Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Commission Communication - Proposal for guidelines for Member States' employment policies 1998'
Date: 1997-10-30
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU Member State, employment policy, fight against unemployment, integration into employment

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Commission Communication —
Proposal for guidelines for Member States’ employment policies 1998’

(98/C 19/28)

On 3 October 1997 Commissioner Flynn sent the Committee the ‘Commission Communication
— Proposal for guidelines for Member States’ employment policies 1998’ expressing his
assurance that he could count on the Committee’s support.

Together with the Joint Employment Report 1997 — based on the multi-annual programmes
submitted by the Member States — and the Employment in Europe Report 1997 (COM(97)
479 final) also transmitted to the Committee, the Proposal for Guidelines is an important
contribution to the extraordinary European Council in Luxembourg on 20 and 21 November
and its follow-up according to the new procedure set out in the Employment Chapter.

At its plenary session meeting on 1 October 1997, the Committee decided, in accordance with
Rule 11(4) and Rule 19(1) of its Rules of Procedure, to set up a subcommittee to prepare its
work on the matter.

Given the very tight deadlines involved, necessary for the Committee to have an input to the
Employment Summit, the subcommittee prepared the opinion under an urgency procedure,
and in the light of the opinion already adopted on 1 October 1997 on the European Council
on Employment (CES 991/97) which has been forwarded to the President of the European
Council.

The subcommittee drew up a draft opinion on 21 October 1997 (rapporteur: Mrs van den
Burg).

The Economic and Social Committee adopted the opinion set out below at its 349th plenary
session (meeting of 30 October 1997) by 123 votes to 7, with 13 abstentions.

1. General comments

1.1.
The Economic and Social Committee appreciates
the preparations of the Commission entailed in the
1997 Employment in Europe Report and the Joint
Employment Report and all its underlying research and
statistics, culminating in the proposal for employment
guidelines to be discussed at the November Employment
Summit. They should be judged both as a contribution
to the aspired success of this extraordinary summit, as
well as a first attempt to apply in an anticipative way
the Employment Chapter procedure of the new Treaty.

1.2.
In its earlier Opinion on the European Council
on Employment (CES 991/97), the Committee stressed
the importance of an overall approach including a broad
macro-economic framework. The Employment Summit
should be more than a conference about Member States’
labour market policies. The Summit must provide a firm
employment-orientated basis to be integrated with the
macro-economic policy mix outlined in the Broad
Economic Guidelines issued every year on the basis of
Article 103.

policies. The Committee looks forward to equally
important contributions to the Summit in other policy
fields, in particular policies for sustainable growth and
investment, and in the taxation field. Due note has been
taken of the activities of the European Investment Bank
to present a further elaboration of the programme
initiated by the Amsterdam Council, and of the growing
sense of urgency in the Ecofin Council and in the
Member States to come up with appropriate measures,
inter alia in the field of taxation, that may positively
influence the employment situation in the Member
States. The Growth and Employment Policy Coordi-
nation Pact that the Committee wants the Summit
to conclude should encompass this broader range of
commitments.

1.3.1.
For the future preparation of employment
guidelines in the framework of the Treaty procedure, it
is imperative that all relevant policy fields may be dealt
with. The fields to be particularly focused on in future
years must not be defined and restricted in advance. The
Committee strongly recommends such an integrated,
broader content for the employment guidelines.

1.3.
The Committee takes note of the fact that it is
the Commission as a whole that has presented this
proposal for guidelines focusing on labour market

1.4. Noting the intention expressed by Mr Juncker
to initiate a top level meeting every half year of the

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‘Troika’ of Council presidents with the leaders of the
European social partners, the Committee underlines
once again its call to coordinate the contribution of all
the players mentioned under the Employment Chapter,
and to establish an effective procedure and structure for
future cooperation in the field of European employment
policy. A proposal on this point should be prepared for
the Summit, with action to follow. For its part, the
Economic and Social Committee is eager to undertake
the activities that it has proposed in its earlier opinion.

The Committee notes with satisfaction that a
1.5.
joint meeting of the Ecofin and Social Council
is
convened, preceding the Summit, as it had recommend-
ed. This joint council could:

— assess the present macro-economic and employment
situation and prepare the outline for the employment
policies integrated with the macro-economic policy
mix in order to enhance the employment intensity
of growth;

— integrate the respective policy fields that should be

dealt with at the Summit;

— develop a continuous and effective method for
cooperation, including roles that different advisory
bodies could play.

2. Specific comments

(CES

reports

and evaluations’

2.1.
In its earlier opinion, the Committee urged the
setting of ‘clear targets, performance criteria, suitable
entailing
timetables and monitoring mechanisms
national
991/97,
point 2.1.3). The Committee welcomes the clear objec-
tives that the Commission has formulated as regards the
average European increase of the employment rate and
the decrease of unemployment percentage levels over a
period of five years. These objectives may be considered
as an operational application of Article 2 of the Treaty,
which can be realized only if the EU and the Member
States actually put into effect the necessary employment
policy measures and succeed in continuing the current
and predicted economic growth of approximately 3 %
GDP a year. The Committee again stresses that commit-
ment is needed in order to achieve these aims, both in
terms of the growth-stimulating macro-economic policy
mix and the proposed measures to make growth more
employment-intensive and to improve the participation
and re-integration of job seekers with a weaker labour
market position.

particular emphasis adapted to the specific needs of that
Member State. Together, these programmes of each
Member State will lead to more coherence and conver-
gence within the EU, and should result in achieving the
average overall European objectives.

