EN Official Journal of the European Union C 318/15

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on establishing the guidelines for the second round of the Community Initiative EQUAL concerning transnational cooperation to promote new means of combating all forms of discrimination and inequalities in connection with the labour market “Free movement of good ideas”’

(2004/C 318/04)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

Having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on establishing the guidelines for the second round of the Community Initiative EQUAL concerning transnational cooperation to promote new means of combating all forms of discrimination and inequalities in connection with the labour market: ‘Free movement of good ideas’ COM(2003) 840 final,

Having regard to the decision of the European Commission of 5 January 2004 to consult it on this subject, under the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to the decision of its President of 6 November 2003 to instruct its Commission for Economic and Social Policy to draw up an opinion on this subject,

Having regard to its draft opinion (CdR 96/2004 rev. 1) adopted on 30 April 2004, by the Commission for Economic and Social Policy (rapporteur: Cllr Peter Moore, Sheffield City Council (UK/ELDR)),

adopted the following opinion unanimously at its 55th Plenary Session of 16 and 17 June 2004 (meeting of 16 June).

1. Comments

The Committee of the Regions

1.1 considers that EQUAL is one of the most important instruments for generating and disseminating innovation in the field of employment and social policy;

1.2 stresses that local authorities have strongly supported EQUAL from its inception, as it presents a significant opportunity for the improvement and further development of social and employment policies at local and regional levels. Local and regional authorities also endorse the partnership approach of EQUAL which is in line with principles of good governance;

1.3 considers that the mainstreaming of innovative technologies, and the development of practical approaches and long-term competences should be key objectives; believes that results should not be isolated from mainstream practices, but should be linked to them in order to add new dimensions and enhance effectiveness. Local and regional authorities can help to embed new practices in the local systems of service provision and local policy networks;

1.4 stresses that the issue of the Roma people is of particular relevance and importance to local and regional authorities. With enlargement they will be the largest distinctive ethnic minority group on the European Union. Despite a 700 year history of living within the boundaries of the EU the Roma remain probably one of the most discriminated against group of all European citizens. Local and regional authorities have a crucial role to play in addressing the issues that face Roma people, a fact recognised by representatives of European Roma organisations themselves;

1.5 stresses also the important phenomenon of trafficking of children and women; believes that local and regional authorities have a vital role in promoting community wellbeing and must address the personal (e.g. victim support) and social (e.g. crime prevention) consequences of trafficking in human beings and this aspect of the sex industry, in this connection, stresses the need for local and regional authorities to be duly allocated the necessary funds and resources;

1.6 believes that local and regional authorities have to be seen as key partners in implementing EQUAL and mainstreaming its results.

2. Recommendations

The Committee of the Regions

2.1 welcomes the introduction of a confirmation step for Action 2; recommends that Action 3 activity (dissemination and mainstreaming) could be integrated in the same way in order to assist in addressing match-funding problems as Action 3 activity does not in itself have many of the types of outputs which funders are generally looking for (i.e. direct activity supporting beneficiaries);

2.2 welcomes the opportunity to broaden partnerships to work with accession states — financial regulations hindered some of the potential for this in the first round;

2.3 considers that in experimenting more in protection against unemployment, quality of employment, and direct job creation, Development Partnerships should be encouraged to look at experience and any best practice from round 1 — in particular any lessons learnt, where approaches have not been successful;

2.4 stresses the importance of retaining workers longer in employment — the Commission's acknowledgement of this is welcome in view of ageing populations generally, but also in relation to areas with a tradition of heavy industry where many older workers have had to, or still need to, re-train to secure work in service sector and other industries;

2.5 considers that it is important to acknowledge the difficulty of engaging employers to promote diversity, but encourages learning from best practice developed under round 1 across Member States;

2.6 welcomes the support that will be given to address the emerging challenges of the problems facing the Roma people and the victims of trafficking; considers that these and other emerging challenges EU-wide should be addressed within the appropriate context locally, regionally and nationally, and do not impact negatively where other groups need to be targeted;

2.7 believes that it is essential that all countries keep to the same timetable to facilitate the establishment of trans-national partnerships at the appropriate time, with delivery periods beginning at the same time to ensure they are effective partnerships. This was not the case in the first round. The Commission's re-statement of the importance of this is welcome;

2.8 welcomes the opportunity to build on the thematic network group activity at national and at European level in the 2nd round, and expects that the Commission will see increased benefit from this in the 2nd round, and increased impact. The concept of thematic network groups developed quite slowly during the first round. The CoR believes that there is a strong role for Managing Authorities in supporting Development Partnerships to participate, including being pro-active in identifying key people and policies to maximise the impact of the work piloted by the Partnerships. Greater integration would be useful between the thematic network groups, those responsible for producing Member State and European documents linked to European Employment Strategy and Social Inclusion policy. This would facilitate mainstreaming, which is identified as a challenge;

2.9 welcomes the proposals on mainstreaming, ensuring input from EQUAL to policy-makers and Objective 1, 2 and 3 programmes; recommends that thematic network groups should be formally linked into this;

2.10 considers it important not to lose the benefits of trans-national working post 2006 in employment field, and therefore recommends the inclusion of a trans-national element in the European Commission's proposals for ESF programmes to replace the current programmes (as well as within the regional ERDF programme).