WRITTEN QUESTION E-0665/01

by Philip Bushill-Matthews (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 March 2001)

Subject: Lisbon European Council and the promotion of inclusion

The 2000 Lisbon European Council invited the Council and the Commission to mainstream the promotion of inclusion in Member States' employment, education and training, health and housing policies. What specific steps have been taken in this regard and what action has been taken at Community level by action under the Structural Funds?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(6 June 2001)

The promotion of social inclusion is an underlying objective in the Employment Guidelines(1). The new Guideline No 7 calls for measures to combat all forms of discrimination in access to the labour market and to education and training; it advocates the development of pathways consisting of effective preventive and active policy measures to promote the integration

into the labour market of groups and individuals at risk or with a disadvantage, in order to avoid marginalisation, the emergence of working poor and a drift into exclusion; it also calls for the implementation of appropriate measures to meet the needs of the disabled, ethnic minorities and migrant workers as regards their integration into the labour market and to set national targets where appropriate for this purpose.

In addition, a number of other Employment Guidelines notably on the prevention of long term unemployment, on life long learning, on the tax/benefits systems and on equal opportunities have a close link with the objective of fighting social exclusion.

Member States have been invited by the Commission to ensure consistency and complementarity between their national reports on, respectively, employment policy and social inclusion policies.

Regulation (EC) No 1784/1999 of the Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 1999 on the European Social Fund(2) (ESF) outlines the five policy fields through which the ESF will support the development of the labour market and human resources. One of those policy fields aims to promote equal opportunities for all in accessing the labour market, with particular emphasis on those exposed to social exclusion. This provided a good starting point to promote, within Structural Fund programmes, the inclusion agenda set out at the Lisbon European Council.

Between 2000-2006, the ESF will make an investment in people of around 60 billions as part of the modernisation and reform of European labour markets(3). They will give particular attention to integrating marginalised groups into the economy and society. Negotiations between the Commission and Member States resulted in plans to allocate over 9 billions of ESF to promote social inclusion across the Community. This support will come via action to widen access to learning and employment opportunities including clear commitments to tackle the digital divide.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) can make a contribution to promoting improvements in health within regions covered by Objective 1 where this investment is beneficial to the region's structural adjustment(4).

The commitment to social inclusion will be reviewed over the lifetime of Structural Fund programmes including an evaluation in 2003 of the impact of the ESF (including the Community Initiative EQUAL) in promoting social inclusion(5).

(1) Council Decision 2001/63/EC of 19 January 2001 on Guidelines for Member States' employment policies for 2001 (OJ L 22, 24.1.2001).

(2) ERDF also makes a significant contribution to job creation (Regulation (EC) No 1783/1999 of the Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 1999 (OJ L 213, 13.8.1999).

(3) In many Structural Fund programmes, ESF will work alongside other Community funds e.g. ERDF.

(4) Regulation (EC) No 1261/1999 of the Parliament and of the Council of 21 June 1999 (OJ L 161, 26.6.1999).

(5) Communication from the Commission to the Council, the Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Social Policy Agenda COM(2000) 379 final.