2.
European Parliament resolution on the Commission communication on the Draft Joint Employ-
ment Report 2001 (COM(2001)438 *dash C5-0423/2001 *dash 2001/2168(COS))
The European Parliament,
6dash having regard to the Commission communication (COM(2001)438 6dash C5-0423/2001),6dash having regard to the proposal for a Council decision on Guidelines for Member States’ employment
policies for the year 2002 (COM(2001)511 6dash C5-0498/2001 6dash 2001/0208(CNS)),
6dash having regard to the draft recommendations to the Member States,
6dash having regard to the conclusions of the European Councils of 23/24 March 2000 in Lisbon, of
7-10 December 2000 in Nice, of 23/24 March 2001 in Stockholm, and of 15/16 June 2001 in Göte-borg,
6dash having regard to Council Decision 2001/63/EC of 19 January 2001 on guidelines for Member States’
employment policies for the year 2000(
1),
6dash having regard to the communication from the Commission on Employment and Social Policies:
a framework for investing in quality (COM(2001)313),
6dash having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article128(2)
thereof,
6dash having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,
6dash having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinions of
the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities and the Committee on Economic andMonetary Affairs (A5-0360/2001),
A. whereas, given that the Commission has adopted and forwarded to the European Parliament the
‘employment package’, i.e. the proposal for a Council decision on guidelines for Member States’employment policies for the year 2002, the joint report on employment for the year 2001 and theproposal for a recommendation to the Member States, and given that a joint consideration of the threedocuments is essential in order to ensure their political coherence,
B. whereas the gross national product in the European Union and the United States is forecast to grow at
a perceptibly slower rate than in previous years,
C. whereas rationalisation of the various processes involving the employment guidelines 6dash including the
European social agenda, the outlines of the economic policy of the Member States, the report onstructural reforms, the macroeconomic dialogue and the annual meeting of the European Council inthe spring provided for in the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council 6dash is necessary in order toensure a uniform commitment to economic policy, employment policy, sustainability and socialpolicy,
D. whereas in this connection it would be prudent to drawn up an ‘annual report on the economic and
social state of the Union’ containing the main components of the Commission analyses in the annualeconomic report, the report on employment and the reports on competition, economic reforms andthe position of SMEs and in the scoreboard outlining progress made in implementing the socialagenda,
E. whereas the involvement of the Council of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers in drawing up
macroeconomic guidelines and the involvement of the Ecofin Council in drawing upemp loymentguidelines would ensure greater consistency of the EU’s economic and employment policies,
F. whereas a common approach to drawing up economic and employment policy guidelines must not
lead to a situation in which labour market considerations are subordinated to economic policy;whereas labour market issues should be dealt with within the framework of employment guidelines,
(1) OJ L 22, 24.1.2001, p. 18.9.5.2002 EN C112E/179 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 24October 2001
G. having regard to quantitative targets adopted by the European Councils of Lisbon, Stockholm and
Nice, and which are strongly supported by the European Parliament,
General economic background
1. Takes the view that the social market economy which forms the basis of a proven economic and
social system combining freedom and responsibility provides the right framework for the EuropeanUnion’s economic policy; considers that the social market economy should therefore be adopted as thenorm with regard to the European Union’s economic and monetary policy and should be embodied in the
Treaty at the forthcoming intergovernmental conference;
2. Points out that price stability, sound budgetary policies and resulting low long-term interest rates
stimulate investment and hence generate sustainable employment; accordingly takes the view that theprovisions of the Stability and Growth Pact should be steadfastly adhered to;
3. Stresses that competition between companies is central to the social market economy; points out,
however, that this can only have positive social consequences if it is not distorted as a result of monopoliesand concerted practices or by inappropriate state aids; supports therefore the European Union’s competi-tion policy; takes the view, however, that, with a view to the upcoming intergovernmental conference,democratic control through the codecision procedure remains necessary when general competition policy
rules are established;
Guidelines for the year 2002
Horizontal objectives
4. Confirms that full employment is a priority objective of the economic, employment and social policy
strategy pursued by the EU and stresses that this objective can only be attained if, in addition to compre-hensive and effective implementation of the policies incorporated in the four pillars of the Luxembourg
strategy, there is also an efficient and coherent macroeconomic policy mix, progress in structural reforms,
investments in training and further education, research and innovation to promote the competitiveness ofthe system, a regulatory climate conducive to entrepreneurship and an active social state to developpolicies based on integration and that will protect the weaker elements in society;
5. Insists on the need to adopt European and national targets linked to precise indicators to measure
and monitor Member States’ performance in implementing the Employment Guidelines; points out that it
would be appropriate in some cases to adopt concrete quantitative targets to monitor not only policy goalsbut also the measures and the financial means to reach such goals;
6. Supports the intention of the Council Presidency to scrutinise all employment policy measures to
determine whether they contribute to improvements in the quality of employment, both with reference
to the specific characteristics of the work performed and in the context of the labour market and theworkplace (in other words, introducing quality mainstreaming), and welcomes the introduction of a newhorizontal objective with the same title in the guidelines; calls for the concept of ‘quality’ rapidly to be putinto practice by way of European and national indicators;
7. Calls for overall consistency with the above objective to be guaranteed in relation to other European
Union instruments and initiatives (directives, open coordination, social dialogue and individual pro-grammes, in particular those falling within the scope of the ESF);
First Pillar: Improving employability
8. Endorses the call to the Member States to promote the access of more people to training and further
vocational training and to ensure lifelong education; reiterates the need to set quantitative objectives, toencourage training in entrepreneurship and deadlines within which training opportunities should beoffered to unemployed persons;
9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to draw upcomp arative statistics on the qualitative
structure of the various forms of part-time working and partial unemployment and to assess the specificconsequences of active employment policies in terms of social inclusion or social exclusion;C112E/180 EN 9.5.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 24October 2001
10. Calls on Member States fundamentally to assess their policy on employability in relation to the
long-term character of the measures adopted and the quality of individual trajectories leading to entry tothe labour market;
11. Proposes, in this connection, that Member States should give each employee and job seeker a legal
right to vocational further training; urges the Member States to create an appropriate legal framework for
this right in consultation with the social partners; calls on the social partners to negotiate on a European
framework agreement;
12. Endorses the Commission’s call on Member States to facilitate the access of women to lifelong
learning and in particular to IT training, and to promote participation by women in all levels of educationand training; stresses in this respect the need to establish national targets for female participation rates inall levels of education and training; invites therefore the Member States to evaluate regularly the impact oftheir policies in this field; recalls the decision of the Stockholm Summit that special attention must begiven to encouraging women to engage in scientific and technical studies, and calls therefore on theCommission to investigate the reasons for the discrepancy between the number of women graduating inscientific disciplines and the number who are successful in obtaining professional posts.
13. Endorses the proposal for guidelines for promoting the continued presence or reinsertion of older
employees in the labour market, offering incentives and improving the framework conditions, using acoordinated set of instruments, including opportunities for continuing education and re-training andexperimenting with flexible working arrangements and introducing models of part-time working forolder workers; welcomes in this connection the specific target of the European Council to increase theemployment rate among older workers to 50%; considers that the above must be done in consultationwith the social partners and by making use of a coordinated package of instruments;
14. Welcomes the guideline aimed at combating all forms of discrimination in access to general and
vocational training; calls on the Council, the Commission and the Member States to adopt appropriatemeasures to safeguard the application of EU policy promoting the vocational and social integration ofimmigrants, particularly women, who face problems with access to the labour market;
15. Welcomes any measure designed to promote geographical mobility, provided this is based on the
voluntary decision of the worker, taking into account that the priority should be the commitment toreduce regional imbalances;
16. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt specific policies and measures towards
economic and social cohesion in regions whose development is lagging behind or regions with areas facingstructural difficulties, aimed at increasing investments in infrastructures, in supporting SMEs, research anddevelopment, training and life-long learning, and at reducing non-wage labour costs;
Second Pillar: Development ofentrepreneurship and job creation
17. Calls on the Member States to carry out more stringent controls on moonlighting; calls on the
Commission and the Council to further extend the guideline containing measures to combat unofficialemployment; suggests that it should contain practical measures concerning tax and social security systemsas possible incentives for transforming these irregular forms of employment into official employment;considers that all measures in the Member States should be taken in consultation with the social partners;
18. Calls on the Member States in cooperation with employers’ organisations to publicise the signifi-
cance of independent activity on a voluntary basis and responsible entrepreneurship;
19. Calls on the Member States to support job creation in the non-profit sector, the social economy,
ecological production and services, local and regional employment initiatives more strongly; calls on theCommission to give this aspect of the second pillar of the European Employment Strategy much higherpriority;9.5.2002 EN C112E/181 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 24October 2001
20. Encourages the Member States to promote closer cooperation between undertakings and univer-
sities, in order to ensure more efficient knowledge transfer, to initiate rapid entrepreneurial innovationand to enhance competitiveness;
21. Takes the view that today knowledge is the key to prosperity and employment and that investment
in education, research and development is therefore of fundamental importance; considers therefore itnecessary to improve also, as a matter of urgency, the framework conditions for private investment inresearch and development, for example through the creation of a Europe-wide and affordable patent;
22. Considers it essential to ensure that small and medium-sized companies, which employ two-thirds
of the total work force, have easier access to funding and urges that the directive regarding the capital andreserves of banks (Basle II) drawn upby the Basle Banking Sup ervisory Committee should not lead to morecostly credit terms for small and medium-sized businesses;
23. With a view to reducing taxes affecting labour, calls on the Member States to make greater use of
the possibility of applying reduced VAT rates to labour-intensive services, for example the catering andcrafts sector;
24. Takes the view that tax and welfare benefit arrangements must be such as to stimulate active job-
seeking;
25. Strongly supports the Commission’s call to Member States to review tax and benefit disincentives
which have a negative impact on women’s participation in the labour market, and to pay attention toobstacles which hinder women who wish to set upbusinesses and become self-emp loyed; stresses, in thisrespect, the importance, not merely of reviewing, but of adopting specific measures aiming to support andencourage these women by:
(a) reducing burdens on businesses at the start-up stage and simplifying the formal procedures required,(b) establishing funds to stimulate the establishment of new businesses, and offer advice, training courses
and technical assistance, as well as extending such assistance to businesses where there is scope forfurther development of investment, and
(c) making it easier at local level for women to obtain access to and information about existing subsidised
programmes;
Third Pillar: Promoting the adaptability ofundertakings and their employees
26. Calls on the social partners to negotiate agreements to modernise labour organisations at all appro-
priate levels (European, national, sectoral, local and company levels); considers such agreements to be ameans to increase both the quality of a job and the competitiveness of the undertakings concerned; takesthe view that such agreements should consider all possible forms of working hours and labour organi-sation;
27. Considers that more flexible forms of employment contracts are only acceptable if they give
workers sufficient security; points in this connection to the positive contribution which temporary employ-ment agencies can make, providing that activities are regulated and regularly monitored so as to provideworkers with sufficient protection; calls also on the Commission to submit a proposal for a directive basedon the principle that temporary workers should receive the same treatment as those in regular employ-ment with the firms making use of their services;
28. Urges a constructive interpretation of the concept of ‘flexibility’ whereby it would be made easier
for workers to combine work, training and private life more effectively with each other; calls on theCommission and the social partners to engage in a searching exchange of views in that connection;
29. Calls on the Member States to carry out more consistent controls on the application of health and
labour prevention and protection rules; calls therefore on the Member States to lay down specific quanti-tative objectives to reduce the number of industrial accidents and the incidence of occupational diseases,with reference not only to traditional risks, but also to new ones such as stress, burn-out syndrome andmuscular skeletal disorders;C112E/182 EN 9.5.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 24October 2001
Fourth Pillar: Strengthening measures to promote equal opportunities for men and women
30. Highlights that the average employment rate for women is more than 18 percentage points below
the male rate, that labour market segregation remains large, and that women are paid on average 76% ofmen’s hourly wages; regrets therefore that Member States in 2001 placed less emphasis on the EqualOpportunities Pillar in their NAPs compared to the previous year, and that a coherent and comprehensivestrategy for the implementation of gender mainstreaming across all four Pillars is still lacking in manyMember States;
31. Highlights that women are over-represented in part-time, precarious and low-skills positions; sup-
ports in this respect the new objective across all the Pillars of the Guidelines to promote high-quality jobs;regrets, however, that the Guideline proposal does not specifically discuss actions to give women a morevaried range of employment choices, with better wages and with all their rights being guaranteed; calls in
this respect on the Member States to step up actions to create better jobs, better working conditions, and
higher job satisfaction among women, which will dissuade them from giving uptheir jobs which, fre-quently, places themselves in social isolation.
32. Is encouraged by the innovative approaches adopted by some Member States to diminish gender
segregation in the employment market, but regrets that there are no improvements in gender segregationfrom last year and that there are hardly any new initiatives to increase women’s participation in decision-making; calls in this respect, for regulations on positive measures to secure full equality of women andmen in working life, by providing for specific advantages to increase the proportion of the under-repre-sented sex in each profession;
33. Calls specifically for measures to be taken by the Member States, where appropriate in consultation
with the social partners, to implement the principle of equal pay for equal (or equivalent work) withoutdelay; hopes that Member States will be urged more explicitly to introduce national quantitative objectivesand target dates for reducing pay differentials between men and women; calls for European targets also tobe laid down to close the gender wage-gapand dismantle other features of marginalisation on the labourmarket;
34. Emphasises that the social partners must take an active role in promoting gender equality in the
labour market; calls therefore upon the social partners to:
(a) promote the capacity of women workers to organise and protect their rights,
(b) devote much more effort to tackling the gender pay gap, inter alia by ensuring that there is greater
transparency as regards wage base determination, and
(c) ensure a balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making bodies of the social part-
ners;
35. Takes note of the encouraging initiatives taken by Member States to reconcile work and family life,
but considers that progress remains limited; supports therefore the Commission’s call on the MemberStates and the social partners to promote family friendly working environments; points out for this pur-pose the need for the Member States to set quantitative targets for increasing the provision of care services
for children and other dependent persons by defining specific national objectives aimed at reaching within
the next five years the average level of the three Member States with the best performance in this sector;considers that, to enable fair sharing of family responsibilities, more emphasis must be put on family-friendly work organisations, operating inter alia at local level, to achieve flexible working time arrange-ments, to reinforce and reorganise public and private companies, with regard to working hours inter alia,and on parental leave schemes and reintegration into the labour market after an absence; calls in thisrespect on the Member States to ensure that parents 6dash women and men 6dash are not unfavourably treatedwhen seeking to combine work and family life or when exercising their rights to parental leave;
36. Welcomes the fact that Member States are urged to developnational objectives before making
available care facilities and hopes in this connection that future guidelines will be able to provide a defini-tion of ‘European’ objectives in this area;9.5.2002 EN C112E/183 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 24October 2001
37. Reiterates its call to the Council to recognise household work carried out by a third party in private
households for remuneration as a sector of the employment market; considers that such recognition wouldinclude introducing rules on the social entitlements of these employees, as well as regulating supply anddemand in the sector and the possibility of training;
Procedure and state of implementation
38. Underscores the call for an increase in political coordination in the Member States between the
individual institutional players (national, regional and local administrations) and with the social partnersin preparing and implementing the Luxembourg strategy; calls, furthermore, for a public debate in theMember States with a view to securing the participation of all the political players (national and regional)in this strategy;
39. Urges the governments of the candidate countries to adapt their labour market policies to facilitate
possible future involvement in the Luxembourg strategy and welcomes, in this connection, the fact thatprotocols on this matter have been signed with a number of candidate countries; highlights the problem oftaking into account areas of Community policies which do not form part of the Community ‘acquis’
because they are subject to the method of open coordination but which, nevertheless, should be coveredby the accession negotiations;
40. Asks to be fully involved in the review and evaluation of the impact of the employment strategy;
calls on the Council Presidency to seek, together with the European Parliament, appropriate forms ofcoordination in order to ensure democratic scrutiny of policy areas which are governed by the methodof open coordination;
*
**
41. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the parlia-
ments of the Member States and the candidate countries.
4. EIB: Community guarantee against lending losses *
A5-0350/2001
Proposal for a Council decision granting a Community guarantee to the European Investment Bank
against losses under a special lending action for selected environmental projects in the Baltic Sea
basin of Russia under the Northern Dimension (COM(2001)297 *dash C5-0307/2001 *dash 2001/
0121(CNS))
The proposal was approved.
European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council decision granting a Com-
munity guarantee to the European Investment Bank against losses under a special lending actionfor selected environmental projects in the Baltic Sea basin of Russia under the Northern Dimen-
sion (COM(2001)297 *dash C5-0307/2001 *dash 2001/0121(CNS))
(Consultation procedure)
The European Parliament,
6dash having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2001)297)(
1),
6dash having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Article308 of the EC Treaty (C5-0307/2001),
(1) OJ C 240 E, 28.8.2001, p. 295.C112E/184 EN 9.5.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 24October 2001