Brussels, 05/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - As part of the preparations for the Employment Summit, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will hold a Pre-Summit on Employment in Prague on Wednesday 6 May. EESC President Mario Sepi and Social Affairs and Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla will open the event. Thereafter Vladimíra Drbalová (Employers' Group, Czech Republic), Xavier Verboven (Employees' Group, Belgium) and Jan Olsson (Various Interests Group, Sweden) will present the findings of the workshops on skills, access to employment and mobility) which took place in Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic (see related article). Following the comments of national economic and social councillors, European Commission President Josè Manuel Barroso will receive the EESC contribution letter to the Summit on Employment on 7 May. The representatives of the Czech and forthcoming Swedish Presidencies will then give their reactions. After a general debate, Wolfgang Greif (Employees' Group, Austria) will present the EESC draft opinion on the employment summit. The event will close in late afternoon with the concluding remarks by Mario Sepi. The Committee will continue to provide its contribution to Europe. Thus, the conclusions formulated at the Pre-Summit will inform the EESC opinion on employment policies and the recovery to be adopted by the Committee at its June plenary session.
In March, the EESC, at the invitation of José Manuel Barroso, undertook to play a major role in the preparation of the Summit on Employment to be held in Prague on 7 May. It was following January's conference, “Rien ne va plus? Ways to rebuild the European Social Market Economy”, and the presentation by Mario Sepi in March of its “Programme for Europe: Proposals of civil society” that the EESC decided to hold the Pre-Summit on Employment in Prague.
Elsewhere, at the extraordinary meeting in Prague on 2-3 May, the EESC Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship Section set out and discussed its strategic priorities with representatives of the Czech Presidency and European social partners. Czech Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Michal Sedlácek thanked the EESC for its two exploratory opinions on barriers to mobility and partnerships between education establishments and employers. The deliberations served as a useful prelude to the 7 May summit. Chairwoman of the Section Leila Kurki (Employees' Group, Finland) announced that the EESC would concentrate on more and better jobs, new skills for new jobs, innovation and entrepreneurship, respect for labour law and for working conditions determined by collective agreements. She presented a “campaigning” social strategy which states that the Committee hoped to bring social Europe closer to the citizen by taking part in and organising a number of events over the next few months. Turning to policy, Kurki spoke of EESC efforts to support the European social model, referring to the EESC's recently adopted strategic document “Programme for Europe”. (G.B./transl.rt)