Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Communication from the Commission to the Council: New European Labour Markets, Open to All, with Access for All"

(2001/C 311/13)

On 3 July 2001, the European Parliament decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned communication.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 5 September 2001. The rapporteur was Mrs Carroll, Mrs Polverini, co-rapporteur and Mr Fuchs, co-rapporteur.

At its 384th plenary session of 12 and 13 September 2001 (meeting of 12 September 2001), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 98 votes to 0, with two abstentions.

1. Introduction

1.1. Opening the new European labour markets and making them more accessible was identified as one of the ten key areas for policy action in the European Commission's contribution to the Spring European Council (Stockholm 2001), entitled "Realising the European Union's potential: consolidating and extending the Lisbon strategy". The Communication "New European Labour Markets, Open to All, with Access for All" is the first step towards realising the potential of the European Labour Market to work for the benefit of both workers and employers.

1.1.1. The Committee welcomes the request by the European Parliament to comment on this important European policy field, and supports the generally positive views on the Commission text expressed in the European Parliament's draft report.

1.1.2. The Commission is addressing this issue because of:

- pressure from increasingly integrated European businesses and from mobile workers for simpler solutions to their mobility and recruitment needs across Europe's labour markets, in the context of the continuing integration of many sectors and industries under the impact of the euro and the Internal Market. The continued strengthening of the European economy over recent years, although suffering some setbacks in recent times, has also highlighted the need to deal with this issue;

- the impact of wide-ranging structural changes across Europe, driven by globalisation, technology, demography and social aspirations, which are revealing constantly changing and commonly experienced skills needs and raising skills gaps and mobility issues in more prosperous regions;

- the challenge of ensuring greater convergence and opportunity across the regions of the EU, in the face of the above changes and in relation to the EU's relatively slow pace in advancing cohesion in terms of levels of employment and to the impact of further enlargement.

2. Comments on the proposals

The following represents the Committee's views on the specific proposals made by the Commission, which have also received favourable comment in the Parliament's draft.

2.1. The first set of policy actions

2.1.1. The Committee welcomes the Commission's intention to propose in 2002 a more uniform, transparent and flexible regime of professional recognition, which will include ways of promoting more widespread automatic recognition. The Committee welcomes the actions which have already been taken. These, however, largely represent action on professional vocational qualifications, i.e. in the higher end of the labour market. The failure of the Member States to agree over such a long period of time on mutual recognition of non-professional vocational skills generally (with the exception of the proposal for a directive on the training of professional drivers(1) - a highly regulated occupation), has been a major barrier to mobility and the creation of a genuine European labour market. If those with lower-level skills and not just those with the highest, most desirable skills are to be integrated into a true EU labour market, then action is urgent on this issue. The Commission must develop further initiatives on this matter, and a relevant and proactive contribution could be made by the social partners where they so wish. However, where sectoral directives have served the involved community well, there is no need to change them.

2.1.2. In a labour market which is constantly evolving and where much of the initial and continuous vocational training carried out is done in-company, it is essential to identify ways in which skills acquired at work can be recognised, while maintaining standards. Accordingly, the Committee supports this proposal and hopes it can be extended as widely as possible, particularly within sectors such as tourism and other industries with common standards and practices.

2.1.3. The Committee considers that lifelong learning is the key to familiarising people in Europe with the logic of the information society, new technologies and the new economy(2). This is an urgent matter to be dealt with and it should have a high priority in the Commission's policy initiatives. The Committee is concerned that, after several years of discussion, the Lifelong Learning Action Plan to be put before the Spring European Council in 2002 is still only at the stage of identifying basic skills essential for mobility, facilitating the recognition of skills acquired outside formal systems and an increased investment in human resources. It should also identify ways and means by which those who have been failed by the education system in the past could benefit by a lifelong learning strategy, so as to integrate them in the workforce.

2.1.4. If the EU is to develop its skills levels, however, more urgent action will be needed. It will also be necessary to draw up a plan for the short-to-medium term (2-5 years). The Commission must draw on its best practice (2.1.5 below) to provide reliable, rapidly effective guidelines for the shortest timescale (6 months-2 years) for universities and local authorities, in order to raise the level of education and training for highly-qualified professionals. The social partners could make an effective contribution to this process where they so wish.

2.1.5. The Committee notes that there may be problems of subsidiarity in developing an open method of coordination on Best Practice in Education and Training Systems. It also notes, however, that the use of this method in these fields was left open by the Stockholm European Council. The Commission should, as a priority, deal with educational initiatives which have proved to be effective in dealing with disadvantaged groups within the primary and second-level school populations and preventing early drop out of the system. Another urgent priority is an increase in the numbers of second and third level students taking technical and scientific subjects, as high technical skills cannot be achieved overnight without a solid educational foundation in the appropriate subjects.

2.2. Removing barriers to mobility

2.2.1. The Committee agrees that implementation of the Commission's comprehensive strategy to remove barriers to services should have a direct impact on the mobility of service providers. The Committee has already approved the proposals in previous opinions.

2.2.2. Various aspects of supplementary pension schemes have presented barriers to mobility or difficulties for workers for many years and discussions have been ongoing from time to time since the late 1970s on this issue. The Committee hopes that the Commission's proposed Communication on the Elimination of Obstacles to the Cross-border Provision of Supplementary Pensions will speed up the removal of such barriers to mobility.

2.2.3. The Committee is also pleased to note that the Commission will present a proposal on Portability of Supplementary Pensions by the end of 2001 and hopes that its proposal on the harmonisation of the rules applicable to funded pension schemes will be adopted shortly.

2.2.4. The Mobility of Researchers, Students, Trainers and Teachers is an essential component of integrated European Labour Markets and, as such, the Committee welcomes the proposals made by the Commission in this respect.

2.2.5. The Committee supports the Commission in urging the Council and the European Parliament to adopt the pending proposals in the area of Modernising Social Security for Migrant Workers, whilst recognizing the subsidiarity issues concerned.

2.2.6. The Committee agrees with the Commission that, account having been taken of the consequences for social equilibrium and the labour market, the Council, on the basis of proposals by the Commission should set out the criteria and conditions under which there should be Mobility of third country nationals within the EU. The Committee urges the early adoption by the Council of proposed Directives in this area. The Committee is currently finalising its Opinions on the "Proposal for a Council Directive concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents"(3) and "Proposal for a Council Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of paid employment and self-employed economic activities"(4).

2.2.7. If there is to be a genuine European labour market, it must be characterised by equality of treatment for migrants with local workers and should have as its goal socially sustainable and progressive mobility. This is essential for social cohesion to the European social model.

2.2.8. Fear of unemployment in host countries tends to provoke protectionist attitudes which can act as a barrier to mobility. Economic and social development of regions that attract a high number of migrant workers is essential to counteract this tendency.

2.3. Improving information and transparency

2.3.1. The Committee welcomes the Commission's proposal for a One-stop European Mobility Information Site which would help citizens to network and develop information from community and national sources to provide comprehensive and easily accessible information to citizens on key aspects of jobs, mobility and learning opportunities in Europe.

2.3.2. The Commission should ensure that this is available directly to citizens on the Internet and not just through national employment agencies. The EURES network, which is primarily a network for national employment agencies, should be integrated into the One-stop Shop and made more easily accessible to ordinary citizens. Generally, information on EURES should include, as well as information on employment conditions, information on social conditions, such as housing, education, available training through lifelong learning programmes and health services, as well as on the tax and social security situation. The information should be clear, available in all EU working languages and in the major languages of migrants to the EU.

2.3.3. Campaigns on various subjects have been run before, with limited success. While the Committee agrees that the proposed Mobility Information Campaign should make use of existing and familiar instruments, where these have been shown to be effective in reaching the citizen directly, it should also make increasing use of the social partners and relevant NGOs at national and regional levels in a much more integrated way, so as to reach those most directly concerned by mobility issues: employers, workers, their respective organisations and NGOs representing disadvantaged groups.

2.3.3.1. Not all potential migrants nor those already resident in the EU have access to the Internet, nor are they connected to formal organisations, e.g. NGOs. Therefore, the campaign should also be carried on through other channels, e.g. through radio, TV advertisements, via post offices and other public offices which migrant workers may visit from time to time and at points of departure and arrival into and within the EU - airports, railway stations, ports, motorways, etc.

2.3.3.2. The social partners and NGOs dealing with migrant workers should be actively involved in the campaign also. Trade unions could set up information points and ensure, through international contacts, that trade unions in countries of origin had accurate information to give their members. Employers should use a standardised information package on employment rights, tax and social security arrangements, when recruiting workers abroad. Information and funding, where appropriate, should be given the social partners and NGOs as part of the campaign.

2.3.4. Priority action on Professional recognition of qualifications is an essential part of work on the integration of European Labour Markets and the Committee welcomes the proposal. Priority should, however, be given to the work on actual recognition of qualifications rather than to information on an incomplete system, although this will also be important in the future. (See also paragraphs 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 above, in this connection.)

