Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-065"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021009.6.3-065"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen.
That provides the best opportunity to send a clear signal to the Commission as early as possible.
The authorities in the individual countries naturally have a central role in connection with the evaluation. It is they who have been responsible for implementing and monitoring the strategy since it was introduced in 1997. They therefore have a great deal of valuable first-hand experience of the present strategy's strengths and weaknesses.
The Commission is, of course, another important source of experience and results from the first five years.
Over the last few years, other actors too have, however, obtained relevant experience to which consideration should be given in connection with the current evaluation. That applies especially, of course, to the European Parliament. In this connection, I took note of the points of view published by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs in the middle of September. I am able to go a long way towards endorsing the views that have been presented of what should be the core features of a revised strategy and the desires that have been expressed to consider how cooperation between the various actors can be further developed.
Finally, I want to mention the national and European parties in the labour market who, actively involved as they are, also have important observations to contribute. Revision of the European Employment Strategy was on the Council’s agenda in Luxembourg yesterday. It is therefore an extremely topical subject to be included on the agenda for the plenary debate here today.
As is well known, the Commission’s communication takes stock of experiences from the first five years of the Employment Strategy. It contains a general evaluation of the results achieved on the European labour markets, and it outlines the most important issues in connection with a revision of the strategy. The communication is a crucial point of departure for the debate now taking place in various forums.
In addition to this communication, a common statement from, respectively, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Economic-Political Committee was presented to the Council meeting, providing their assessment of the most important principles for a revised strategy. The Presidency has always wanted them to be able to present a common statement.
We think that a common statement, capable of being endorsed by the relevant Councils, was synonymous with the strongest possible political signal of what is wanted in political terms from the future strategy.
A common statement is, moreover, in accordance with the current desire for better coordination between, and streamlining of, the various European processes such as the employment guidelines and the guidelines governing general economic policy.
There must be no secret about there being many different points of view on how far the revision of the Employment Strategy should go.
It is a great honour for me to be given this opportunity to speak in the European Parliament on where matters stand with the revision of the European Employment Strategy.
The Danish Presidency’s ambition has, however, been firstly to work for a compromise capable of uniting those Member States that want to see the Employment Strategy considerably revised with those that want to see far fewer changes. For us, the task has therefore been to secure a common platform for further work.
I am therefore pleased to be able now to report that the Council offered its unanimous endorsement of the common statement by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Economic-Political Committee. A strong political signal was thus also conveyed concerning the framework and principles that the governments of the Member States believe should form the basis for preparing for the revision of the European Employment Strategy.
I should like here to state some of the most important principles.
To begin with, it must be emphasised that the overall perspective of the Employment Strategy must be retained, with special focus upon the priorities for employment policy. This means that special attention must be given to the results that, based on the Lisbon objectives of more and better jobs, are to be achieved through the strategy.
The ministers also approved the need to simplify the employment guidelines and, as far as possible, reduce their scope by having them focus upon common strategic priorities including national strategies for lifelong learning, supported by suitable objectives relating, for example, to the number of people who might be engaged in one form of education or another.
Importance is also attached to the future strategy’s helping meet the challenges faced by the countries concerned in the form of different demographic features, increased globalisation, the knowledge society and EU enlargement. There is agreement that the strategy should concentrate more specifically on the following broad objectives: job creation and increasing labour force participation, improved quality of work, improvement and modernisation of the functioning of the labour market and the ensuring of both flexibility and job security.
To enlarge upon this, I would especially emphasise the need to increase the labour force supply via policies that promote jobs for women, older people and vulnerable groups; by encouraging active and preventive labour market policies that are effective and efficient; by reforming tax and benefit systems and so creating clear incentives for taking up, and remaining in, employment; by improving lifelong learning, skills and mobility; by increasing equality between men and women and by combating discrimination; and by promoting developments in entrepreneurship conducive to job creation.
