COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 6 December 1994 on certain aspects for a European Union social policy: a contribution to economic and social convergence in the Union (94/C 368/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Agreement on social policy, annexed to Protocol 14 on social policy, annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Whereas one of the objectives of the Union, in the context of the internal market and strengthening cohesion, is to promote and secure economic and social progress for its peoples, in such a way as to ensure that advances in economic integration are accompanied by progress in other fields;

Whereas the Union is thereby committed to social flanking measures to accompany the internal market and to developing the social dimension of the Community;

Whereas, in recognition thereof, all the Member States accpeted at the Maastricht Intergovernmental Conference a 'policy in the social sphere comprising a European Social Fund' (Article 3 (i) of the EC Treaty); whereas that decision is the logical continuation of earlier decisions of the European Council in Hanover (June 1988) and Rhodes (December 1988);

Whereas the Madrid European Council was emphatic that 'the same importance should be given to social aspects as was given to economic aspects and that they should consequently be developed in a balanced fashion'.

Whereas the Brussels European Council on 29 October 1993 established that 'the Union Treaty offers new foundations for social policy, subject to the provisions of the Protocol annexed to the Treaty' and expressed its determination swiftly 'to implement - in all their forms - the possibilities afforded by the Treaty for a more mutually supportive Community';

Whereas the social and labour law systems, organized and developed differently as they are in the various Member States, constitute an essential basis for individuals in planning their lives; whereas at their meetings in Madrid and Luxembourg the Heads of State and Government were anxious to stress that particular attention should be paid to existing systems, traditions and practice in the Member States; whereas, specifically in Europe, the national identity of the Member States is particularly defined by their individual paths to solidarity within society and social balance; whereas Article F (1) of the Union Treaty expressly commits the European Union to respect for national identities;

Whereas European social policy must accordingly pay particular attention to the principle of subsidiarity enshrined as a principle of law in the Maastricht Treaty (second paragraph of Article B of the Treaty on European Union, Article 3b of the EC Treaty); whereas the principle also signifies a policy of closeness to the citizen, in terms of moderation and balanced action, inter alia as regards the allocation of responsibilities to the Union and the Member States;

Whereas, with its guidelines for implementation of the subsidiarity principle, the Edinburgh European Council in December 1992 confirmed this fundamental principle of Community legislation and spelled out the dévision of responsibilities between the European Union and the Member States;

Whereas the Brussels European Council on 10 and 11 December 1993 presented an action plan for implementing the Commission's White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment; whereas, in implementation of that action plan, the Employment and Social Affairs Council has prepared its own contribution to combating unemployment and will submit it, as requested by the Corfu European Council of 24 and 25 June 1994, to the European Council in Essen;

Whereas the social dimension is increasingly recognized outside the European Union as well; whereas this is also shown by the fact that a world summit on social development is to be held by the United Nations in Copenhagen in March 1995; whereas the European Union is participating actively in this process and is making a committed contribution to its success;

Whereas, in implementing the Commission's action programme resulting from the 1989 Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, the Council has made far greater progress than hitherto publicly recognized; whereas this is particularly true as regards the technical protection of labour and legislation on dangerous substances; whereas recently, in particular with the directives on the protection of pregnant women, the protection of young people at work and the organization of working time, safety and health at work have been further consolidated by means of minimum standards; whereas, in the sphere of labour legislation, the directive on the form of proof of an employment relationship and the amending directive on collective redundancies have been important decisions; whereas the Community has also provided quite significant social policy impetus in other fields of action; whereas in this connection mention should be made of the programmes on vocational training, on promoting equal opportunities between men and women, on the integration of people with disabilities and on combating poverty, as well as recommendations such as that on the convergence of social protection objectives and policies;

Whereas these measures have predominantly been adopted in broad agreement; whereas in future too the Council should strive first and foremost for a social policy based on consensus among all 12 Member States and at the same time ensure that the two sides of industry and other representative social groups within Europe are especially involved; whereas, furthermore, the new Social Protocol instrument offers additional opportunities, to which the European Council of 29 October 1993 expressly referred; whereas these were used for the first time when the directive on the establishment of a European Works Council was adopted,

I

1. NOTES that by means of the Commission's Green Paper on European social policy a detailed discussion has been set in motion in the European Parliament and the Council, between both sides of industry and among the public on the choice of new areas of social policy and a timetable for the future orientation of European social policy;

2. RECALLS the Commission's presentation of its White Paper on European social policy, which summarizes the discussion taking place throughout the European Union and in which the Commission develops its ideas on the future of European social policy in 10 detailed chapters on social policy;

3. IS CONVINCED that the Commission's White Paper on European social policy represents an important contribution to the further development of social policy in the Union;

4. WELCOMES the fact that during 1995 the Commission will submit a detailed new work programme in which it will put forward its proposals for the future organization of social policy until the end of the decade;

5. EXPECTS that in so doing the Commission will also continue the constructive dialogue with the Council and in developing the work programme will take account of the discussion held in the Council on the White Paper on European social policy and the opinions expressed by the Member States;

6. POINTS OUT that, in its conclusions of 21 December 1992 on the effective implementation and enforcement of Community legislation on social affairs (1) and its contribution of 22 September 1994 to combating unemployment, the Council has already adopted a position on areas of social policy which are also covered in the White Paper on European social policy;

7. Against this background, and without wishing to conclude the discussion in the Union and consideration of the White Paper on European social policy, hereby LISTS some central objectives towards which European social policy could be directed;

Improving the competitiveness of the Union and increasing the opportunities for job-creating growth

8. REAFFIRMS its conviction that:

- a market economy based on free and fair competition is the foundation for a dynamic development of the internal market and the creation of new and secure employment,

- the internal market must also become increasingly open to the outside world because expanding world trade in free markets represents, especially for workers, a major opportunity to safeguard existing jobs and create additional jobs,

- economic and social efficiency are inextricably linked and both the economy and the labour force gain from cooperation between the two sides of industry in so far as it is in keeping with national traditions and customs,

- good industrial relations, socio-political stability and predictability in the Member States and the European Union as a whole are significant factors in the long term for the location of undertakings,

- with its White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment, the Commission has given significant impetus to the strengthening of competitiveness and the improvement of the employment situation in the Union,

- in its action plan the European Council has provided the Member States and the Union with specific goals for the implementation of the White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment;

9. IS THEREFORE OF THE OPINION that:

- further development of the social dimension of the European Union and the strengthening of the role of the two sides of industry should be an essential pre-condition for combining market freedom with social balance,

- it is now essential for the emerging upturn in the economy to be transformed into a strong, sustainable process of growth; at the same time the efficiency of the labour market must be improved by means of specific measures so that this renewed growth creates as many jobs as possible,

- in addition, the Union's international competitiveness must be strengthened. While ruling out any form of protectionism, a fundamental consensus should be aimed at worldwide as part of a dialogue, principally with our major competitors on the world market, especially in Asia and the Pacific, so that, in the framework of fair competition as regards the location of undertakings, any economic success is used for the purpose of suitable social progress. The relevant discussions should be conducted constructively in the relevant fora, such as the ILO, GATT or subsequently the WTO, for the future organization of international trade and above all for combating forced and child labour and securing freedom of association and free collective bargaining;

Protecting the rights of employees by means of minimum social standards

10. NOTES that, in recent years, the Union has endeavoured to set binding and legally enforceable minimum standards in many social areas throughout the Community in order to develop European social policy. Minimum standards constitute an appropriate instrument for achieving economic and social convergence gradually while respecting the economic capabilities of the individual Member States. They also meet the expectations of workers in the European Union and calm fears about social dismantling and social dumping in the Union;

11. IS CONVINCED that, in view of the complexity and at the same time necessity of minimum social standards, progress along this road should be cautious; takes the view that this does not require a comprehensive legislative programme, but rather agreement on specific fields of action in order to build up the core of minimum social standards gradually in a pragmatic and flexible manner;

12. WISHES that the new legal base of the Agreement of the Eleven on social policy should as far as possible be employed only when the other avenues and possibilities for an agreement covering 12 Member States have been fully explored;

13. TAKES THE VIEW that, in order to develop further the core of minimum standards, the two sides of industry should make their own active contributions to the finding of practical solutions;

14. EMPHASIZES that, when proposals for minimum standards are being drawn up by the Commission and when such standards are being laid down by the Council, the impact on employment and on small and medium-sized enterprises should in particular be assessed;

15. RECALLS that several Member States have already submitted specific suggestions for minimum standards in the form of contributions to the Green Paper on European social policy; while others have also cited areas in this connection in which the Union should not intervene; EXPECTS the Commission to give all suggestions careful consideration in the context of the planned new work programme;

Respecting the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality

16. POINTS OUT

that the legislation of the European Community, and the supervision thereof, as well as all other Community measures such as, for instance, programmes and recommendations, must comply with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, which commit all the institutions of the European Union to respect the multiplicity of economic and social traditions in the different Member States;

17. Therefore DEMANDS that, for Union social legislation in particular, Community legislative acts:

- take account of the situation in all Member Sates when each individual measure is adopted and neither overstretch any one Member State nor force it to dismantle social rights,

- avoid going into undue detail but concentrate on basic, binding principles and leave the development and transposition to the Member States individually and, where this is in accordance with national traditions, to the two sides of industry,

- be flexible enough and confine themselves to provisions which can be incorporated into the various national systems,

- include clauses which allow the two sides of industry room for manoeuvre on collective agreements,

- contain review clauses so that they can be corrected in the light of practical experience;

Convergence rather than unification of systems

18. RESPECTS the national systems of labour and social law which have evolved over generations; in the light of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, considers unification of national systems in general by means of rigorous approximation of laws an unsuitable direction to follow as it would also reduce the chances of the disadvantaged regions in the competition for location;

19. ADVOCATES instead gradual convergence of systems - with due regard for the economic strength of the Member States - by means of an alignment of national goals;

Strengthening social dialogue

20. WELCOMES the strengthening of the role of the two sides of industry within the social dialogue as a forward-looking reult of the Maastricht Treaty and a concrete contribution to the attainment of the subsidarity principle in social policy;

21. EMPHASIZES that all representative European organizations on the employer and employee sides, with particular reference to small and medium-sized enterprises as well, should be consulted within the social dialogue. Furthermore, the two sides of industry should, in so far as they are empowered to conclude binding agreements, be encouraged to conclude agreements on an independent basis;

22. SUBMITS that the essential features of participation by the two sides of industry pursuant to the Social Protocol can in many respects be applied in the context of the procedure laid down in Article 118b of the EC Treaty;

23. NOTES that, as a means of further defining and following up its communication on implementation of the Agreement on social policy, the Commission intends to submit a working paper on the development of social dialogue;

Meshing of economic and social measures

24. CALLS for the Commission's White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment and the planned Commission work programme on European social policy to lead to a harmonized and balanced development of economic and social aspects, in compliance with the principle of subsidiarity, and refers in that connection to Title XIV of the EC Treaty on economic and social cohesion;

II

1. STATES that it intends to propose to the European Parliament, with due regard for the powers of all the institutions concerned as laid down in the Treaty:

- joint development of the social dimension of the European Union on the basis of these principles,

- active cooperation in the development of all aspects of European social policy,

- intensified exchanges of ideas;

2. CALLS UPON THE MEMBER STATES to ensure that the Community's legal provisions in the social sphere are fully applied and effectively implemented;

3. ASKS THE TWO SIDES OF INDUSTRY:

- to step up their dialogue and make full use of the new possibilities afforded them by the Treaty on European Union,

- to use the consultation procedure to provide the European Union with improved bases for the creation of a European social policy which is pragmatic and close to the citizen,

- to make use of the possibilities for concluding agreements, since they are as a rule closer to social reality and to social problems;

4. REQUESTS THE COMMISSION:

- with reference to its conclusions of 21 December 1992 on the effective implementation and enforcement of Community legislation in the area of social affairs, to ensure that Community legal provisions in the social sphere are fully enforced,

- to take particular account, when drawing up its proposals, of the effects on employment and small and medium-sized undertakings,

- to analyze more carefully the relationship between social security, employment and competitiveness, thus providing the Member States with an improved basis of information for their initiatives,

- actively to support the exchange of information between Member States regarding measures designed to curtail costs, improve labour incentives and encourage competition,

- to take appropriate measures to foster social dialogue and, in that connection primarily to encourage and contribute to the formation of groups and associations at European Union level which participate in social dialogue or similar forms of economic cooperation or are involved in consultations in accordance with practice in the Member State concerned and, as far as possible, are represented in all Member States,

- account being taken of the existing stimuli from the Member States and bearing in mind the discussion in the Council on the White Paper on European social policy, to explore possible areas for future measures which will at the same time take account of the need for ease of application and the need for adoption by consensus,

- to take account of the principles and considerations laid down in this resolution when drawing up concrete proposals for future Community social legislation,

- to include, by means of an ongoing process, specific matters relating to women and men and to equal opportunities for them, in the definition and implementation of all Community policies and, to this end, to strive towards developing methods for the ongoing integration of equal opportunities for women and men in economic and social policies.

(1) OJ No C 49, 19. 2. 1993, p. 6.