Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community incentive measures in the field of employment"
Date: 2001-02-28
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU employment policy, EU financing, committee (EU), enlargement of the Union

C 139/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

11.5.2001

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Decision of the European
Parliament and of the Council on Community incentive measures in the field of employment’

(2001/C 139/09)

On 3 November 2000 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, 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 31 January 2001. The rapporteur was Mr Vinay.

At its 379th plenary session (meeting of 28 February 2001), the Economic and Social Committee
unanimously adopted the following opinion.

1.

Introduction

31 December 2000, was taken under Article 235 of the EC
Treaty on the basis of the Essen Council.

The draft decision which has been referred to the
1.1.
Committee concerns the establishment of an instrument to
support the European employment strategy.

1.2.
To make this strategy increasingly effective, it is vital
that results be shared and that best practice be passed on. This
point was strongly underscored in the Council proposal on
guidelines for Member States’ employment policies for the
year 2001.

1.2.1.
The proposed instrument complements the guide-
lines. It is to run for five years and is designed principally to
boost coordination of Member States’ policies, as envisaged in
the Employment Title of the Treaty.

1.2.2. More specifically, the aim is to increase information-
swapping and cooperation in research activities, exchanges and
monitoring. It is emphasised that the employment incentive
measures (EIM) are devoted to transnational activities offering
significant scope for transferral.

The present proposal

1.4.1.
takes a more strategically
targeted approach, in light of the increasing importance given
to employment policies since their inclusion in the EC
Treaty with the Luxembourg process (1997) and the legal
‘mainstreaming’ of employment policy (Article 127(2) of the
EC Treaty). In particular, the proposal is in keeping with the
political and strategic guidelines from the recent Lisbon
European Council.

1.5.
Eligible activities, which may be focused on the pillars
or on the individual guidelines, must all have ‘a strong forward-
looking emphasis’.

1.5.1.
These activities include support for Member States in
evaluating their national action plans, partly in view of the fact
that a special evaluation exercise is to be completed by the
five-year anniversary of the Luxembourg summit. The proposal
also mentions the monitoring of the European employment
strategy in the Member States, the development of common
indicators, forward analysis of strategic sectors, and events of
international importance. Research findings are to be circulated
as widely as possible, in paper form, at meetings or through
web publishing and internet chats and seminars.

The legal basis for the proposal is Article 129 of the
1.3.
EC Treaty, which allows the Council
incentive
measures designed to encourage cooperation between Member
States in the abovementioned areas. Although Article 129 also
mentions pilot projects, these are not covered by the present
proposal as they are already funded by the ESF.

to adopt

1.6.
The activities are open to EEA countries, the CEEC,
Cyprus, Malta, Turkey and other Mediterranean countries, in
the context of existing relations.

The Commission points out

1.4.
is
designed to ensure continuation of the analysis, research and
cooperation which the Community has been conducting under
Decision 98/171/EC. This decision, which expired on

the proposal

that

1.7.
The activities are to be implemented by the Com-
mission, assisted by a committee composed of representatives
of the Member States. A total of EUR 55 million is earmarked
for the proposal over its five-year span.

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C 139/31

2. General comments

2.1.
The Committee welcomes the Commission proposal.
The input which cooperation between Member States can
provide in terms of analysis, information and assessment is
vital for a long-term economic and employment strategy of
the type adopted by the Union at the Lisbon European Council.

2.2.
In a host of opinions spanning all fields of activity, the
Committee has repeatedly called for the establishment of
common indicators (standardised in both quantitative and
qualitative terms) and comparable assessment criteria, as well
as the dissemination of good practice. This need is particularly
great in the case of employment policies, which are vital for
consolidating the Community economy and boosting social
cohesion.

2.3. While noting that activities are to have a ‘forward-
looking emphasis’, the Committee points out that they must
also fit in with the guidelines established each year by the
Council.

2.3.1.
The activities relating to the pillars would also benefit
if research were distributed in such a way as to improve
consistency. For instance, special attention should be paid in
2001 to the question of gender equality, particularly as regards
pay, including the various forms of social protection, and to
policies for regularising undeclared work and for assessing and
regularising the many atypical jobs created by the economic,
employment and social changes brought by the growth of the
information society (1).

could flesh out
those covered by the present proposal.
Formulas should therefore be devised for financing at various
levels.

2.4.2.
After defining links with the social partners as being
‘necessary’, Article 8 goes on to state that the Commission will
its
only inform the social partners of
implementing activities if they so request. The Committee
thinks that such information should be offered spontaneously
and on a regular basis.

the results of

2.5.
Article 5 of the proposal stresses that the measures
must be consistent and complementary with other relevant
Community programmes and initiatives, such as the social
inclusion programme and the framework research programme.
The Committee appreciates this requirement, and recommends
that careful attention be given to ensuring that the activities to
be financed do not overlap in any way. The Committee would
nevertheless stress that the range of ‘relevant’ programmes and
initiatives is somewhat wide. Article 7(5) explains how the
Commission is to ensure that all the various measures are
mutually consistent and complementary; however, given the
wide range of measures, a rather more precise method would
be desirable.

2.6.
The Committee also thinks that, with regard to the
possible interplay which the proposal envisages between the
various programmes, steps should be taken to ensure that the
various indicators are consistent. This is necessary both in the
context of mainstreaming and with regard to the open
coordination decided at the recent Lisbon European Council.

3.

Specific comments

2.4.
Article 8 of the proposal mentions the role of the
social partners. This is consistent with the position taken by
the Council at Santa Maria da Feira on 19-20 June 2000,
which invited the social partners to play a more prominent
role in defining, implementing and evaluating the employment
guidelines.

3.1.
The preceding instrument also included provision for
the committee referred to in Article 7, although its duties were
much more extensive. In particular, it issued general guidelines
for the activities. Also, its opinion on the measures proposed
by the Commission was authoritative enough to ensure that, if
the opinion was negative, the Council would be informed and
implementation would be blocked.

2.4.1. Moreover, in the guidelines for 2001 (2), points C
and E of the annex on Horizontal objectives — Building
conditions for full employment in a knowledge-based society
call on the social partners to take part in monitoring and to
draw up common indicators and databases. These activities

3.1.1.
As already noted, this wording pre-dated the Luxem-
bourg process and the development of EU employment
policies. Although the decision was published in the EC’s
official
journal of 23 February 1998, the ESC and COR
opinions date back to 26 October and 8 November 1995
respectively (3).

(1) Own-initiative opinion on New knowledge — new jobs OJ C 14,

16.1.2001.

(2) Proposal for a Council Decision on Guidelines for Member States’
employment policies for the year 2001 (OJ C 29, 30.1.2001).

(3) Opinion on the Commission communication and proposal for a
Council decision on the Commission’s activities of analysis,
cooperation and action in the field of employment (OJ C 18,
22.1.1996).

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11.5.2001

3.1.2.
The Committee therefore does not consider that it is
necessary to retain a committee which no longer has any
practical role. The Employment Committee — which rep-
resents all Member States — appears to be more specifically
suited to take on these duties, possibly by means of an ad hoc
working party, with closer and more clearly defined links with
the social partners.

the Committee thinks that

3.2.
The Committee is pleased that the activities are now
open to third countries, while previously they were only
the
potentially so. However,
involvement of such countries, and especially the CEEC, should
be funded from existing Community budget headings, in the
light of those activities which are consistent with existing
relations.
to individual
countries, because the future of the European employment
strategy will depend partly on the candidate countries’ level of
preparedness and familiarity with these measures. It is no
coincidence that the recent Nice Council stressed the need to
‘help the applicant countries to take on board the European
employment strategy’.

Involvement should not be left

was more limited than is now required for the European
employment strategy.

the suitability of

the proposed budget

It would have been possible to make a more informed
3.3.1.
decision about
if
documentation had been available regarding the activities
undertaken for the preceding instrument. In the absence of an
activity report, it is not possible to evaluate the results or
ascertain whether the expenditure capacity is consistent with
the desired objectives. However, given the instrument’s
important role in supporting EU employment policies, the
Committee considers that the budget should be reviewed each
year by the European Parliament, on the basis of an objective
assessment of aims and of the resources needed to achieve
them.

it

that

The Committee points out

3.3.2.
is no longer
possible for the instrument to become fully operational at the
beginning of 2001. This makes it even more important that
not only in the first year of operation (despite the late start)
but throughout the life of the instrument, care is taken to
ensure maximum effectiveness, with maximum spending
capacity.

3.2.1.
In particular, as regards practical activities, the Com-
mittee suggests that cooperation with the CEEC focus not
only on broad analyses of employment issues but also on
comparative sectoral monitoring, as this is especially useful in
the run-up to enlargement.

3.2.2.
For the Mediterranean countries, one particularly
useful focus for activity would be schemes for gaining a clearer
picture of migratory flows and the related employment
problems.

3.3.
The Committee wonders whether the scheduled budget
for the proposal is sufficient for the objectives being pursued.
Except for 2001, the funding is the same as that for the
preceding instrument (EUR 10 million per year). However, as
already noted, the preceding instrument was approved under
the Essen decisions, not the Luxembourg process, so its level
of priority and attention was lower and its range of activities

Brussels, 28 February 2001.

The proposal makes only passing reference to local
3.4.
development
(fifth indent of point 6 of the explanatory
memorandum). However, both the 2001 guidelines and a
recent Commission communication have stressed the import-
ance of giving the European employment strategy a local
dimension. The Committee supported this. More especially,
in its opinion on the Commission communication (1), the
Committee endorsed the need to involve local players in the
circulation of procedural
information, benchmarking and
exchange of good practice.

The Committee considers that such activities at local
3.4.1.
level are fully consistent with the intentions of the proposed
instrument and should be explicitly recognised as relevant for
the purposes of Treaty Article 129. They should therefore be
given a higher profile in the earmarking of the incentives
mentioned in the decision.

(1) Opinion on the Commission communication on Acting locally
for employment: A local dimension for the European employment
strategy (OJ C 14, 16.1.2001).

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS