 2009 (see EUROPE 9865) (the Czech Presidency will soon be announcing which city will host the summit). A Czech Presidency spokesperson explained on Friday that the exact formal of the meeting (a typical European Summit or a 'troika' type meeting) had not yet been decided.
EU heads of state 1) confirmed the importance of the short-term measures taken by the EU and its Member States in order to make the most of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, as long as the short-term measures were compatible with the long-term measures; 2) adopted updated, integrated recommendations for each country on economic policy and employment policy and called for the recommendations to be rapidly implemented; 3) said they were looking forward to the publication of proposals on the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy, which the European Commission will be publishing in the second half of the year; 4) said that investment in lifelong learning and skills had to be seen as of crucial importance and had to be adjusted to meet the requirements of the labour market. In order to restore confidence and help prepare for recovery, the EU27 say it is essential to rely on solidarity and allow welfare systems to play their full role as automatic stabilisers. The politicians explained that experience had demonstrated that mobility is a great contributor to economic growth. The EU27 also said that particular attention should be paid to the most vulnerable people in society and new dangers of exclusion.
At a press conference, Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende welcomed the idea of a special summit on jobs which would, in the present climate, lay the emphasis on social dialogue and the full involvement of European social partners. Luxembourg's prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, called for attention to focus on keeping people in work. It will not be easy for the EU to agree on the question of jobs because some Member States will argue for a flexible labour market while others will call for greater rigidity, he added, calling for the EU's employment guidelines to be revised.
The Belgian prime minister, Herman Van Rompuy, said that it was not on the 7 May that people would discover the problem of employment because people had been worked on this since October last year. He said that Belgium would make use of any good ideas but it was importance not to fall into the trap of one upmanship ahead of the European elections. Van Rompuy said that Europe's four biggest countries were not enthusiastic about a special jobs summit. The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, stressed the importance of restoring growth and jobs through fiscal action and essential fiscal investment. He said the EU was dtermined to do all he could to restore jobs and growth in Europe. (G.B. / E. M. trans fl)