Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:the Proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for Member States' employment policies for the year 2001, andthe Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community incentive measures in the field of employment
Date: 2001-05-16
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU employment policy, in-service training, information society, professional qualifications, regional policy, social partners

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Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:

— the ‘Proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for Member States’ employment policies

for the year 2001’, and

— the ‘Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community

incentive measures in the field of employment’

(2001/C 144/09)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for Member States’ employment
policies for the year 2001 [COM(2000) 548 final — 2000/0225 (CNS)] and the Proposal for a Decision
of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community incentive measures in the field of
employment [COM(2000) 459 final — 2000/0195 (COD)];

having regard to the decisions of the Council on 28 September 2000, under Articles 128 and 129 and
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 bureau on 13 June 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 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) (1);

having regard to its opinion on the forthcoming economic policy guidelines, adopted on 19 November
1998 (CdR 110/98 fin) (2);

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) (3);

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) (4);

having regard to its resolution on the European Employment Pact, adopted on 2 June 1999 (CdR 156/99
fin) (5);

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) (6);

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) (7);

(1) OJ C 51, 22.2.1999, p. 59.
(2) OJ C 51, 22.2.1999, p. 63.
(3) OJ C 293, 13.10. 1999, p. 1.
(4) OJ C 293, 13.10.199, p. 48.
(5) OJ C 293, 13.10.199, p. 70.
(6) OJ C 57, 29.2.2000, p. 23.
(7) OJ C 57, 29.2.2000, p. 17.

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having regard to its resolution on the implementation of the European Employment Strategy, adopted on
12 April 2000 (CdR 461/99 fin) (1);

having regard to The decision of its President of 26 October 2000 to appoint Mr Bodfish as rapporteur
general to draw up an opinion on this subject, in accordance with rule 40.2 of the Rules of Procedure of
the Committee of the Regions;

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 310/2000 rev. 1), drawn up by the general rapporteur Mr Bodfish
UK, PES;

whereas the European Employment Strategy has entered the midterm of its initial five-year period and
therefore provides and ideal opportunity to reflect on activity and impact of the strategy to date;

whereas the mid-term review carried out at the Employment Committee level
indicates that the
Luxembourg process and the four pillar structure of the Strategy has been successful in terms of political
impact and in reducing unemployment,

adopted the following opinion at its 36th plenary session, held on 13 and 14 December 2000 (meeting
of 13 December).

1. Committee’s general views

developers and delivery organisations are fully involved from
the outset of employment policy development.

The Committee of the Regions finds the outcome of
1.1.
the mid-term review encouraging and suggests that steps
should begin now in formulating a more detailed evaluation
process to begin in 2004.

1.2.
The Committee welcomes also the reduction of the
number of Employment Guidelines for 2001 from 22 in
2000 to 19 and the incorporation of ‘horizontal objectives’.

1.3.
It also notes the proposal for community incentive
measures in the field of employment. However further con-
sideration needs to be given to other aspects. EU level measures
must comply with the subsidiarity principle, and respect the
fact that labour market policy is a national competence.

2. Committee’s views and recommendations on the
horizontal Objectives — Building conditions for full
employment in a knowledge-based society

2.1.
The Committee fully concurs with the Commission
that the current favourable economic outlook will only be
continued with a strong leadership, commitment and concert-
ed action and that these qualities will be required at local,
regional, national and supranational level.

2.2.
However it is vital that there are also vertical and
inclusive arrangements, at Member State level, to ensure policy

2.3.
Lifelong Learning is a key tool to alleviate social
exclusion providing all sectors of society with the necessary
skills to participate fully in the labour market. In this respect
the Committee agrees with the Commission that strategies for
Lifelong Learning are a necessary requirement to stave off
the growing skill shortages and bottlenecks currently being
reported across a number of Member States.

2.4.
However, Lifelong learning strategies must provide a
suitable framework to accommodate the regional and local
economic variances and that all strategies must state clearly
how they will address the skill shortages in the Information
communication and technology sector.

2.5.
In its communication on Strategies for jobs in the
Information Society (2), the Commission stated that demand
for skilled workers in this new area is likely to increase and
recent reports show that there are currently skill shortages
emerging in this area. The Committee feels that this is an
important areas to address as the ICT sector needs to be fully
supported to underpin the number of key elements of the
2001 Guidelines particularly Guidelines 4 through to 6.

(1) OJ C 226, 8.8.2000, p. 43.

(2) COM(2000) 48 final.

