A4-0369/96

Resolution on the report from the Commission on 'Employment in Europe - 1996' and the communication from the Commission on the Action for Employment in Europe: a confidence pact (COM(96)0485 - C4-0553/96 and C4-0341/96)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the report from the Commission on 'Employment in Europe - 1996' (COM(96)0485 - C4-0553/96),

- having regard to the communication from the Commission on 'Action for Employment in Europe: a confidence pact' (COM(96)0485 - C4-0341/96),

- having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Communities, particularly Articles 2, 3, 3a, 103 and 118 thereof,

- having regard to the Commission White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment (COM(93)0700 - C3-0509/93),

- having regard to the Commission White Paper on a European Social Policy - A way forward for the Union (COM(94)0333 - C4-0087/94) and the Commission's medium-term social action programme 1995-1997 (COM(95)0134 - C4-0160/95),

- having regard to the decision of the European Council to develop an employment strategy initiated at its meeting in Essen and reinforced at the subsequent meetings of Cannes, Madrid, Turin and Florence,

- having regard to the recommendation of the Council of 8 July 1996 on the Broad Guidelines of the Economic Policies of the Member States and the Community (96/431/EC) ((OJ L 179, 18.7.1996, p. 46.)),

- having regard to the joint opinion drawn up by the Macroeconomic Group of the Social Dialogue on 'The Social Partners' Guidelines for Turning Recovery into a Sustainable and Job-Creating Growth Process' of 16 May 1995, signed by the European Trade Unions Confederation (ETUC), the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederation of Europe (UNICE) and the Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (ECPE),

- having regard to its resolutions of 9 March 1994 on the Commission White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment ((OJ C 91, 28.3.1994, p. 124.)), of 10 March 1994 on the social policy implications of the EMU process ((OJ C 91, 28.3.1994, p. 230.)), of 19 January 1995 on the White Paper on European Social Policy ((OJ C 43, 20.2.1995, p. 63.)), of 2 March 1995 on the European Union's priorities for the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, March 1995) ((OJ C 68, 20.3.1995, p. 49.)), of 7 April 1995 on the Annual Economic Report for 1995 ((OJ C 109, 1.5.1995, p. 304.)), of 13 July 1995 on a coherent employment strategy for the European Union ((OJ C 249, 25.9.1995, p. 143.)), of 11 October 1995 on the Commission communication on economic growth and the environment: economic policy implications ((OJ C 287, 30.10.1995, p. 118.)), of 9 May 1996 on the Commission's Annual Economic Report in 1996 ((OJ C 152, 27.5.1996, p. 68.)), of 19 June 1996 on the Commission's recommendation on the broad economic guidelines for 1996 ((OJ C 198, 8.7.1996, p. 115.)), of 5 September 1996 on the Commission communication on a European strategy to promote local development and employment initiatives ((Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 8.)), of 18 September 1996 on a reduction and adaptation of working time ((Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 8.)), and of 19 September 1996 on a third multiannual programme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union (1997-2000) ((Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 3. )),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Social Affairs and Employment and the opinion of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy (A4-0369/96),

A. whereas Article 2 of the Treaty sets as a priority objective the promotion of 'harmonious and balanced development of economic activities, sustainable and non-inflationary growth respecting the environment, a high degree of economic performance, a high level of employment and of social protection, the raising of the standard of living and quality of life, and economic and social cohesion and solidarity among Member States',

B. whereas it is necessary to strengthen the effect of social cohesion in European society and to maintain the principles which define and characterize the European social model and make it different from other development models,

C. whereas social balance forms part of the social market economy and economic efficiency is based on the acceptance of an economic structure that presupposes fair social distribution and shared social responsibility and takes account of the protection of the environment,

D. whereas the dissolution of social solidarity under the impact of continuing mass unemployment and insecurity and instability of employment is jeopardizing internal cohesion in our societies and beginning to sap the very foundations of modern democratic societies in Europe,

E. whereas the goal set forth in the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment to halve unemployment by creating 15 million jobs by the end of the century seems to have been forgotten; whereas this objective, and subsequent decisions by the European Councils in Essen, Cannes, Madrid, Turin and Florence, remain a critical challenge that the EU and Member States have to address,

F. whereas international competitiveness is largely determined by industry's capacity for innovation, a high level of training, efficient research infrastructure and close, cross-frontier cooperation between enterprises, universities and research establishments,

G. whereas the development of a common strategy requires proper policy actions such as the coordination of macroeconomic and social policies and intensive interinstitutional cooperation between the Commission, the European Parliament, the Social Affairs Council, the ECOFIN Council and the Social Partners,

H. whereas several Member States have succeeded in steadily reducing unemployment for a number of years, an achievement that should encourage other Member States and the Commission to examine closely their policies and identify the good practices that work,

I. whereas young persons under 25 years are particularly hard hit by unemployment; whereas the number of persons over 25 years that have been unemployed for more than a year has increased from 48% to 50% and the proportion of those unemployed for two years or more has increased even more from 27% to 30%,

J. expressing its support for the European demonstrations against unemployment, job insecurity and social exclusion which will be organized in the first half of 1997 with the aim of exerting increased pressure on the European Union and its Member States to create solutions to the problem of unemployment,

K. whereas nowadays, although economic growth is still necessary, the structural problems of unemployment cannot be solved exclusively with the growth and development mechanisms of previous decades,

L. whereas the scale of long-term unemployment is an indication of deficiencies in economic and employment policies; whereas during long periods of unemployment individuals not only lose confidence and self-esteem but they also lose employability,

M. whereas unemployment is particularly serious in the less developed peripheral, outermost and island regions of the European Union,

N. whereas undertakings with fewer than 100 employees have increased net job creation by 260 000 p.a., while undertakings with more than 100 employees show a net loss of 222 000 jobs p.a.,

O. whereas the essential aspects of the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, which was a good basis for a balanced policy for more jobs, have not been implemented, partly because no agreement has ever been reached in the ECOFIN Council on granting the financial resources required, or on introducing a European framework for the CO2 energy tax; whereas the Commission proposal for 'Action for Employment in Europe', which is principally a call to the governments and the two sides of industry for a general mobilization for work, also risks losing its credibility due to a lack of agreement in the ECOFIN Council,

P. whereas technological development and developments in production resulting from the electronic and informatic revolution are leading to extraordinary increases in productivity; whereas a policy is therefore needed to ensure a positive balance between productivity development and job creation,

Q. whereas the 1995 report on the demographic situation in the EU forecast a drastic change in employment potential which makes it all the more necessary for the Member States and the Commission to develop integrated policies in order to combat the ever-increasing levels of unemployment, and youth unemployment in particular,

1. Welcomes the Commission's Employment in Europe - 1996 report as a description of shortcomings and problems encountered in this field; regrets however the limited progress that has been made in assessing the deterioration in the quality of employment, overcoming mass unemployment - in particular long-term unemployment - and social exclusion or bringing about a common realistic position identifying common and coordinated actions by the EU and Member States;

2. Deplores the lack of analytical and strategic progress beyond the 1995 report and the reliance on automatic beneficial effects of economic growth and monetary stability; considers rather that active employment policies should be encouraged and developed;

3. Expresses its concern that the broad guidelines of economic policies adopted by the Council on 8 July 1996 rely solely on measures necessary for the implementation of convergence criteria and do not include a multiplier effect that is favourable to net job creation;

4. Calls on the Commission, the Social Affairs and ECOFIN Councils and the Member States to focus both macro-economic and structural policies at national and European level in a far more balanced and determined way on the fight against unemployment taking full account of the following policy recommendations, in the framework of a low-inflation and growth-oriented environment:

- a less restrictive monetary policy, in conformity with Article 105(1) of the Treaty and objectives of the Community as laid down in Article 2 of the Treaty;

- a reasonable - growth-oriented - approach to budgetary discipline during the third phase of EMU and beyond;

- an income and wage policy ensuring wage developments in line with productivity and adequate levels of internal demand and consumer confidence;

- an investment policy which stimulates public and private investment;

- a taxation policy and social welfare structures which do not act as a barrier but as an incentive to employment creation;

- an active education, training and re-training policy at Community and national level particularly in rapidly evolving high technology sectors such as information technology or biotechnologies;

5. Considers that the priority of coordination between macroeconomic and labour market policies has to be strengthened and encourages particularly coordination aimed at lowering the non-direct cost of labour at the lower end of the wage scale, provided that this reduction is brought into balance with other forms of funding (for example indirect taxation or taxation on energy consumption) in order to prevent a deterioration in social services; encourages the shift towards active labour market measures that are accompanied by tailor-made training and/or placement help, strengthening and extending employment stability and social security as well as the opportunity for all unemployed to receive retraining;

6. Believes that Member States should actively promote measures that facilitate self-employment and the creation of SMEs, especially in areas of social, cultural and ecological innovation; calls therefore for concrete actions that support innovation in these fields, facilitate access to venture capital, introduce tailor-made consulting and training for the acquisition of qualifications required by new types of enterprise with a high degree of job creation and the simplification of legal and administrative procedures without abandoning high standards;

7. Calls for specific measures to heal the split in the labour market and to remove all current obstacles, given that the employment of women is still characterized by low pay, atypical and insecure jobs and poor career prospects;

8. Invites the Commission to study the effects of policies which encourage the transition to a new model of development that increases the job-intensity of growth such as the reduction and reorganization of working time, in particular their impact on SMEs and microenterprises, by assessing the effects on unemployment of a different scale of social contributions (between the first 32 hours and subsequent hours) for both the self-employed and employees, and the possibility of making up for any reduction in contribution revenue by the lower costs entailed in reducing unemployment, and asks for its results to be submitted also to the social partners of all the Member States;

9. Appeals to the two sides of industry, the Member States and the Union to take measures to promote part-time work, sabbaticals, paid leave for continuing education and training and other forms of reductions in working time, without the competitive position of undertakings or the social protection of employees suffering as a result;

10. Calls for further strengthening of the Essen procedure in implementing active job-creating strategies as well as in promoting a more equitable redistribution of jobs together with adequate life-long learning;

11. Reminds the Commission and the Council that in the employment framework established by the European Council in Essen special attention was to be given to young persons, the long-term unemployed, to women and to older workers; insists that Member States take more measures to counter the present trend that is having a negative effect on these groups and deplores the absence of concrete proposals by the Commission to that effect;

12. Advocates that the steadily rising number of long-term unemployed should be combated with focused labour market and vocational training policies which take action at an early stage and also with a wider range of schemes enabling further work experience to be gained especially for those who have lived in exclusion and poverty;

13. Calls on the Commission and the Council to devote all their efforts to developing projects and measures with a view to creating employment in the peripheral, outermost and island regions of the European Union;

14. Calls upon the Commission to implement a Confidence Pact that mobilizes all relevant actors and to make active use of Community financial instruments such as the EIB and the EIF to finance sustainable Community investment projects for transport, the environment and communications, local employment initiatives, help in particular SMEs, microenterprises and craft industries gain access to the EU and world markets and support them in R& D areas that promote cross-border cooperation between firms, universities and research bodies;

15. Stresses that Member States should reduce barriers to innovation as identified in the Commission's Green Paper on Innovation (COM(95)0688 - C4- 0609/95) supported by the European Parliament in its Resolution of 9 May 1996 on the 1996 Annual Economic Report and create incentives to innovation on the path to a new model of development stipulated in the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment of 1993;

16. Deplores the current predatory competition between young and old in the labour market and calls for the development of concepts that gear lifelong general vocational education and training more efficiently to older and disabled people;

17. Considers investment in human resources a vital component of the employment strategy because of its beneficial effects on the employability of persons receiving it and its preventive nature, since 80% of the technology being used today will be obsolete in 10 years and replaced with new, more advanced technology, as well as for its positive impact on the competitiveness of the economy; at the same time urges Member States to upgrade and widen the role of public employment services, in partnership with not-for-profit associations and/or private firms, to include the supply of tailor-made training for the long-term unemployed, young persons, women, older workers and disabled people, with particular emphasis on equal opportunities;

18. Calls for the support of not only know-how and human resources, but also investment in entrepreneurial environmental activities and infrastructures and in knowledge and skills, environmental protection schemes that create goods and services necessary for measuring, preventing, limiting or correcting damage caused to water, air and soil, including measures for the reduction and management of waste, energy saving and pollution at local level and the pooling of Structural funds interventions under Objectives 1 and 2 as well as of other EU instruments in support of these activities;

19. Fears that as a result of the deregulation of financial markets profits will mainly be invested in property and financial assets rather than real capital, making an active employment policy by the nation states almost impossible; reiterates its call for serious consideration to be given to the possibility of introducing effective taxes on speculation as well as an improved control of derivatives;

20. Supports the emerging third sector of social and cultural services as a possible source of new stable and sustainable employment as a means of counteracting the segmentation and structural rigidity of the labour market; and calls on the Commission to submit a Community programme in this respect with adequate funding;

21. Invites the Member States to agree within the framework of the IGC on the addition of a new chapter on the employment policy of the Union and the Member States in the new Treaty, which looks for the added value inherent in the European Union's common policies for promoting employment, solidarity and social cohesion, and referring to objectives, procedures and criteria for the coordination of the policy of the Union and the Member States with the aim of creating meaningful, high-quality jobs while maintaining a high degree of social protection, to coincide with the struggle against long-term unemployment and social exclusion;

22. Calls once again on the Commission to submit proposals for the use of comparable socio-economic indicators to monitor quantitative and qualitative trends on the labour market and in the policy of the Member States; believes that such indicators should relate to the rate of unemployment, the level of employment, the degree of participation by different groups in the various sectors and modes of work on the labour market, the mean and maximum number of hours of work, the funding (as a percentage of GNP) devoted to social protection and an active labour market policy and the maximum permissible wage spread;

23. Welcomes the creation of a Commission Committee for Employment and Labour Market Policy that would work in tandem with the Economic Policy Committee and would consult the Standing Committee on Employment on all labour market policy issues in order to contribute to the development and launching of a common strategy for employment, using joint indicators which will improve the analysis, coordination and interchange of information between national employment policies;

24. Recalls that improved cooperation and coordination between private and public national employment services throughout the Member States, as mentioned in the Confidence Pact, may have an important role to play in creating employment;

25. Notes that the demographic trends in the EU should be taken account of in social unemployment policy initiatives;

26. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Economic and Social Committee, the European social partners and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.