2.4. Stage Two: High-level Skills and Mobility Taskforce and 2002 Action Plan

2.4.1. The Committee welcomes the setting up of the High-level Skills and Mobility Taskforce and the mandate given to it. The Committee would wish to be kept informed of the work of the Taskforce and to give its opinion on its ongoing work and on the 2002 Action Plan to be put forward by the Commission on the basis of the Taskforce's Report in December 2001.

2.4.2. This is a positive measure, but mainly for workers who already benefit from a high level of education and access to information. Quality must also apply to those workers who are less qualified and who, according to the statistics provided in the Communication, are less mobile.

3. Additional Conclusions for consideration by the European Parliament

3.1. While the Committee generally approves the direction of the Commission's Communication, it has other comments to make on aspects of a European Labour Market which were not adequately dealt with in the Communication and which might be considered by the European Parliament.

3.2. The Committee welcomes the recognition by the Commission of the fact that there is, at present, no one integrated European Labour Market but rather a series of (mostly) geographic, regional and sectoral markets, the latter two, to some extent, crossing borders. It is vitally important that, hand in hand with the development of an integrated European Labour Market, work continues to improve economic and social life in underdeveloped regions of the EU. Unless all regions have the opportunity to develop and to attract appropriate high technology industries and services, there will continue to be one-way mobility, with a centre-periphery divide. This is not a healthy situation, whether socially or economically. All policies and actions envisaged under the Action Plan should be aimed at ensuring an even spread of development of labour markets within the EU and the candidate countries.

3.2.1. Prosperous national and regional labour markets are an important element of a European Labour Market. Indeed, given the level of mobility among EU citizens, it could be considered that this is a higher priority of citizens. It must be recalled that a labour market consists of people as well as organisations; people, the vast majority of whom have, up to now, preferred to stay in their home town, region or country. Even with a successful implementation of the 2002 Action Plan, the figures seem to indicate that most Europeans will prefer to work near their homes and they should not be forced by economic or social conditions to do otherwise, where at all possible. On the other hand, the Committee agrees that where they wish to move within the Union, they should be facilitated in doing so.

3.2.2. However, in an imperfect world, many European citizens are forced to move to seek work in the most prosperous regions of the Union. Others do so voluntarily. Whether the choice is forced or voluntary, the Committee welcomes this initiative as improving their chances of finding suitable employment, accommodation and of settling into their new lives with a minimum of difficulty.

3.3. Apart from general comments on European integration, the Communication makes little specific provision for the very particular problems of integrating the relatively undeveloped labour markets of the Candidate Countries into the more sophisticated EU labour markets. Given that the target date for the full implementation of the 2002 Action Plan is 2005, this is a serious omission.

3.3.1. Although free movement of workers from the candidate countries may be a qualified right for a period from the date of accession, the reality is that individual migrants from the candidate countries are seeking and will continue to seek access to the EU labour market. This is understandable, given the differences in the labour markets and standards of living of the candidate countries and of the current EU members.

3.3.2. For the overall economic and social health of the enlarged EU, development of the candidate countries is a necessity, with a view to bringing those countries nearer to and eventually up to the European average in terms of a labour market. The time between now and the achievement of free movement should be used for targetted action for the development of the candidate countries' own labour markets. These countries cannot be regarded only as a source of labour, but as labour markets in their own right. To wait until the actual accession date before making appropriate plans and taking remedial action would be too late.

3.4. The Communication fails to deal specifically with many deficiencies in the current labour markets in the EU. Mobility is more evident among these with higher skills and social and cultural (e.g. linguistic) advantages, The Committee notes, however, that mobility is low within groups with low skills. It is particularly concerned with the situation of under-privileged groups within society - women, the disabled, migrants and second-generation migrants and others - many of whom have either low-level or no skills. Many of these, given an adequate opportunity, could make a valuable contribution to European Labour Markets. Indeed, social cohesion demands that special efforts are made in this direction.

3.5. In order to have the maximum impact on the European economy, this initiative must be closely integrated into all Action Plans and programmes aimed at improving Europe's position in information and communications technology. The Committee has already given its Opinion on the E-Europe 2002 initiative and an Opinion on the E-learning Action Plan is being adopted concurrently with this Opinion.

Brussels, 12 September 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke Frerichs

(1) COM(2001) 56 final - 2001/0033 (COD) - Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on the training of professional drivers for the carriage of goods or passengers by road.

(2) OJ C 139, 11.5.2001. See also Opinion on the "Memorandum of Lifelong Learning" (SEC(2000) 1832).

(3) COM(2001) 127 final - 2001/0074 (CNS).

(4) COM(2001) 386 final - 2001/0154 (CNS).