WRITTEN QUESTION E-0105/01

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(1 February 2001)

Subject: The Swedish Government's statements on its Presidency objectives: the problem of unemployment

The Swedish Government has just stated that the priorities of its Presidency will be enlargement, environmental protection and job creation. The Presidency cannot be unaware that in the European Union, employment is mostly linked with wealth, and that the richest parts of the Union have the lowest unemployment rate, and vice versa.

This means that regional development policy, essentially funded by the Structural Funds and above all the ERDF, needs to be backed by a European job-creation policy whose main area of application will, logically, be in those countries and regions which benefit from the Structural Funds. Such a European job-creation policy requires specific budgetary funding.

What measures does the Swedish Presidency intend to take in order to achieve its own stated priority of tackling unemployment?

Does the Swedish Presidency intend to promote a European employment policy which will complement the regional development policy, with its own specific budgetary funding?

Reply

(16 July 2001)

As the Honourable Member has indicated, one of the primary aims of the Swedish Presidency is to continue to advance cooperation on employment. The European strategy in this area is based on the Treaty of Amsterdam and has been developed since the Luxembourg European Council meeting in 1997. This strategy, also known as the Luxembourg process, which draws on a procedure based on guidelines together with evaluation and surveillance mechanisms, national action plans and recommendations for Member States, has proved effective and has promoted cooperation in the employment field.

In the spring of 2001 cooperation of this kind was continued on the basis of the wide-ranging initiative adopted in March 2000 by the Heads of State or Government at the Lisbon Summit. The strategic objectives then laid down on employment, economic reforms and social cohesion were followed up at the European Council meeting held in Stockholm on 23 and 24 March 2001, the first annual Spring summit devoted to economic and social questions.

The Stockholm European Council focussed on how to modernise the European model and attain the strategic goal for the next decade decided at Lisbon: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. There was full agreement that economic reform, employment and social policies are mutually reinforcing.

The Stockholm European Council discussed how to create more and better jobs, accelerate economic reform, modernise the European social model and harness new technologies.

With regard to the second question, the Council draws the Honourable Member's attention to the fact that, in the context of the new Structural Funds programmes for the period 2000-2006, the European Union will be providing Member States with a considerable amount of financial support for the development and implementation of their employment policies.

In the context of the European employment strategy, the European Union will set aside almost 60 billion for the European Social Fund over the next seven years in order to:

- promote greater economic and social cohesion within the European Union;

- promote job creation and competitiveness in the European Union by investing in skills development;

- support the specific needs of the labour market in those regions of the Community where development is lagging behind;

- back up the commitments undertaken, at the Lisbon European Council meeting, to promote a dynamic, knowledge-based economy;

- proceed with the necessary investment in human resources and training infrastructure to accompany the development and introduction of new technologies;

- enable everyone to enjoy the fruits of economic growth;

- eliminate the gender gap in employment.

Community action - notably under the Swedish Presidency - is therefore addressing the concerns expressed by the Honourable Member.