The informal meeting of ministers in Lule paved the way for the decision by heads of state and government for quality in work to be improved, through such measures as better working environments and organisations, greater access to continuing professional development, strengthened gender equality and better opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in working life. One of the major barriers to increased growth and employment is the lack of qualified labour, not least in the ICT sector. The heads of state and government agreed in Stockholm to establish a high-level group for increased skills and mobility, with representatives from the business sector, the parties to the labour market and experts on the labour market and education. This group will have the task of discussing and finding solutions for this problem. Participation in working life by disabled people is to be promoted.
Common standards are to be drawn up by the autumn.
In Stockholm the heads of state and government also added a number of areas as a supplement to the Lisbon strategy. One important addition is the issue of the demographic challenge facing Europe as a whole, with its ageing population and declining birth rates. That fewer and fewer people will have to support a growing segment of the population in the future affects the labour market and puts demands on pensions and social insurance systems. At the European Council meeting in G teborg, the heads of state and government agreed on three general principles which will form the basis of the work of drawing up secure and sustainable pensions systems. In addition to pension systems meeting the social policy objectives, they should be financially sustainable and must avoid jeopardising the stability of Member States' public finances.