Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-12-Speech-2-229"
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This new set of guidelines for employment policy represents a new beginning for the European Employment Strategy in the framework of the revised Lisbon agenda. The integrated guidelines are based on the premise that if the European Union wishes to create more and better jobs, it needs a range of interrelated measures that will make Europe more attractive and more innovation-friendly. These measures must apply not only to the labour market, but also to the market for goods and services and to the financial market, and structural reforms must be founded on a growth-oriented macroeconomic policy.
No real progress has been made in the area of employment in recent years, something that has mainly been due to sluggish economic growth associated with weak demand and global imbalances. After a period in the late 1990s when employment rose sharply, the number of new jobs has levelled off over the past three years, and the only reason why we have not suffered a drop in employment similar to that of 10 years ago is because the labour market is now more flexible. At the same time, growth in labour productivity has slowed, limited progress has been made towards improving the quality of work and the economic slow-down has exacerbated related problems of social inclusion, in particular among young people. Long-term unemployment rates have started to rise again after several years of decline.
We are facing major problems. On the one hand, Europe must rise to the challenge of accelerated economic restructuring on the basis of increased economic integration, both within the enlarged EU and on a global scale. If Europe wishes to succeed, it must improve its capacity to anticipate, bring about and cope with economic change. On the other hand, Europe needs to tackle the problems of an ageing population. Demographic changes mean that we must modernise our social welfare systems, and that our labour market must change and will have to adapt to an ageing and soon-to-be shrinking workforce.
Europe will only remain prosperous if it achieves faster growth in both employment and productivity. In order to do so, we need a new approach to life-long work and renewed efforts to develop human capital in Europe. The new set of guidelines for employment policy responds to these challenges and acts as a roadmap for the employment policies of the Member States, as well as reiterating the EU’s objectives of full employment, improved quality and productivity of labour and greater social and territorial cohesion. Emphasis is given to a number of key measures, which are targeted at three priorities. The first of these priorities is to ensure that more people enter and stay in employment, the second is making workers and businesses more flexible and the third is boosting investment in human capital. At the same time as implementing the guidelines, Member States must also implement the recommendations on employment policy, and commit themselves to fulfilling the full scope of the European Union’s ambitions and goals. It is also essential to continue putting the open method of coordination to full use in the field of social inclusion and social welfare, as outlined in the Social Agenda, and for the relevant parts of this strategy to be incorporated into the national Lisbon programmes. The European Social Fund must be directly utilised by means of support measures at Member State and regional level.
The preparations that are carried out in the run-up to the presentation of the national programmes in autumn 2005 must be used as an opportunity to win over all parties concerned to the cause of developing and implementing employment policy. The experiences gained with the European Employment Strategy in this regard were extremely positive, as the involvement of all affected parties helps the Member States to be more transparent and to formulate policies, as well as ensuring that policy measures are both legitimate and effective. This is the key feature of the new framework for growth and employment presented in the shape of the relaunched Lisbon Strategy.
The European Parliament will, and indeed already does, play a key role in this process, not least by setting out its position on the guidelines for employment policy that the Commission proposes. I believe that these new guidelines for employment policy, which form part of the integrated package we are presenting on behalf of the Commission, adhere to the basic principles and new objectives of the Lisbon Strategy, namely growth and employment."@en1
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