Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-06-Speech-4-027"
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"en.20031106.2.4-027"2
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".
Mr President, honourable Members, ladies and gentlemen, I would like once again to apologise for the fact that Mrs Diamantopoulou cannot be here and ask you to be tolerant, as you have to make do with me.
As you are aware, the Nice European Council laid down the social policy agenda. It was also agreed that a mid-term review should be carried out in 2003, the object of which was to be to target more specifically the actions and measures considered necessary and to present a timetable for the second half of the period ending in 2005. The mid-term review, adopted by the Commission at the end of June, is based on an overall evaluation of the first years of implementation, which have been the subject of annual reports in scoreboards and on a review of the most significant challenges and of the drivers of change. The review also sets out the Commission’s thinking as regards the realisation of the EU’s overall objectives, and the creation of more and better jobs and also greater social cohesion, all within the context of the further pursuit of the Lisbon strategy. The Commission has announced a comprehensive package of initiatives and actions, in which all the relevant actors will be involved.
Let me say, in response to your two questions, that the Commission is using its right of initiative to propose the specific measures that are required and that have been announced in the mid-term review. These include, for example, new draft legislation, such as the proposal for a directive on temporary workers, or the simplification of existing ones, such as those in the area of health and safety at work. The Commission is also availing itself of its right to consult the social partners and to join with them in discovering those problem areas that still remain to be attended to. One of them, for example, is the issue of the portability of occupational pension rights. Another is the following-up of the revision of the Working Time Directive. This has to do with the European employment strategy, in particular with the proposals for guidelines and recommendations relating to it. At the same time, the Commission is encouraging the Member States to work together in modernising social security and promoting social inclusion.
As regards your second question, I have to stress that the mid-term review’s priorities as regards the structuring of the next few years’ work are twofold. One is to further develop the agenda for an enlarged European Union. The other is, as a matter of priority, to monitor the transposition and implementation of the
in employment and social affairs and to ensure that this is done properly. In order that this goal may be achieved, it will be necessary to pay particular attention to involving the relevant networks of national representatives, who are to perform a supporting role in transposing and implementing European law, and also to make use of the monitoring instruments still at our disposal. Although the primary emphasis will be on assistance and advice, the Commission will not hesitate to apply appropriate enforcement measures or, where appropriate, to take legal action. That applies, though, not only to the new Member States that will be joining the European Union next year, but to all the Member States."@en1
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