Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Decision setting up a Social Protection Committee'
Date: 2000-05-24
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: committee (EU), cooperation policy, social partners, social policy, social security

18.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 204/55

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Decision setting
up a Social Protection Committee’

(2000/C 204/12)

On 24 May 2000, the Economic and Social Committee, acting under the third paragraph of Rule 23 of
its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 5 May 2000. The rapporteur was Mrs Cassina.

At its 373rd plenary session (meeting of 24 May 2000) the Economic and Social Committee adopted the
following opinion by 111 votes to one, with five abstentions.

1.

Introduction — gist of the proposal

1.1.
Following the Commission Communication on A
concerted strategy for modernising social protection published
on 14 July 1999 (1) and the conclusions of
the General
Affairs Council on 29 November 1999 and the Council on
17 December 1999 endorsing the main aspects of
this
proposal, the Commission has just published a Proposal for a
Council Decision setting up a Social Protection Committee(2)
to be known as the ‘European Social Protection Committee’.

c)

d)

The Committee’s opinion on the Communication
1.2.
July 1999 (3) heavily emphasised the need to develop
of
mechanisms capable of involving all relevant players, stressing
that there could be no modernisation or improvement of
social protection systems without the establishment of a strong
consensus at both national and Community level. In particular,
the Committee called for the group of high-level national
officials responsible for managing the process associated with
the concerted modernisation strategy to lay down procedures
involving the social partners and other bodies and institutions
representing the interests of the various sectors of society.

1.3.
The current draft decision proposes that the group of
high-level officials be referred to as the ‘European Social
Protection Committee’ (ESPC). Its composition and tasks are
outlined as follows:

a)

b)

the ESPC will be made up of two representatives from each
Member State and two Commission representatives;

the tasks of the ESPC will be, inter alia, (Article 1 of the
draft decision)

— to monitor social protection policies in the Member

States;

— to facilitate exchanges of information, experience and
good practice between Member States and the Com-
mission;

(1) COM(97) 347 final.
(2) COM(2000) 134 final.
(3) OJ C 177, 26.4.2000, p. 33.

— to draft an annual report on social protection to be
submitted to the Council, reporting on developments
in the strategy designed to attain the objectives set out
by the Council;

the ESPC may, at the request of the Council or Commission,
draft opinions or carry out other work in fields within its
remit;

the ESPC will work where appropriate with other relevant
bodies and committees responsible for economic and
social matters;

e)

the ESPC will establish appropriate contacts with the social
partners.

1.4.
The Committee believes that the Commission proposal
is heading in the right direction, but would benefit from
further detail in line with the comments and suggestions set
out below.

2. Comments

The Committee welcomes the three key elements
2.1.
identified in the Commission’s explanatory memorandum for
achieving the cooperation under the concerted strategy, name-
ly the group of high-level officials (the future ESPC), the
systematic use of the report on Social protection in Europe,
and the involvement of all relevant actors. This is precisely the
approach advocated by the Committee in its previous opinion
on the concerted strategy.

2.2.
However, the Committee expresses its reservations on
the text of the draft decision as it stands insofar as references
to the three key elements are either poorly developed or not
developed at all and, above all, because no mechanism is
proposed to guarantee the contacts with the social partners
— the text states only that the ESPC will ‘establish appropriate
contacts’ with social partners [Article 1(4)]. The Committee
suggests that this Article 1(4) be clarified by adding the
following: ‘in particular by establishing information and con-
sultation procedures and the possibility for delegations of
social partners to take part in some of its meetings’.

C 204/56

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

18.7.2000

Furthermore, at national

2.2.1.
level, the Member State
governments must provide for procedures whereby and places
where the social partners can obtain information, be consulted
and take part; with a view to ensuring that they are constantly
involved in the debates and activities conducted by the national
representatives on the ESPC.

the ESPC will

The Committee welcomes the wording of Article 1(3)
2.3.
which states that
‘work as appropriate in
cooperation with other relevant bodies and committees dealing
with social and economic policy matters’, as it believes that
the Committee fits the profile described. The Committee
confirms that it is most willing to share its experience with the
ESPC.

2.3.1.
The Committee, meanwhile, will follow the establish-
ment of the ESPC and its future work very closely, and will ask
to be informed as a matter of course on ESPC activities. This
will enable it to make its own contribution both through own-
initiative opinions and information reports and by acting as
the go-between for the organisations represented by its
members, who will press those organisations to take national-
or European-level action when appropriate.

2.4.
The Committee also hopes that the ESPC will nurture
relations with the EP, which has shown itself willing to make
an unstinting contribution to the ‘concerted strategy for
modernising social protection’.

2.5.
The Committee also regrets that there is not the
slightest reference to the need to involve the applicant
countries in this strategy and is most keen to see this crucial
point
incorporated into the ESPC’s work priorities. The
Committee is ready to give the ESPC the benefit of the
experience it has gained in working with the socio-occu-
pational partners in these countries.

2.6.
The Committee stresses the need for ESPC work to be
based on carefully compiled documentation that has been
widely circulated and discussed. In this respect, it also high-

Brussels, 24 May 2000.

lights the key role of the Commission, responsible for adminis-
tering the ESPC secretariat, and the importance of the improved
annual report on social protection in Europe which will be a
key component of the concerted strategy.

2.7. Without prejudging the decisions that the ESPC will
take within its remit, the Committee highlights the need for
annual reports to address the four objectives of the strategy as
well as mainstreaming, as these are all objectives which need
to be pursued in tandem and as a matter of equal priority. The
four objectives — namely, to make work pay and to provide
secure income, to make pensions safe and pensions systems
sustainable, to promote social inclusion and to ensure high
quality and sustainable health care — are intrinsically linked
and progress towards achieving one inevitably means progress
towards the others.

2.8.
The Committee notes that the secretariat of the ESPC
is to be provided by the Commission [Article 3(2)] and is
deeply concerned by the discrepancy between the ambitions
declared in outlining the strategy and the means made
available. The allocated material and human resources are
paltry. Point 10,1 of the financial statement allocates two
posts, i.e. two A-grade officials on 0,6 time and one C-grade
official on 0,8 time. Additional human resources are set aside
under 10.2 but there also it amounts to only two posts for a
maximum of twice the unit cost/year of EUR 108 000.

The Committee takes the view that the total resources
2.8.1.
set aside are extremely small compared with the tasks which
the ESPC is supposed to perform, and calls upon the Com-
mission to review its estimates. The ESPC should be carrying
out extensive work and should,
for example, be able to
commission studies and high-quality research, hold hearings
and, where appropriate, carry out on-site visits (in addition to
the two meetings per year in the Member State holding the
presidency) in order to identify elements for benchmarking.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Beatrice RANGONI MACHIAVELLI