Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Comittee of the Regions: Acting Locally for Employment — a Local Dimension for the European Employment Strategy"
Date: 2000-09-21
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Union, employment policy, fight against unemployment, local authority, regional policy

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2.6.
The Committee urges the Commission to involve local
and regional authorities in framing and implementing the
‘Best Procedure’ methodology. The Committee specifically
encourages the Commission to examine more closely, as part
of its benchmarking exercise, ways in which the impact of
enterprise policy is influenced by the apportionment of tasks
between private and public entrepreneurs and the division of
work between public authorities. It will then be possible to

ascertain which tasks are best catered for by the private and
public (including the regional authorities) sectors respectively
in the sphere of enterprise policy.

2.7.
Lastly, the Committee of the Regions recommends that
it be consulted on the relevant sections of the annual work
programmes, the mid-term evaluation in 2003 and the final
evaluation report.

Brussels, 21 September 2000.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Communication from the Commission to the
Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Comittee of the
Regions: Acting Locally for Employment — a Local Dimension for the European Employment
Strategy’

(2001/C 22/05)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions entitled Acting Locally for
Employment — a Local Dimension for the European Employment Strategy (COM(2000)196 final);

having regard to the decision of the Commission on 7 April 2000, under the first paragraph of Article 265
of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to consult it on this matter;

having regard to the decision taken by its president on 17 April 2000, to draw up an opinion on this
matter and to instruct Commission 6 for Employment, Economic Policy, Single Market, Industry and
SMEs to undertake the preparatory work;

having regard to its opinion on the Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) laying down general provisions
on the Structural Funds, adopted on 17 September 1998 (CdR 167/98 fin) (1);

having regard to its opinion on the Communication from the Commission — From guidelines to action:
the National Action Plans for Employment and the Communication from the Commission — Proposals
for guidelines for Member States’ employment policies 1999, adopted on 19 November 1998 (CdR
279/98 fin) (2);

having regard to its opinion on forthcoming economic policy guidelines, adopted on 19 November 1998
(CdR 110/98 fin) (3);

(1) OJ C 373, 2.12.1998, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 51, 22.2.1999, p. 59.
(3) OJ C 51, 22.2.1999, p. 63.

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having regard to its opinion on territorial pacts for employment, and the link between them and the
European Union’s structural policies, adopted on 3 June 1999 (CdR 91/99 fin) (1);

having regard to its opinion on the Report of the Business Environment Simplification Task Force
(BEST) and the Commission Communication — Promoting entrepreneurship and competitiveness: the
Commission’s response to the BEST task force report, adopted on 3 June 1999 (CdR 387/98 fin) (2);

having regard to its resolution on the European Employment Pact, adopted on 2 June 1999 (CdR 156/99
fin) (3);

having regard to its opinion on the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European
Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — The competitiveness
of European enterprises in the face of globalisation: How it can be encouraged, adopted on 18 November
1999 (CdR 134/99 fin) (4);

having regard to its opinion on the Proposal for guidelines for Member States’ employment policies
2000, adopted on 18 November 1999 (CdR 360/99 fin) (5);

having regard to its resolution on the implementation of the European Employment Strategy, adopted on
12 April 2000 (CdR 461/99 fin) (6);

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 187/200 rev. 1) unanimously adopted by Commission 6 on
30 June 2000 (rapporteur: Mrs Bresso, I-PES);

whereas with this communication, the European Commission seeks to promote a wide-ranging debate
extending beyond the EU institutions to which it is primarily addressed, and to this end will support a
series of transnational seminars that will deepen discussion on the various issues raised in the
communication;

whereas the process of consultation launched in April with a joint initiative of the European Commission
and the Committee of the Regions will close in December 2000 with a conference in Strasbourg organised
by the French Presidency, at which stock will be taken of the debate and the European Commission will
present the results of the consultations and look forward to the future,

adopted the following opinion at its 35th plenary session, held on 20 and 21 September 2000 (meeting
of 21 September).