2.3.
The Committee welcomes the strategic approach
of the Commission to focus on four main lines of action
for the Member States:

— entrepreneurship;

— employability;

— adaptability; and

— equal opportunities.

These actions must be integrated into a strategy that
creates both flexibility and security.

The Committee acknowledges the importance of a
balanced approach to the changes that need to be
accomplished. Under the four headings the major
challenges have been stated in a way that links economic
and social demands. The Committee underlines the need
to adopt an integrated approach rather than a restricted
selective ‘picking and choosing’ of single items. Each
Member State will obviously draw up its own combi-
nation of targets and measures, but in all cases a careful
balance between flexibility and security is imperative.

2.4.
The Committee also appreciates the quantified
approach in several parts of the proposal for guidelines
referring to instruments, such as the degree of partici-
pation in training and labour market measures. Also
here a differentiation and specification adapted to the
specific Member State’s situation is necessary. Taking
this into account, the degree of quantification should
strike the right balance between ambition and realism.

2.5.
The Committee notes the link between the
chapter on entrepreneurship and the action plan
developed by the EIB. The EIB is to play an important
role in stimulating growth and investment, particularly
in SMEs. The Committee would urge the EIB to adopt
a more risk-taking attitude and a more focused approach
to projects which can enhance employment-intensiveness
and the quality of jobs, with due regard to their
commercial viability.

2.2.
The Committee notes that the proposal for
guidelines does not set specific targets adapted to the
national situations in Member States. It is evident that
the different national backgrounds and circumstances
should lead to particular individual targets per Member
State, and to an appropriate policy combination with

2.6.
The importance of education and training con-
tained in the action line on employability, and of the
improvement of the level of qualification of the European
workforce, cannot be stressed enough. Both from the

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macro-economic aspect of competitiveness and capacity
to innovate, and from the individual workers’ interest,
it is imperative for governments, the social partners and
other relevant socio-economic agents to maximize effort
in this field. The Committee particularly echoes the
appeal to the social partners to come to (framework)
agreements on, for example, apprenticeships and con-
ditions for lifelong learning, noting that it is particularly
important to involve individual companies, and sectoral
organizations where appropriate, and encourage com-
mitments at a decentralized level. At the same time, it
stresses the importance of innovation and adaptation of
the general education system to meet these challenges.
The Council of Education Ministers might be invited to
elaborate further on the issues of employability and
lifelong learning.

In the context of the adaptation of the work
2.7.
organization mention is made of the changes in employ-
ment contracts. It is rightly stressed that, to get more
flexibility out of the labour market, more and better
security is imperative. Also here it is urgent to promote
balanced (framework) agreements between the social
partners at different levels, as well as initiatives of the
Commission and Member States to adapt and innovate
legislation, particularly with respect to the situation of
‘non-standard’ workers. The Committee proposes that
the Commission could draw up a new Social Action
Programme, in which its own initiatives may be presented
using the opportunities in the Social Chapter that now
is fully integrated in the new Treaty, and calls on the
Social Partners to fully play their role in this respect.

2.8.
Under the equal opportunities action line, the
connection is made between labour market and demo-
graphic demands. It is evident that an improvement of
policies for reconciliation of work and family life may
give an important impetus to a higher employment rate
and a breakthrough of gender segregation in jobs. In
this context, the Committee refers again to its October
1995 Opinion on working time (1), in which it called for
balanced options for reducing and reorganizing working
time,
including the promotion of opportunities for
differentiated voluntary working time options, particu-
larly in those sectors, jobs and function levels where

(1) OJ C 18, 22. 1. 1996.

Brussels, 30 October 1997.

long working weeks are the norm. More differentiation
in working time may at the same time facilitate the
reconciliation of work and family life, the redistribution
of employment, and the flexibility of work organization.
More ambitious and quantified targets may be expected
from Member States as to the conditions for this fourth
action line, such as the extension of the provision of
good quality childcare facilities. Finally, it is essential to
encourage a variety of educational choices of women in
order to improve equal opportunities between women
and men.

2.9. Taxation

In the previous Committee opinion, much emphasis was
given to taxation as an instrument to stimulate job
creation and to decrease unemployment. In the Joint
Report, several examples are given of Member States’
tax measures, particularly those which promote the
hiring of low-skilled unemployed people, as well as
measures to use social security benefits to create
‘additional’ jobs for these categories. The Committee
would urge the Summit to initiate an evaluation and
assessment of such measures, for instance by appointing
an expert group and to make speedy proposals for a
more structured approach aiming at reducing indirect
labour costs in order to increase the employment
intensiveness of growth.

2.10.

Investment Policy

2.10.1.
The Committee underlines the importance of
encouraging investment in the EU. The Summit should
call on the Member States to take all the necessary
measures in this respect. This can only strengthen the
economic basis and confidence, which are necessary
conditions for employment creation.

2.10.2.
The Committee has stressed the role of the
EIB, and looks forward to the presentation of the EIB’s
Amsterdam Special Action Programme. The Committee
recommends that the Bank involve social partners and
other relevant organizations and experts in the labour
market field in the development and evaluation of
quantitative and qualitative criteria of employment-
intensive investments. The Committee asks to be con-
sulted on future work in this area.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS