Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION establishing a Tripartite Social Summit for Growth and Employment

(presented by the Commission)

2002/0136 (CNS)

Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION establishing a Tripartite Social Summit for Growth and Employment

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 202 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission [1],

[1]

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament [2],

[2]

Whereas:

(1) The social partners are associated in implementation of the coordinated employment strategy established by the Luxembourg European Council of 20 and 21 November 1997 within the Standing Committee on Employment established by Council Decision 70/532/EC setting up the Standing Committee on Employment of the European Communities [3], amended by Decision 99/207/EC of 9 March 1999 [4].

[3] OJ L 273 of 17.12.1970, p. 25; Decision amended by Decision 75/62/EEC (OJ L 21 of 28.1.1975, p.17).

[4] OJ L 72 of 18.3.1999, p. 33.

(2) The Cologne European Council of 3 and 4 June 1999 set up a macroeconomic dialogue with the participation of representatives from the Council, the Commission, the European Central Bank and the social partners.

(3) The Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000 set a new strategic goal for the next decade and agreed that achievement of that goal required an overall strategy designed to integrate structural reforms, the coordinated European employment strategy, social protection and macroeconomic policies. In its Communication on the social dialogue, the Commission stresses that the Tripartite Social Summit should contribute to the debate on these topics.

(4) In their joint contribution to the Laeken European Council, the social partners pointed out that the Standing Committee on Employment had not led to a similar integration of concertation and that it did not meet the need for coherence and synergy between the various processes in which they were involved. They also proposed, in their contribution, that the Standing Committee on Employment should be replaced by a tripartite concertation committee for growth and employment which would be the forum for consultation between the social partners and the public authorities in the overall European strategy defined at the Lisbon European Council.

(5) The Laeken European Council which met on 14 and 15 December 2001 took note of the social partners' willingness to develop and improve coordination of concertation on the various aspects of the Lisbon strategy. This was confirmed by the Barcelona European Council of 15 and 16 March 2002,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1 Establishment

A Tripartite Social Summit for Growth and Employment (hereinafter referred to as "the Summit") is hereby established.

Article 2 Tasks

The task of the Summit shall be to ensure, in compliance with the Treaty and with due regard for the powers of the institutions and bodies of the European Community, that there is continuous concertation between the Council, the Commission and the social partners in order to enable the social partners to contribute, on the basis of their social dialogue, to the various components of the integrated economic and social strategy launched at the Lisbon European Council in March 2000 and supplemented by the Gothenburg European Council in June 2001. For that purpose, it shall draw on the upstream work of and discussions between the Council, the Commission and the social partners in the different concertation forums.

Article 3 Membership

1. The Summit shall consist of the Council Presidency at Head of State or Government level and the two subsequent Presidencies, the Commission and representatives of the social partners.

2. The social partners' representatives shall number 20 at most and shall be divided into two delegations of equal size comprising 10 workers' representatives and 10 employers' representatives.

Each delegation shall consist of representatives of European cross-industry organisations either representing general interests or more specific interests of supervisory and managerial staff and small and medium-sized businesses at European level.

The technical coordination shall be provided for the workers' delegation by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and for the employers' delegation by the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE).

Article 4 Operation

1. The Summit shall meet at least once a year. A meeting shall be held just before the spring European Council.

2. The Summit shall be chaired jointly by the President-in-Office of the Council and the President of the Commission.

3. The matters to be discussed shall be determined jointly by the Council Presidency, the Commission and the workers' and employers' cross-industry organisations taking part in the Summit's work.

4. The joint chairs of the Summit shall report to the European Council on the discussions and the results at the meetings.

5. The meetings of the Summit shall be convened by the joint chairs on their own initiative.

6. The Summit members representing the social partners' organisations referred to in Article 3(2) shall receive travelling and subsistence expenses as determined by the Council.

7. Rules of procedure shall be drawn up on the initiative of the joint chairs to determine how the Summit operates.

Article 5 Repeal

Decision 99/207/EEC shall be repealed. The repeal shall take effect from the date of the first meeting of the Summit established by this Decision.

Article 6 Entry into force

This Decision shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Done at Brussels,

For the Council

The President