Finally, the Council, in expressing its support yesterday, expressed a wish for the strategy further to reflect the fact that the focus is on the medium-term challenges set out by the Lisbon strategy where, for example, the participation rates for women and older people are concerned.
Implicit in this is the wish for greater stability in the guidelines over time. In other words, they must not necessarily be changed each year. The wish for stability also conceals the fact that work is under way to ensure a greater degree of coordination and less overlap between the various European cooperation processes.
We in the Presidency view these general principles, endorsed by the Council, as a contribution and pointer to the Commission in connection with its ongoing work as the end of the year approaches.
Employment policy affects something of fundamental importance to human beings, namely the work we do. The Bible says that we must earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. Work has many other functions in addition to this, however. It is in the workplace that we spend most of our waking lives. It is here that we forge a large number of connections with other people, and it is often these people we miss most if we lose our jobs.
The Council’s agreement yesterday means that there are a number of factors that will have to be debated further over the next few months.
That is especially true when it comes to the more active involvement of the two sides of industry and of the European Parliament. There is therefore a clear desire to enter into more practical deliberations as to how the European Parliament can play a larger role in the preparation and development of the Employment Strategy. The role of the national parliaments is also to be recognised in this context.
One important matter still to be dealt with is the whole discussion of the scope and of the type of indicators. These are crucial to monitoring the strategy and to ensuring that countries move in the desired direction and at the right time.
It is therefore also crucial that, as soon as a clear picture of the new strategy emerges, there be a thorough examination of the existing indicators. The purpose of such an examination must be to ensure that the indicators reflect the core objectives of the revised guidelines.
The objective must be a more efficient set of indicators, which are robust, comparable, more focused on the individual guidelines and based upon up-to-date data. We should like to achieve a situation in which we have fewer, but better, indicators.
I want to emphasise in conclusion that the Danish Presidency wishes to make the Employment Strategy easier to operate and more serviceable as a starting point for employment-promoting strategies in the individual Member States.
We must get away from the tendency to focus increasingly upon details and instruments and instead concentrate on the results to which the European Council has attached importance since the Lisbon Summit.
In connection with revising the Employment Strategy, we must never lose sight of the big picture. Over the next few years, the idea of a revised European Employment Strategy is that it should help make Europe more coherent as a continent and as a society.
The idea is that the Employment Strategy should be targeted and that the decision-making process in connection with the adoption and implementation of the strategy’s individual features should become more transparent. In endeavouring to create ever more employment, the European Union should attach key importance to targeting and transparency, to involving a larger number of actors and to rooting employment policy more firmly in the Member States.
We must never forget that it is the practical results that, in the last analysis, are the test of whether the European Union’s Employment Strategy is effective. The methods must be put to the test in practice.
The new areas that are to help make Europe into a leading power include an extensive labour market and social responsibility on the part of enterprises. All too often, the labour market is comparable to a centrifuge, in which far too many people end up on the periphery. We must therefore develop ideas about how this situation can be prevented.
In Europe, we also face a series of common challenges which we must solve if we are to retain the European social model, combining economic effectiveness with good social security arrangements and a market economy with the welfare society.
Enlargement of the European Union to include a number of Eastern and Central European countries – with or without transitional arrangements – means the free movement of labour in the new and larger EU. A number of countries, including Denmark, chose to embrace the free movement of labour from the first day of their membership. We in Denmark see no problem with the free movement of labour. On the contrary, we view the new Member States as a resource.
The primary task towards the end of the year consists in reaching agreement on the framework for revising the Employment Strategy. In 2003, we shall then get to grips with the discussions concerning the actual strategy and the individual guidelines.
As its point of departure, the Presidency has attached great importance to our obtaining a thorough debate before a new and revised Employment Strategy is devised. In that connection, it is important for all the central actors to have their say.
To ensure there is enough time for the debate, we thought it important to give the subject a central place in the Danish Presidency’s programme in the employment and socio-political area and to begin revising the strategy no later than at the first formal Council meeting."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples