Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:

- the 'Communication from the Commission: "From Guidelines to Action: the National Action Plans for Employment"`, and - the 'Communication from the Commission: "Proposal for Guidelines for Member States' Employment Policies 1999"` (1999/C 51/10)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Communication from the Commission on 'From Guidelines to Action: The National Action Plans for Employment` (COM(98) 316 final) and the Communication from the Commission: 'Proposal for Guidelines for Member States' Employment Policies 1999` (COM(98) 574 final);

having regard to its Bureau decision taken on 15 July 1998 under the fourth paragraph of Article 198c of the Treaty establishing the European Community to draw up an opinion on the subject and to direct Commission 6 - Employment, Economic Policy, Single Market, Industry, SMEs - to undertake the preparatory work;

having regard to the document 'Act locally for employment` adopted by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) on 12 October 1998;

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 279/98 rev.) adopted by Commission 6 on 28 September 1998 (rapporteur: Mr Bodfish),

adopted the following opinion at its 26th plenary session of 18 and 19 November 1998 (meeting of 19 November).

A. Background and Introduction

1. This Opinion is a contribution to the evaluation of the first European Employment Guidelines and national employment action plans and offers some practical ideas for full cooperation of all Community players in promoting employment as a policy priority within the Union.

2. The Amsterdam Summit agreed to add a new Title on employment to the Treaty. The key result of this is that employment is recognized now not only as a policy objective, but also as a matter of common concern for the European Union.

3. Recognizing the common concern, specific mechanisms have been introduced to coordinate the actions of the Member States in employment policy. These are implemented mainly through the adoption of annual Employment Guidelines, which set the priorities for the Union's employment policy, and through the evaluation of national employment action plans (NAPs), which Member States devise according to the priorities.

4. The Community also has a mandate to support, and if necessary, to complement the actions of the Member States - the Council in Amsterdam also agreed that this new Title will have immediate effect i.e. it will be implemented immediately and therefore before ratification of the Treaty.

5. The first Guidelines were adopted by the Council on 15 December 1997, following the Luxembourg Employment Summit. The Guidelines are based on the four pillars:

- Improving employability (including training and lifelong learning and shifting people from welfare dependency to work through an active labour-market policy);

- Developing entrepreneurship (including encouraging businesses to develop by easing the tax burden, promoting self-employment, reducing overhead costs, promoting job creation in the social economic and at the local level);

- Encouraging adaptability in businesses and their employees (including modernization of the organization of work by social partners, responding to diverse forms of employment through adaptable contracts with security, developing in-house training and investment in human resources);

- Strengthening the policies for equal opportunities (including tackling gender gaps, reconciling work and family life, reintegration into the labour market and integrating people with disabilities into working life);

6. The current four-pillar structure of the Guidelines - employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability and equal opportunities - will continue to provide the basis for next year's Guidelines.

The Commission however identifies in the Communication a number of weaknesses in the 1998 Guidelines and a need for further clarification. The principal changes are:

- More emphasis on active measures

- Strengthening IT skills and easier access for older workers through more emphasis on Lifelong Learning

- Creating a labour market open to all by broadening the 1998 Guideline on the need for greater integration to include not just people with disabilities, but other groups such as ethic minorities and placing it under the employability pillar

- Exploiting the dynamic jobs potential of the services sector

- Reconciling work and family life - strengthening the Guidelines on affordable, accessible and high-quality child-care and flexible working conditions.

Horizontal changes, which do not require changes in specific Guidelines but which are issues that the Commission argues Member States should consider in implementation of the NAPs, include promoting local development. The Commission states that the role and responsibilities of partners at the regional and local levels need to be more fully recognised. It states that since all jobs are created at a local level, regional and local authorities have an important role in ensuring supportive conditions. They must therefore be encouraged to design and implement strategies for 'development and job creation.` (Am. 6)

7. The COR has a competency to act in this matter, and wishes to prepare its contribution to the debate before the formal consultation concerning the next annual Employment Guidelines at the December Summit in Vienna.

8. On 13 May 1998, the European Commission adopted a Communication on the national employment action plans, From Guidelines to Action: The National Action Plans for Employment.

9. As a result of the new competencies designed for the Committee of the Regions in the Amsterdam Treaty, the COR wishes also to issue this Opinion to respond to the aforementioned Communication.

10. The COR wishes to demonstrate its full support for the coordinated European Employment Strategy, which is the responsibility of national governments (Am. 3) and play a part in the forthcoming debates about the 1999 Employment Guidelines.

11. Finally, the COR wishes to make some recommendations to help local and regional authorities () to be a full and active partner in the consultation process and implementation of the national employment action plans, in particular suggesting a Local Action for Employment initiative. This will involve action at both local and regional level.

B. Role of local and regional authorities in generating employment

12. Local and regional authorities play a crucial role in generating employment. As major employers; through their involvement and competences in the development of the local and regional economy; through their responsibilities, where appropriate, in the employment services; and with their sound knowledge of the local situation, in particular by promoting social inclusion. They are best placed to stimulate job creation and contribute in the promotion of new types of work, linked to the development of services also as a result of the increasing privatization of the sector. They can take account of the local economic and infrastructural conditions, and the labour-market situation.

13. Since the 1970s local and regional authorities have had to respond to industrial restructuring in their area. Indeed some states such as Germany have been involved since the 1920s restructuring of the coal industry. As actors in economic development attracting inward investment and as developers of economic and social partnerships to promote employment, they play a significant role in stimulating the creation of employment.

The Commission Communication on the national employment action plans

14. After examination of the Member States' national employment action plans (NAPs), the Commission, (in its communication From Guidelines to Action) made clear the varying degrees in which local and regional partners were involved both in consultation and implementation of the NAPs. The Commission said some of the NAPs were designed with the explicit participation of local and regional partners. Others mentioned measures that would be taken directly by local and regional authorities, and some only referred in passing to local and regional players.

Consultation of local and regional authorities for the NAPs

15. Although in its Communication, the Commission congratulated the Member States for pursuing an inclusive strategy, the COR (following a review of national local authority associations in the Member States) would like to emphasize that the NAPs were not in practice fully open to scrutiny in every Member State. The COR asks the Member States of the European Union to incorporate the local and regional view when drawing up the NAPs.

Role of local and regional authorities in the implementation of the national employment action plans

16. The Commission's Communication also referred to the clear recognition as a result of the initial evaluation of the NAPs of the need for a stronger local dimension in employment policy. The Communication recognizes the varying degrees of decentralization and autonomy at the local level across the Member States, but suggests that there should be a greater integration of local initiatives in the future Guidelines and NAPs.

17. The COR supports the commission's analysis. The COR suggests the establishment of an initiative, Local Action for Employment 1999, to urge local and regional authorities to strive to ensure the guidelines are respected in the areas for which they have competence (Am. 2 modif.).

The Communication and the future Guidelines

18. The Commission's Communication referred to several areas, which need further development in the forthcoming Employment Guidelines 1999. One of the areas concerns the following: 'The strengthening of the local dimension of the employment strategy, where the Member States need to integrate local initiatives and new sources of work in the social economy within an overall development strategy and the development of integrated and sustained development strategies at the local level by local actors;`

19. The COR believes that its suggested initiative 'Local Action for Employment 1999` can play a strong role in strengthening the local dimension for the employment strategy. The COR believes however, that resources must be made available to local and regional authorities to enable it to carry out its new competencies concerning employment under the Amsterdam Treaty.

'Local Action for Employment 1999`

20. The COR proposes an initiative to enable local and regional authorities to promote the national employment action plans.

21. The initiative, possibly called 'Local Action for Employment 1999`, could be promoted through national local authority associations, and through pan-European networks. Although the COR itself does not have a direct and active role in the implementation of the NAPS, individual local and regional authorities, and pan-European networks of local and regional authorities and national local and regional authority associations (Am. 14) are able to take on this function.

