Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-10-Speech-2-629-000"
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"en.20110510.66.2-629-000"2
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"As you all know, the EU headline targets under Europe 2020 include increasing the employment rate to 75%, lifting at least 20 million people out of poverty and social exclusion, reducing the proportion of early school-leavers to under 10%, and ensuring that at least 40% of the younger generation will have completed a tertiary degree by 2020.
The Commission helps Member States to achieve these targets through financial support, in particular the European Social Fund, policy coordination and policy guidance at EU level under the European semester. The 2011 Joint Employment Report, which is based on the Commission’s assessment of the Member States’ draft national reform programmes, calls on them to improve the functioning of the labour market by introducing more employment-friendly tax systems and by making work pay, ensuring that wages reflect developments in productivity, introducing flexible working arrangements to facilitate the further integration of women into the labour market, ensuring that pension reforms include a more direct link between later retirement and increased pension entitlements, removing incentives for people to retire early and linking unemployment benefits with the business cycle.
This means that safety nets should be reinforced at times when most needed as we have seen in the past couple of years, while money would be saved in good times. When exactly we enter good times is a country-by-country assessment. Hopefully, in a couple of years’ time we will all get there. But under the current very difficult circumstances, it is also important that public employment services provide better job search assistance. We also need to reduce labour market segmentation. Indeed, evidence shows that particular groups, and notably those under temporary or precarious contracts, have taken a much bigger hit as a result of the crisis. This is the reason why the Commission has invited Member States to introduce open-ended contracts with a gradual increase of protection rights.
Although small in comparison with national public budgets, the European Social Fund has been helping the Member States weather the recent economic crisis. In line with the Commission communication on the budget review and the conclusions of the fifth report on social cohesion, the Europe 2020 Strategy provides both a clear set of common priorities and the framework for identification of funding priorities post-2013 in line with the objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, including human capital development. The Commission will present its proposals for the next multiannual financial framework at the end of June.
As regards the 2012 budget, I would like to point out that the draft budget that was adopted by the Commission on 20 April is in line with the European Council conclusions of 24 and 25 March, which state that fiscal consolidation efforts must be complemented by growth-enhancing structural reforms. To that end, Member States will implement measures in order to invest in education and training. The Commission has applied a restrictive policy as regards administrative expenditure, with a nominal freeze for Commission administrative expenditure. However, the Commission has proposed to increase its commitment and payment appropriations, by 3.7% and 4.9% respectively, with a focus on expenditure related to the Europe 2020 strategy including the ESF, the lifelong learning programme, the Youth in Action programme, the seventh framework research programme and the competitiveness and innovation programmes."@en1
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