Madam President, Commissioner, the own-initiative report before us by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs relates to the Commission communication on a framework for promoting employee financial participation, in other words, employee participation in profits and productive capital. The communication is intended to kick-start studies and research projects on the opportunities and risks involved in a policy of a broad distribution of assets. The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs welcomes the setting up of a working group of independent experts to present proposals to overcome the various problems relating to employee participation. The focus in this context is on transnational obstacles in enterprises operating across national borders concerning different levels of taxation for participants. A detail: my report proposes that, in the case of share options, tax should only be payable when the shares acquired by way of option conversion are successfully sold. This would make sense especially if employees, and not only top-level management, are to be given stock purchase rights. The primary concern of the Commission communication is to strengthen the competitiveness of the European economy in accordance with the Lisbon strategy decisions. The Commission proposed a productivity-related wage policy as far back as the Delors White Paper on Employment. Restraint in terms of cash wage increases, it suggested, would lead to higher profits and thus to investment, in other words to the creation of jobs. The opinion of our committee is that it is not enough to say thank you to employees for their modesty and understanding; instead, on the basis of voluntary schemes, they should have a share in the profits and investments that would not have been possible without their restraint. We support and complement the general principles developed by the Commission: first of all, schemes must be voluntary, in other words, both employers and employees must agree to them. Second, all employees must be included in the participation scheme. This means that part-time employees – often women – must not be excluded, in other words, there must be no discrimination against women. Wherever possible, unreasonable risks should be avoided, especially in the case of employees of small and medium-sized enterprises. They face a double risk in the event of insolvency, namely that they could lose both their job and the value of their shares. The Commission has clearly set out its proposals for profit and equity participation in larger enterprises in particular, especially in public limited companies. Here, we could learn from the experience of other countries, especially countries that are models of participatory schemes, such as Britain and France. The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs recommends that more consideration should be given to the problems of small and medium-sized enterprises, and that participatory schemes which are also feasible for small and medium enterprises should be promoted at national level. The Committees on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities, on Economic and Monetary Affairs and on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy have given important answers to the many questions relating to profit and equity participation. They have presented their opinions very well, and I thank them for this. Special thanks also goes to the Commission for its valuable suggestions. The consultations in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs were very constructive, for which, thanks once again to all the parliamentary groups and to all the shadow rapporteurs. Here, to conclude, is the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on one or two burning issues: first, because employees with equity participation are more motivated, an increase in productivity is likely. This leads to lower unit costs, which increases the volume of sales, with the resulting possibility of creating more jobs. The broad spread of ownership also increases willingness to invest, because fairer distribution of wealth stabilises the structure of society. Second: we need an enterprise law that coordinates co-ownership and cooperation. The new enterprise law must ensure that employees are no longer outsiders, but members of the enterprise. In ‘Quadragesimos Annos’ this is formulated as follows: the work-contract should be developed to become a partnership-contract. Through ownership and participation, employees become co-workers and co-workers become sharers in ownership and management. The goal is to make employees economic citizens with equal rights. Let us embark on the path towards this goal. It is in this spirit that I call upon you to approve the present report. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE