3. 3. 80 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 53/13 
have so many job opportunities at home that 
they would not wish to migrate at all. Many of 
these proposals would be difficult to administer 
and expensive to finance. The Committee sug­
gests, however, that the experience of receiving 
countries in adopting schemes of this kind 
should be carefully monitored, over as large a 
range of exporting countries as possible, and 
that if this shows that some Community action 
on these lines is desirable, consideration should 
be given to financing it from Community funds. 
The Committee also suggests that greater atten­
tion should be paid to migrant labour questions 
in any future negotiations between the Com­
munity and developing coutries. 
(iv) Illegal migrants 
Attention is drawn to the views already ex­pressed on this matter by the Committee, most 
notably in its opinions of 31 May 1978 and 
23 February 1977. The Committee would, how­
ever, wish to point out that in some Community 
countries at least the numbers of illegal immi­
grants continue to increase and their social con­
dition to deteriorate. 
(v) Community migrants to third countries 
The Commission proposes that the. Community 
should also concern itself with securing 'equita­
ble treatment on a reciprocal basis for Com­
munity nationals living and working in these 
third countries'. The Committee considers that 
this matter should be kept under review by any 
relevant Community machinery established to 
consider migration policies. 
Done at Brussels, 24 October 1979. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social 
Committee 
R. VANNI 
Opinion on the second European social budget (1976 to 1980) 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 3 April 1979 the Bureau of the Committee decided, under the third paragraph of 
Article 20 of its Rules of Procedure, to deliver an additional opinion on the above-
mentioned subject. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
172nd plenary session held in Brussels on 24 and 25 October 1979. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard the third paragraph of Article 20 of 
its Rules of Procedure, the Commission communication to the Council on 
the European social budget (1), 
Having regard to its opinion of 31 March 1976 on (') OJ No C 131,12.6. 1976. 
No C 53/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 3.3.80 
Having regard to the decision by its Bureau on 
3 April 1979 requesting the Section for Social Ques­
tions to prepare an opinion and a report on the 
second European social budget. 
Having regard to the report submitted by the rappor­
teur, Mr Kirschen, 
Having regard to the opinion adopted by the Sec­
tion for Social Questions at its meeting on 11 Octo­
ber 1979, 
Having regard to the discussions at its 172nd plen­
ary session of 24 and 25 October 1979 (meeting of 
24 October 1979), 
Whereas the European social budget has the double 
objective of providing quantitative data on the 
medium-term outlook for expenditure in the various 
fields of social policy and for the financing used to 
cover expenditure, and of providing help in national 
and Community decision-making; 
Whereas it has previously drawn up comments and 
proposals on the first European social budget (l), 
Whereas improvements have been made in the 
second European social budget, 
Whereas the tendency for expenditure to rise faster 
than national income raises the serious problem of 
the financial equilibrium of social security schemes, 
which is further aggravated by the slowdown in 
economic growth and the rise in unemployment, 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
with no votes against and one abstention: 
1. Chapter I: the second European social budget 
1.1. There are the same gaps in the data in the 
second European social budget as in the first. These 
gaps are attributable to the differences in the meth­
ods of collecting and preparing data in the various 
Member States and the difficulties of classifying ex­
penditure, since the Member States have different 
definitions and areas of intervention. 
0) OJNoC 131, 12.6. 1976. It must also be stressed that the term 'social security' 
may mean very different things in the various Mem­
ber States (particularly as regards benefits in cash 
and in kind). 
1.2. As the Commission itself points out: 'The as­
sumptions and methods used are far from homogen­
ous. This is due to the considerable difficulty in pre­
cisely defining what is meant in each country by the 
relatively vague concept of "constant legislation", 
and the greater or lesser extent to which each coun­
try tries to make realistic projections consistent with 
the economic environment as regards the analysis of 
behaviour patterns.' 
1.3. It follows that the projections and forecasts 
are inadequate in real terms not only because of the 
imposed restriction of relating them to a 'constant 
situation' but also and above all, because of the dis­
crepancy between the actual trends and the fore­
casts, which in turn makes for too broad a range of 
intervention. 
1.4. In view of these changes, which the budget 
does not take into account, the Committee shares 
the Commission's view that: 
'There are grounds for doubting the reliability of 
the assumptions for the various economic para­
meters on which the European social budget pro­
jections are based, there being a quite considera­
ble discrepancy over the course of the past few 
years (1975/76/77) between the actual trends for 
these parameters and those forecast (as shown 
above in point 14).' 
1.4.1. Thus, the forecasts were sufficiently accurate 
only as regards the general tendencies. 
1.4.2. The effort to align the statistical bases for 
the national reports should be continued, so that the 
Commission will have more comparable statistical 
data at its disposal when future social budgets are 
being prepared. 
1.5. New governing principles and processing pro­
cedures and, where appropriate, alternative theories 
are thus urgently needed because of the higher cost 
of financing in relation to social expenditure and 
because, during a structural crisis marked by a slow­
down in economic growth and a high rate of unem­
ployment and inflation, the European social budget 
and social policy in general become increasingly im­
portant. 
3. 3. 80 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 53/15 
1.6. In this respect, there are now some key prob­
lems which must be stressed: 
— the problem of financing: this is attributable to 
the continued increase in expenditure related to 
vested rights and to the fact that receipts are in­
creasing less rapidly than in the past as a result 
of the economic situation; 
— the tendency to burden the social security system 
with expenses it should not normally have to in­
cur, as a result of the economic situation. the Council of Ministers and the Commission to 
take mote timely decisions that correspond to the 
needs now being expressed in the Community. 
2. Chapter II: The role of the European social 
budget 
2.1. The need to make the European social budget 
effective as a source of information and an aid to 
decision-making becomes all the more urgent in the 
light of the need to align both the methods and the 
social security systems of the Member States. 
2.2. This objective is even more pressing at present 
in view of the enlargement of the European Econ­
omic Community to include Spain, Greece and Por­
tugal, since, to avoid added difficulties in research, 
processing and collecting information owing to the 
increasing differences between the 12 Member 
States, the social budget must in the meantime be 
given a more stable structure by the Nine to enable 
it to adjust progressively to the problems of enlarge­
ment. 
2.3. This is all the more necessary since enlarge­
ment will add new and different factors to the 
complex problems of the social situation in the 
Community. The Committee would like to see due 
consideration given to these aspects before the 
enlargement of the Community. 
2.4. The information and indications provided in 
the budget should also be useful for the specific 
situations not only in the Member States but also in 
the Community as a whole. An analysis of the re­
sults and initiatives taken in the various countries, 
assessed in European terms, would complement any 
new national measures designed to go even further 
than the Commission's commendable intentions 
and affording scope for practical implementations 
in the various Countries. 
2.5. While closer cooperation on the part of the 
Member States is required, it is also important for 2.6. In order to achieve a European social budget 
designed to operate more effectively, so that the in­
formation and guidelines it provides are more up to 
date and realistic, thereby avoiding the difficulties 
described by the Commission, it is necessary to eli­
minate the inconsistencies in the various Commun­
ity policies and reinforce and make better use of the 
Community departments which are, or will be, res­
ponsible for the social budget. 
3. Chapter III: some proposals for the budget 
3.1. The close relationship between economic and 
social conditions means that it is essential in the 
near future to have a social budget determined by 
economic planning and social trands rather than 
legislative status quo. 
3.2. In the third social budget, the foundations 
must be laid so that, in an increasingly united Eu­
rope, policy designed to meet social needs is not 
only coordinated but also decisive. Thus, the social 
budget must be the basis for the Commission's pro­
posals and the Council's Decisions if social policy is 
to be fully implemented. 
3.3. In the Committee's view, taking into account 
the benefits in cash and in kind in the various Mem­
ber States, it would help to improve the European 
social budget if the Commission were to determine 
the feasibility of further studies on: 
— the impact of changes in benefits in cash and in 
kind and the possible effect on benefits in kind 
of an increase in cash benefits, and vice versa; 
/ 
— the extent to which low-income groups actually 
take advantage of benefits in kind; 
— what is covered by the term unemployment in the 
various Member States, viz. quantity, quality, 
benefits and the different aspects of unemploy­
ment. 
No C 53/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 3. 3. 80 
3.3.1. This should be done in addition to the fol­
lowing, which is set out in the Commission docu­
ment and which the Committee approves: 
'For example, overall data on benefits in kind in 
general, or for the sickness sector, should be sys­
tematically accompanied by information on their 
components: cost of hospitalization, medical 
fees, pharmaceutical costs, etc. 
In the case of unemployment, information 
should be provided on the actual numbers receiv­
ing compensation, the average duration of unem­
ployment, the average amount of compensation 
and the distribution of the benefit payments. It 
would, moreover, be desirable to know this dis­
tribution for all functions; this would make it 
possible to throw light on the extent of redistri­
bution phenomena resulting from Member 
States' social protection policies. Consequently, 
there would be a need to distinguish between net 
and gross benefits, so far absent from Commun­
ity statistical comparisons.' 
3.4. The extension of the areas covered in the so­
cial sector to include not only social security, but 
also, progressively, the whole range of intervention 
in the social sphere, could be more easily and rap­
idly achieved by re-examining the problem of the 
comparability of data and forecasts. This problem 
should be overcome during the annual updating ex­
ercises or when major changes arise in one or more 
Member States or in line with the trend of economic 
projections. 
3.5. The social budget should be constantly up­
dated on the basis of a data bank which would 
make it possible to break down the various types of 
expenditure and intervention and discern general 
trends in economic, social and demographic devel­
opments. 
4. Chapter IV: conclusions 
4.1. The European social budget can and must 
play an important part along the lines indicated in 
point 3.2 above, and the adoption of the recommen­
dations made by the Parliament, the Council and 
the Economic and Social Committee would further 
this aim. 
4.2. The Committee endorses the European Parlia­
ment's recommendations in the resolution approved on 24 April 1979 (2) paricularly those designed to 
strengthen the role and broaden the scope of the so­
cial budget. 
4.3. More attention should be paid to the contribu­
tion that both sides of industry and the whole spec­
trum of economic and social activity can and must 
make at both national and Community level to the 
evaluation and use of the budget and its recommen­
dations. 
4.3.1. The Economic and Social Committee has al­
ready given its views on the subject, which it con­
firmed in its opinion on the development of the so­
cial situation in 1978 (2). 
4.3.2. In this spirit and with these aims, the in­
volvement of both sides of industry, the whole spec­
trum of economic and social activity and the various 
Community authorities would certainly help to 
make the social budget a vital aid to decision-mak­
ing in the social sector. 
4.4. The social budget reveals common problems 
for which common grounds for a solution must be 
found. This means that it is no longer acceptable — 
and not just because of the seriousness of the pre­
sent situation — for social security issues to remain 
in limbo. The Committee feels that the Council 
should now give priority to tackling social security 
problems in the round, taking into account the ser­
iousness of the economic and social situation. 
4.5. The Summit Conference of Heads of State or 
of Government also stressed the importance of so­
cial issues as early as 1972: 'attached as much im­
portance to vigorous action in the social field as to 
the achievement of the economic and monetary 
union.' The communique also included the words 
'Economic growth is not an end in itself. Its first 
aim should be to enable disparities in living condi­
tions to be reduced'. 
4.5.1. This statement, made before the serious 
economic crisis, takes on even more significance in 
the light of today's greater problems, the slowdown 
in growth and constant increase in social expendi­
ture and the gloomy prospects which will require 
special attention for the future. 
4.6. The social needs common to all or nearly all 
the Member States will bring about different reac-
O OJNoC 127,21.5. 1979. (2) OJNoC247, 1.10. 1979. 
3. 3. 80 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 53/17 
tions in all of them depending on the various condi­
tions prevailing in each State, and thus, different 
orders of priority. But no single State can cut itself 
off from trends that concern all the EEC countries. 
Done at Brussels, 24 October 1979. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the third paragraph of Article 20 of 
its Rules of Procedure, 
Having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau 
on 21 May 1979 instructing the Section for Energy 
and Nuclear Questions to prepare an additional 
opinion on the communication from the Commis­
sion to the Council entitled: 'Energy objectives for 
1990 and programmes of the Member States', and in 
particular on the communication entitled: 'First ac­
tions of cooperation with certain developing coun­
tries in the field of energy' (doc. of 28. 3. 1979), 
Having regard to the Committee's opinion of 
23 May 1979 on the first of the abovementioned 
communications ('), 
0) OJ No C 227, 10. 9. 1979, p. 6. By improving the data in the social budget, we shall 
see the need to align policies under the auspices of 
the Community institutions in many sectors which 
are as yet imprecisely defined. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
R. VANNI 
Having regard to the related Commission communi­
cations entitled: 'Cooperation with developing 
countries in the field of energy' (doc. of 3. 8. 1978) 
and 'Instruments of mining and energy cooperation 
with the ACP countries' (doc. of 14. 3. 1979), 
Having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau 
referring these related documents to the Section for 
Energy and Nuclear Questions and asking it to use 
them as reference material in the preparation of its 
additional opinion, 
Having regard to the opinion drawn up by the Sec­
tion for Energy and Nuclear Questions at its 51st 
meeting on 5 October 1979, 
Having regard to the oral report submitted at that 
meeting by the rapporteur, Mr Margot, Opinion on the first actions of cooperation with certain developing contries in the field of 
energy 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 21 May 1979 the Bureau of the Committee decided, under the third paragraph of 
Article 20 of its Rules of Procedure, to deliver an additional opinion on the above-
mentioned subject. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
172nd plenary session held in Brussels on 24 and 25 October 1979.