22. The initiative would provide a mechanism whereby local and regional authorities could be encouraged to commit themselves to the four strands of the current Employment Guidelines.

23. The COR believes the effects of this initiative would include:

- leverage for national local and regional authority associations to have discussions with their Member State governments about the next Employment Guidelines;

- by committing local and regional authorities to the national employment plans, it would be a means to increase scrutiny of the plans within Member States;

- helping the local and regional priorities to be recognized more clearly, as these partners would know and understand the processes, and would undertake monitoring and evaluation of future needs and prioritize in much greater detail.

24. The COR invites the Commission to investigate the possibility of supporting to an extent the two parts of the Local Action for Employment 99 initiative through the European Social Fund or with funds earmarked for the territorial employment pacts. (Am. 12 modif.). It proposes the establishment of two sub-schemes to underpin the local and regional commitment to the NAPS, via the Local Action for Employment 99:

1) The utilization of existing schemes and the establishment of a new short-term exchange scheme for local and regional level officers and elected members working in comparable fields of employment generation with specific focus on local actions which may aid the implementation of the Guidelines. Individuals from different Member States would be able to stay for several weeks at a time to try and understand different local approaches to employment promotion in other countries. These exchanges will help to identify and promote best practice initiatives for bench-marking exercises (Am. 1)

2) The establishment of Prizes for 'Employment Leader`, to enable cities or regions to be held up as landmarks of employment promotion. The criteria by which regions and cities could be selected could include the level, success and initiative shown in the implementation of the four strands of the current Employment Guidelines.

The information and examples collected by these two initiatives could be made available to the general public by the Commission, via its Internet site.

25. The initiative, possibly called 'Local Action for Employment 1999` would be a useful mechanism to ensure that the European Union's priority for employment promotion and generation is explicitly supported at the local level.

26. The COR believes that employment is stimulated at the local level, and not just by commitments to broad national and European policy promises. The COR urges the Commission to continue its drive to supporting local initiatives to generate employment.

27. 'Local Action for Employment 1999` could be promoted by the COR, the Commission and via the European local and regional networks and the national local authority associations. (Am. 16)

C. Conclusion and Recommendations

28. The COR fully supports the European Employment Strategy and the Employment Guidelines. It wants to play a full role in both consultation on the national employment action plans, and in the implementation of the plans.

29. The COR welcomes the increased recognition by the Commission (in its Preamble to the proposals for 1999 Employment Guidelines) of local and regional authorities' role and responsibilities in creating jobs at the local level.

30. The COR asks the Member States of the European Union to ensure that all partners in all Member States can participate in the drawing-up of the NAPs; this will strengthen local and regional initiatives to promote employment. (Am. 8)

31. The COR believes that the relationship of the NAPs to the new Objective 3 framework is crucial, and supports the Commission's recommendation for greater integration of Objective 3, European Social Fund and national employment action plans.

32. Skills development is important to local and regional employers. It is needed to allow enterprises to grow and to enable employees to cope with change, thus indirectly preventing unemployment and marginalization. (Am. 4)

33. The Committee of the Regions would emphasize the equal opportunities aspects of employment guidelines related issues. (Am. 5)

34. The COR offers the following practical suggestions to reinforce the employment Guidelines and to aid local and regional involvement in consultation and implementation of the national employment action plans:

- it urges local and regional authorities to strive to ensure - via the Local Action for Employment 1999 - that the guidelines are respected in the areas for which they have competence (Am. 3 modif.);

- to submit this Opinion to the Council at the Vienna Summit in December 1998 in the context of its debate around the draft Employment Guidelines 1999.

Brussels, 19 November 1998.

The President of the Committee of the Regions

Manfred DAMMEYER

() In this context the COR underline particularly the importance of the commitment of elected local and regional bodies.