WRITTEN QUESTION E-0468/00

by Isabelle Caullery (UEN) to the Commission

(24 February 2000)

Subject: European Union employment policy

Can the Commission give a comprehensive list of the instruments and resources at the disposal of the European Union to combat the veritable scourge of unemployment in its Member States?

Can it give initial statistical estimates for each of the Member States concerning the effectiveness of its measures since 1994 in creating and safeguarding jobs?

Can it also say what are the main decisions which have been taken following the Luxembourg Summit, which was largely devoted to the unemployment situation in the European Union, and what have been to date the initial effects on employment figures?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(15 May 2000)

In order to combat unemployment, it was necessary to adopt a comprehensive strategy for coordinating economic policies, structural reforms and the labour market, to follow on from the informal convergence strategy launched by the European Council in Essen in 1994 and the Commission's White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment of 1993(1).

On the labour market, the main instrument used to combat unemployment is the implementation of the Title on employment provided for in the EC Treaty (Articles 125 to 130). It fixes a high level of employment as a target to be considered by Community policies (Article 127) and commits the Member States to coordinate their employment policies on the basis of common objectives, including quantified objectives (Article 128). It sets up the institutional mechanism for the monitoring and multilateral evaluation of the success or failure of the policies concerned.

The Structural Funds, in the new programming (2000-2006), are the Community's key instrument for providing assistance in the implementation of the employment strategy. The European Social Fund (ESF), in particular, aims to modernise and ensure the balanced operation of the labour markets, thus indirectly to create jobs. The territorial dimension to employment policies, highlighted in the employment guidelines for the year 2000, is, moreover, becoming increasingly important to all the Structural Funds. This dimension is recognised in the Commission's approach to preparing and implementing the Structural Funds' programming for 2000-2006. Particular emphasis has been placed on spreading territorial employment pacts in the new operational programmes(2).

Estimates of the effects of the measures

The employment strategy cannot be properly evaluated until the end of the five-year period decided upon in 1997. The joint reports on employment for 1998 and 1999 already show examples of good practice in the implementation of the guidelines, in some cases with supporting figures on the impact in terms of the

creation or preservation of jobs. A more comprehensive evaluation is being carried out as part of the peer examination which was launched at the beginning of 1999 by the Commission and the Council meeting on social affairs, a summary report on which will be published during the course of the year 2000.

The evaluation is an integral part of the implementation of the Structural Funds. It consists of regular monitoring of programmes (using common indicators, including jobs created or preserved) and a final evaluation of each programme in all Member States. The ESF evaluation focuses mainly on the effects on the public beneficiaries(3). The Commission, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and academic researchers have begun this evaluation albeit only partially. Ex post estimates for 1989-1993 show net job creation under Objective 2 of about 450 000. For 1994-1999, ex ante estimates indicate gross job creation of some 650 000(4). Between 1995 and 1999, the Employment Initiative Youthstart, Now, Horizon and Integra contributed to measures on human resources, improved operation of the labour market and the promotion of equal opportunities. The ESF publications show examples of good practices in this area.

An initial report on the territorial employment pacts (a pilot project launched by the Commission in 1997 in coordination with the Member States) provides encouraging information about 89 sub-regional areas(5). This interim report shows, in particular, that the structural programmes have redirected resources to the territorial pacts; this concerns a sum of approximately 1 600 million for the years 1998 and 1999, of which 500 million came from the three Structural Funds and the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG). It also indicates that the quantified objectives for job creation in this pilot project account for the creation of some 55 000 additional jobs.

In the new programming of the Structural Funds (2000-2006), a mid-term evaluation has already been planned and will determine the attribution of a performance reserve (4 % of the total sum allocated to the Member State). This evaluation will follow methodological guidelines, including for the calculation of the impact on employment, which have been drawn up by the Commission and are currently being tested in some Member States.

Main decisions taken since the Luxembourg European Council

The employment guidelines are revised every year. In 2000, the basic structure of four pillars has been preserved, while some changes have been made in order to highlight the key role of the public employment services and social protection systems in the strategy, as well as the importance of knowledge and skills related to the information society.

The implementation of the Title on employment was supplemented by Council recommendations to the Member States on their employment policies(6), formal consultation between the various Community institutions (including the Parliament) and the establishment of the Employment Committee provided for in Article 130(7).

Since Luxembourg, the European Council has adopted follow-up initiatives: at Vienna (December 1998), simplification of procedures and a mandate for effective synergy between economic and employment policies; at Cologne (June 1999), the European Employment Pact the common framework for the Luxembourg process, the process for reforming the markets in goods, services and capital (Cardiff) and the informal macro-economic dialogue between the Council, the Commission, the European Central Bank and the social partners; Helsinki (December 1999), coordination of the existing processes and instruments for social cohesion and the information society in Lisbon on 23 and 24 March 2000.

At the same time, the Commission has adopted several communications on the consideration of employment in the other Community policies (Article 127 of the EC Treaty)(8); employment in the information society(9); and the modernisation of social protection(10).

(1) COM(93) 700 final.

(2) SEC(1999) 1933.

(3) Conclusions of the ESF mid-term evaluations.

(4) 9th annual report on the Structural Funds.

(5) SEC(1999) 1932.

(6) Council Recommendation of 14 February 2000 (5161/00/SOC2 Ecofin4).

(7) Council Decision of 24 January 2000 (2000/98/EC).

(8) COM(1999) 167 final and COM(2000) 78 final.

(9) COM(2000) 48 final.

(10) COM(1999) 347 final.