Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-26-Speech-4-013"
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"en.20050526.4.4-013"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, if I may, I should like to start by thanking the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. In particular, I should like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Oomen-Ruijten, for her outstanding work on the Social Agenda, and Mrs Mato Adrover, for the high quality of her work and for her proactive approach to preparing Parliament’s position on the guidelines.
This is the approach that has been taken in the Social Agenda, the aim of which is to help overcome the main structural problems facing Europe, which include demographic change, global competition and technological change and innovation. A deliberate decision was taken to present the Commission’s social and employment goals differently to the way in which they had been in the previous Social Agenda.
As well as setting out the main problems and proposing avenues of thought about future measures, the new Agenda presupposes that any policies formulated will be open and transparent, and that they will involve all stakeholders. It does not provide a detailed or exhaustive list of measures, as it would be entirely illogical to decide now on measures that we would only adopt in four or five years’ time, although it is of course useful to set out guidelines and strategic goals. This also means that we do not need to establish from the outset which political and technical instruments will be used. A wide range of instruments are available to us for measures at Community level, including legislation, the open method of coordination, financial instruments, in particular the European Social Fund, and social dialogue.
The most effective instrument or combination of instruments should not be chosen in advance on the basis of existing opinion, and no one instrument should be given
preference over others. Although legislation will continue to be a key instrument, there are a great many reasons why we should not resort to using legislation alone. We are all aware that, in a great many cases, levels of implementation and compliance are far from ideal. In certain fields, for example the fight against discrimination, preference must therefore be given at this stage to implementing existing measures, which are both valuable and useful in legislative terms.
I do not intend to dwell on the details of individual issues, but I am willing to take your questions, and look forward with interest to the rest of the debate.
I am delighted that this House’s position on the guidelines for economic policy reflects the new focus of the Lisbon strategy for growth and employment, and that it also reflects the three priorities of employment policy, namely increased labour market participation, flexibility and investment in human capital.
Ladies and gentlemen, I do not share the views of those who are under the impression that the European social model is a failure, and that Europe as a region is lagging ever further behind. There is no denying that we must still put in a great deal of work and effort in order to develop this model and to be competitive and up-to-date, but one need only compare our basic constraints with those of other regions in the world where conditions are similar to see that Europe is quite clearly not doing such a bad job.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted that the amendments tabled by Parliament are not aimed at changing the structure of the guidelines. Instead, the intention behind them is to lend more emphasis to the discussion of certain issues. These include both specific problems experienced by certain groups, such as women, young and older workers or disabled people, and certain issues deemed to be key, such as partnerships, promoting job creation, preventing workplace injuries and achieving a balance between flexibility and job security.
The Commission welcomes the general tenor of Parliament’s position, and will do its best to ensure that due consideration is given to it in the final version of the guidelines, upon which the Social Affairs Council will take a decision on 2 and 3 June.
In concrete terms, the Commission will make every effort to ensure that the thrust of Parliament’s amendments is addressed during this debate. The Commission is in favour of revising the recitals in order to highlight the fact that insufficient progress has been made with reforms during the past five years, and in order to ensure that greater emphasis is placed on social cohesion and the environmental dimension as part of the Lisbon Strategy. As I see it, this is the very essence of the Lisbon Strategy; the awareness that we are dealing with three dimensions, rather than just one, and that we need to identify these dimensions and take them into account in every policy we adopt in the future.
Turning to the issue of individual guidelines, I can assure you that the Commission is in favour of stepping up the EU’s involvement in matters such as partnerships, equality between men and women, the problems experienced by young people and job creation. At the same time, however, the Commission does not wish to draft a separate guideline on the prevention of workplace injuries, since this would go beyond the scope set out in the Council’s conclusions.
If I may, I should now like to say a few words about the Social Agenda. There is no question about the fact that it plays a key role, since it is an integral part of both the Lisbon Strategy and the Sustainable Development Strategy. It sets out guidelines for the measures we need to take in order to make progress towards more and better jobs and towards a more balanced society in which solidarity plays a greater part. The European Council acknowledged this fact at its Spring Summit by coming to a favourable conclusion on the Social Agenda. At the same time, it emphasised that the Agenda strengthens the European social model, the basic aims of which are full employment and greater social cohesion, and that as such it would help the EU achieve the Lisbon goals.
Although growth and employment are immediate priorities, however, greater competitiveness and faster growth are means to an end rather than goals in themselves. Growth alone is a guarantee of neither solidarity nor social sustainability. We should also take political decisions with a view to ensuring that our various goals are mutually reinforcing. Quite apart from anything else, these integrated guidelines are a step in this direction."@en1
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