The Committee of the Regions

local authorities to fulfil their role rapidly and in full, as
part of the European employment strategy;

1.

in the light of the opinions adopted to date on this
subject, warmly welcomes the Communication from the
Commission — Acting Locally for Employment: A Local
Dimension for the European Employment Strategy;

3.

considers the territorial unit as the appropriate context
for boosting cooperation between local authorities, busi-
nesses and other actors, with the aim of promoting
new employment opportunities and framing integrated
development policies;

2. welcomes the Commission’s announcement that a new
communication will be issued as soon as the debate on
its present one closes, and emphasises that the future
communication must offer practical measures enabling

4.

points out that the Commission document uses the word
‘local’ in two ways:

(1) OJ C 293, 13.10.1999, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 293, 13.10.1999, p. 48.
(3) OJ C 293, 13.10.1999, p. 70.
(4) OJ C 57, 29.2.2000, p. 23.
(5) OJ C 57, 29.2.2000, p. 17.
(6) OJ C 226, 8.8.2000, p. 43.

a)

firstly, to indicate that ‘acting locally’ is necessary
to create employment and upgrade existing jobs,
arguing that employment prospects for the unem-
ployed population of the territory can be visibly
improved, in particular by acting locally (through
training, territorial cooperation for development,
policies to foster entrepreneurship, development of
services and new occupations, active equal oppor-
tunities policies)

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b)

secondly, to express the determination of the Euro-
pean Union to pursue the aim of supporting local
employment initiatives;

growth, they have a major impact on local employment;
particularly regarding the arrival of new businesses and
their personnel.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

emphasises that local authorities can only act effectively
if interinstitutional relations are governed by a model
based on the principle of subsidiarity, which directly
underpins and permeates the communication from the
Commission;

voices the willingness of Europe’s local authorities to
commit
themselves fully to implementing the large
number of existing initiatives and projects designed to
create new, diverse, skilled and sustainable employment
opportunities. This is a fundamental challenge for local
authorities. They have, therefore, committed themselves
to meeting this challenge, together with the other EU
institutions and the Member States, and they recognise
that practical and positive action in favour of employment
will depend upon an effective partnerships between all
the social, economic and political bodies;

believes that the European Union’s planned employment
target can only be that of full employment, understood
as a formal commitment by all the institutions to put
into practice the right to work of all citizens;

points out, in this regard, that local authorities’ responsi-
bilities and their proximity to citizens’ needs make them
key partners, crucial to the success of the European
employment strategy;

draws attention to and supports the CEMR’s campaign
locally for
launched with the adoption of
employment’ charter, which seeks to promote a political
debate on employment in all regional and local councils;

the ‘Act

10.

repeats its view, as set out in its opinion on the Proposal
for guidelines for Member States’ employment policies
2000, that local and regional authorities are unique in
their crucial dual role in generating employment. Firstly,
by working in partnership with local partners and
specialist groups, they help to provide an environment
that promotes job creation, and secondly, they actively
promote the development of businesses through local
economic strategies;

12. considers it essential to provide local authorities with the
opportunity to act in an innovative way to promote
employment. Local authorities can represent a real driving
force in shaping territorial projects if they have the right
professional skills and working structures. Appropriate
skills and structures, capable of understanding local
economic conditions, building up networks and planning
ahead, are a prerequisite for promoting economic devel-
opment and employment. In particular, opportunities for
access to the databases of central employment services,
such as the EURES system, must be improved by using
computer technology and on-line distribution;

13. believes that there are two crucial preconditions for the
development of new information and communication
technologies (NICT) in the context of local employment:
local authorities must themselves be equipped with NICT
and use them and, most importantly, NICT literacy and
training must be provided by the public authorities.

14. believes in consequence that the instruments provided
by the EU to regional and local authorities for local
employment and development policy must be developed
and fleshed out, both through the European Social Fund,
the Structural Funds, Community initiative projects and
the EAGGF, and by identifying new instruments,
especially under the future sixth framework programme
on research. This is what the Directorate-General for
Regional Policy has just done in the guidelines for
innovative ERDF action under for the 2000-2006 period;

15. agrees with the Commission that preparatory and pilot
actions and calls for tender should be launched, in order
to identify good practice in developing innovative and
experimental employment strategies at local
level. In
particular, it considers it important to:

— prepare and test a methodology for mainstreaming
local policies and

employment aspects
assessing their spin-off in terms of job creation;

in all

11.

therefore agrees with the communication’s comment that
because of the wide range of powers exercised by local
and regional authorities in areas which are often vital to

— integrate in such a way that welfare mechanisms are
taken into account in local development policies;

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— give, greater backing to all territorial cooperation
instruments for development and employment (ter-
ritorial pacts, area pacts etc.);

— promote the preparation of local action plans for

employment;

16.