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role

2.6.
The Committee agrees that national governments and
regional and local authorities should cooperate with the social
partners. The Committee welcomes and advocates a more
prominent
in defining,
implementing and evaluating the employment guidelines
which depend on them, stepping up their efforts and active and
responsible involvement in modernising work organisation,
lifelong learning and increasing the employment rate, particu-
larly for women.

social partners

the

for

2.7.
The role and remit of the local regional authorities
have been stated clearly in the Committee’s opinion on
Employment Guidelines 2000 but the Committee wants to re-
emphasize the facilitating role of local authorities in bringing
the key organisations together at the local and regional level.
The delivery of the NAPs takes place at the local and regional
levels and this facilitating role of local and regional authorities
in bringing the key actors together with expertise in a number
of fields ensures that the required ‘policy mix’ takes place.
Given the extent of co-funding provided by local and regional
authorities,
in the development and
implementation of the national action plans for employment
is essential.

involvement

their

3.3.
Guideline 4: The Committee supports the requirement
for Member States "to ensure educational systems deliver a
continuously updated package of core skills" but would like to
stress that the close involvement of enterprise is required to
ensure the skills are also relevant to the employer.

3.4.
Guideline 7: the role of the social partners varies
between Member States and therefore the Member States
should engage the relevant partners including local and
regional authorities and enterprise to prevent the emergence
of bottleneck. Consequently the Committee proposes the
following text:

‘Member States will, as appropriate with social partners,
enterprise and local and regional authorities step up their
in
efforts to identify and prevent emerging bottlenecks,
particular by: it is also important that national governments
engage the key industries that are experiencing skill short-
ages to devise a strategy to alleviate the problem.’

2.8.
Therefore the Committee welcomes the current activity
in investigating the possible impact of actors at the local and
regional level in the field of Employment. The Act locally for
employment campaign has stimulated debate between key
local actors including NGOs, enterprise, social partners and
local authorities.

The Committee also contends that the local dimension
2.9.
to the EES is important in bringing the NAPs to fruition and
that continued analysis is required.

Guideline 12: The Committee welcomes the role given
3.5.
to local and regional authorities in developing local strategies
but would like this activity to be built on existing activity
within the authorities and not a new one imposed by national
government. Indeed, it is important for the national action
plans for employment to include the activities of local and
regional authorities in this field, and the priorities of national
governments should not be the only ones to be presented.
Consequently it proposes that the text be modified from as
follows:

3. Committee’s views and recommendations on the

Employment Guidelines 2001

‘Engage local and regional authorities to develop strategies
for employment, based on existing local and regional
strategies, in order to exploit fully the possibilities offered
by job creation at the local level.’

The COR welcomes the reduction of the Employment
3.1.
Guidelines from 22 to 19. In general the Guidelines are much
clearer and incorporate the key elements of the Lisbon Summit.

4. Committee’s views and recommendations on Com-
munity incentive measures in the field of employ-
ment

3.2.
The COR feel that although the role of local authorities
is made explicit in Guidelines 12 there are other areas where
local authorities may have direct responsibility and this
element should not be lost in the other Guidelines. Conse-
quently it makes the following recommendations:

The Committee considers it necessary to promote
4.1.
further employment-policy cooperation between the Member
States and the exchange of practice.

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4.2.
The Committee feels that Council Decision 98/171/EC
of 23 February 1998 on Community activities concerning
analysis, research and cooperation in the field of employment
and the labour market has proved its value as a basis for
successful cooperation on employment-policy questions.

The COR would like to suggest that this process should
4.3.
be supported by the current analysis that is carried for the
annual Joint Employment Report and that any recurring issues
should feed into the special evaluation exercise annually.

It suggest

4.4.
quantitative evaluation should include:

that

the key areas for qualitative and

— how national government set and implements their

employment policies;

— assess the involvement of all key sectors in the develop-

ment and the implementation of the NAP;

— assessment of the local and regional authority activity

globally and within individual Employment Guidelines;

— assess the involvement of the social partners in defining
and implementing the employment guidelines which
depend on them;

Brussels, 13 December 2000.

— assess the degree of involvement of all the partners in the
delivery of employment policies at local regional and
national levels;

— assess the opportunities for mobility between regions and
for cross-border cooperation in the labour market and
evaluate the elimination of obstacles to mobility.

4.5.
The COR is concerned that the EIM will only cover
activities with a ‘significant transferability component’. The
COR has stated that the Employment Guidelines should not
preclude Member States from developing novel and innovative
ideas to tackle the issues of unemployment.

4.6.
The COR would like to ensure that the best practices
that may have a high transferability content do not become a
prerequisite without due consideration to the institutional and
policy development procedures of the Member States.

Therefore it is the view of the COR that the EIM should

4.7.
have a two-fold approach:

a)

b)

assessment of activities in the Member State as states
above and

a comparative analysis of the common actions between
the Member States which is dovetailed into the consider-
ations of the Employment Committee and the Council.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT