COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS of 13 June 1985 concerning specific employment measures (85/C 165/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Convinced that the greatest problem facing the Community countries is that of unemployment, especially among the young;

Having particular regard to the conclusions of the European Council in Brussels (29 and 30 March 1985) advocating specific measures to create jobs and strengthen the labour market;

Convinced that the way to obtain lasting solutions is, without any doubt, to achieve stable, satisfactory and non-inflationary rates of growth of the Member States' economies;

Bearing in mind that the pursuit of these objectives calls for the creation of an integrated internal market of European dimension which will promote growth and employment, for the introduction and widespread use of new technologies, the identification and promotion of investment projects with a common European interest and with high economic and social returns, and the development of research in order to bring about increased opportunities for collaboration between firms, requiring active involvement by both sides of industry;

Convinced that, in addition to official aid, the role of undertakings in creating jobs should be upgraded;

Whereas, however, to that end it is necessary to define and organize a European social dimension that will ensure continuous adaptation of social norms appropriate to a modern economy, protecting the competitiveness of firms;

Having established, on the other hand, that as an immediate task the effects on the imbalance in the supply and demand of labour resulting from the structural changes connected with the introduction of new technologies must be tackled;

Considering the concurring views already expressed by the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and, recently, the Standing Committee on Employment;

Having noted that initiatives and measures in the social and employment spheres can coherently and systematically be undertaken within the framework of the second medium-term social action programme adopted by Council Resolution of June 1984 and that they could constitute the first stage of that programme;

Considering that any Community measures must accompany and bolster national strategies to combat unemployment,

CALLS UPON THE COMMISSION

to examine the possibility of: I. - promoting co-ordinated action to develop experimental or exemplary Community and/or national projects, aimed in coordinated fashion at creating not only new job opportunities but also new undertakings, and at developing a spirit of enterprise.

Priority should be given in the aid measures to the long-term unemployed and to the young;

- with that in mind and whilst respecting budgetary constraints, taking account of the possibilities afforded in particular by joint use of aid provided by Community financial instruments for productive investments, investments in infrastructure and energy and those intended to facilitate occupational and geographical mobility of workers as well as recruitment aids ; it will be particularly useful to examine the possibility, in the coming financial year, of making better use for the above objectives of the 5 % of the resources of the European Social Fund currently earmarked for innovatory measures, as support for the experimental projects referred to above;

- promoting in particular in the light of the results and experience acquired in the meantime and of specific sectoral analyses, a series of special employment initiatives at European level;

- within this framework, directing the abovementioned projects and initiatives towards sectors which promote growth in employment;

- improving unemployment statistics so that they give a better picture of the situation created by programmes to combat unemployment which result in the development of situations falling between normal activity and genuine unemployment;

II. - examining, in cooperation with the Member States and both sides of industry, to what extent legal and contractual arrangements will affect the labour market's ability to adjust, in order to arrive at a better balance between the promotion of employment and social protection, whilst avoiding disincentives to job creation, and to submit relevant proposals above all as regards small and medium-sized undertakings;

- promoting and developing experiments in the reorganization of working time, by a better distribution thereof, in a manner appropriate to the different economic sectors, and improve working conditions, especially at the level of firms, so that it is economically viable to preserve current levels of employment and create new jobs;

- encouraging training for jobs which are stable as a foundation for vocational training and retraining, depending on the opportunities available on the labour market;

III. - defining further initiatives to encourage the development and regeneration of the economy and employment, especially in areas suffering from underdevelopment, undergoing major structural change and experiencing particularly high levels of unemployment;

- to this end, promoting forward-looking labour management, especially at local level ; increased flexibility of the labour market, with the active involvement of both sides of industry ; support for initiatives at local level and appropriate integration of policies, especially those supported by the structural funds, to increase their positive effect on jobs;

IV. - encouraging the development of social dialogue in order to achieve the maximum possible degree of consensus on the initiatives and actions envisaged ; this will improve the operation of the employment market and enable employment to react more directly to economic growth.