local authorities have,

stresses that
in recent years,
conducted numerous outstanding experiments both to
create employment opportunities within their own terri-
tory, and especially to improve the employability of the
long-term unemployed, partly made possible by European
projects and funds. Public aid to promote employment
will therefore also continue to be essential in future. In
this context, however, free collective bargaining must not
be sidelined and employment protection provisions must
not be undermined. Active labour-market policy instru-
ments should rather be developed;

17. believes that a catalogue of significant initiatives meriting
attention should be prepared, with a view to bench-
marking between local and regional authorities;

18. emphasises that the principle of subsidiarity must be
strictly applied with regard to future EU initiatives on
local employment policies. In this respect, it considers it
crucial that policy and action programming be entrusted
to the regions in partnership with local authorities, while
programme implementation and proposals for actions
and projects should be the responsibility of local auth-
orities and of structures emerging from territorial cooper-
ation, which are best placed to adopt local solutions for
local problems. By the same token,
local authorities
should not overlook coordination between each other;

19.

is convinced — given the faltering impetus of the paid
employment/large company combination, which marked
one phase in western economic development, with the
spread of new types of business and self-employment on
a small or micro scale, which are more dynamic and
capable of meeting the challenges of globalisation —
that all instruments for fostering entrepreneurship and
flexibility should be developed;

— encourage the creation of business

incubators
attached to universities and research centres, to
foster business generated by taking out patents
on research results, and to promote greater SME
competitiveness;

— exploit support and consultancy structures, includ-
ing one-stop-shop strategies (e.g. the ‘one-stop-shop
for productive activities’ in Italy), with the aim of
creating a climate more favourable to business
development, particularly SMEs and micro-busi-
nesses;

— strengthen the search for sources of employment
matching the growing needs of modern society,
together with the use of natural, artistic and cultural
assets and, in terms of lifestyle, personal fulfilment
and leisure activities;

— pay special attention to encouraging and developing
actions making it easier to apply the principle of
equality of opportunity and to reconcile family life
and work, with the aim of increasing the local rate
of female employment;

21.

stresses the need to draw out territorial potential and/or
new needs, by means of an in-depth analysis of local
and regional situations with a view to launching new
initiatives. There are numerous ideas and opportunities
to sound out in this sphere, but coordinated action is
needed on the part of a range of local actors in order to
channel emerging entrepreneurship towards outlets and
activities which are feasible in market terms;

22. emphasises that in planning local development policy

with a view to job creation, it is necessary to:

— concentrate on the construction of ‘short networks’,
i.e. the generation of social capital consisting of links
and cooperation between development actors within
a given territory,

— place territorial units in a global context, concentrat-
ing on the creation of ‘long networks’, i.e. providing
conventional and innovative infrastructure;

20.

therefore deems it essential to:

— focus special attention on business creation instru-
ments, particularly those aimed at young people and
women and at the development of new technologies
(provided they are geared to business creation);

23.

in the light of the difficulty in defining the ‘third sector’
in a way acceptable to all countries, and of
legal,
operational, economic and structural differences, con-
siders that the most practicable method for identifying
third sector organisations is to take the legislation of the
country in question as a starting-point;

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24.

stresses that attention must be paid to the different legal
systems in the various Member States, and to the varying
definitions of ‘third sector organisation’;

training and education, which represent an important
means of boosting individuals’ skills;

25. confirms that the third sector has dual potential, firstly for
creating new jobs, increasing employment and devising
useful social projects, and secondly for transforming the
way work is shaped and organised;

32. argues that this focus on people, and on their individual
training, must not be overlooked when framing new
vocational training schemes as a part of the on-going
improvement of the processes and people directing them;

26. attaches crucial importance to distinguishing the third
sector from the type of solidarity exercised by political
society and from the market economy and informal
networks. The third sector is organised from the bottom
up, free of constraints;

33. believes that many of these problems can be resolved by
general support and promotion policies for the sector,
particularly by local institutions focusing greater attention
on the third sector;

27.

judges it vital to provide the third sector with support to
create and retain new jobs, particularly where they involve
those suffering employment disadvantages (e.g. the dis-
abled). Whether this is to be done via a series of tax and
economic measures, particularly in terms of business
start-up assistance, will depend on the legislation of the
countries in question;

28. views the questions raised by the Commission in this
regard to be relevant, but directed towards only one part
of the problem, namely the financial support needed by
the third sector in order to grow, and therefore calls for
research to be promoted into the efficacy of the innova-
tive legislative arrangements already introduced in some
countries;

29. believes that, since potential for employment growth in
the third sector is the most likely to be successfully
realised at local
level, the focus should be on new
sources of employment such as neighbourhood services,
environmental management and conservation, and com-
munity-based cultural activities At the same time, encour-
agement and support for social economy enterprises, as
a valid and effective alternative way for unemployed
people to re-establish themselves on the labour market,
should not be neglected.;

30. underlines its full awareness of

the radical changes
affecting the third sector, and recognises that a higher
quality of service and a more professional approach
are needed, as highlighted by the communication. The
profound organisational changes under way challenge
the way management is traditionally conceived. Slimmed-
down, participative organisations capable of maximising
available human potential are coming increasingly to the
fore;

31.

is aware that the third sector consists largely of care/welfa-
re activities. The natural consequence is a commitment to

34.

fully agrees on the important role to be played by public
employment services in matching labour supply and
demand;

35.

is convinced that the capacity to create employment can
be significantly increased if
the public services can
effectively bring training policy into line with local
and regional needs, forging interinstitutional information
networks linking the local, regional and national levels
and the economic and social actors involved. Human
resource training is the most effective active policy, and a
judicious blend of education, training and the employ-
ment market is the only way of meeting the commitments
entered into at the Lisbon summit, according to which
the Member States must increase the employment rate by
10 % over the next ten years;

36. believes there to be no contradiction between local
management of the employment market and national
the
measures regulating the market.
national and regional legislative framework is responsible
for certain rights and protections unavailable to individual
citizens:
is confirmed as the natural
dimension for specific initiatives to operate in. Talk has
long been of local employment markets rather than a
single employment market;

is clear that

the local

level

It

37.

stresses the need to avoid excessive regulation both
nationally and locally;

38. views innovative forms of local action not just as an
option, but a pre-requisite for meeting the targets set by
the Lisbon summit. To this end, the necessary legal
machinery must be put in motion to provide local
authorities should be provided with the legal powers they
need to act in this area;

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39. consequently considers cooperation between the social
partners as a vital method for planning and implementing
territorial employment market management. It is aware
that this is an initial step, which must be followed by
in which various actors
forms of
representing different
interests can identify common
concerns, focus on communication between each other
and embrace flexible, creative initiatives;

local partnership,

40. believes that only in such a context can effective action
be taken to introduce forms of flexibility in keeping with
local employment market conditions and productivity
differences within the territory concerned;

41. considers it extremely important for local and regional
government organisations to play a concrete role in
drawing up and implementing National Action Plans for
Employment. The Committee has already voiced its
agreement with such involvement,
in its opinion on
the Communication from the Commission — From
the National Action Plans for
guidelines to action:
Employment, in which it stressed that it wanted to play a
full role in both consultation on the national action plans,
and their implementation;

42.

initiatives fostering partnership activities
feels that all
should be supported and promoted, and that in order to
fully exploit territorial growth and employment potential,
steps should be taken to give responsibility to local
private and public actors, and to encourage participation
and agreement on solutions, while respecting the division
of powers;

of such projects, in order to evaluate and disseminate the
results. To achieve this, the associations of local auth-
orities which exist in all the Member States must be
involved. The added value of local development lies in
the identification of good practice and its dissemination,
technical assistance and organised exchange of experi-
ences.

The key phase comes once good practices have been
identified: exploitation of the experience acquired and
preparation of instruments and structures (such as devel-
opment agencies or associations of
local authorities)
working to transfer know-how. Support for the establish-
ment and running of such intermediaries is therefore
necessary. Similarly vital is circulation of information, as
a tool to be used by local actors;

44. mindful that the Vienna European Council recommended
that ESF reform be used to boost support for employment
strategy and tasked the new Objective 3 with developing
a real employment policy at local level, highlights the
value of this instrument which, originally oriented mainly
towards training activities, now offers a wide range of
aspects and working possibilities, such as back-up for
employment services, support for business start-up and
development, the development of new sources of employ-
including the social economy, fostering of an
ment,
enterprise culture among students, etc. The Community’s
new EQUAL initiative is also crucially important, on
the opportunity it offers to create local
account of
local and
development partnerships for employment:
regional authorities should be involved in implementing
the initiative;

43.

in this regard, believes that the resources earmarked for
the pilot projects should be increased, and that a clear
information strategy should follow the implementation

45. notes that the real success of the European Employment
Strategy depends largely upon effective coordination
between the regional and local levels.

Brussels, 21 September 2000.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT