Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Proposal for a Council decision on Guidelines for Member States' employment policies for the year 2002"
Date: 2001-11-14
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU Member State, EU employment policy, competitiveness, globalisation

3.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 107/103

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Proposal for a Council decision on Guidelines
for Member States’ employment policies for the year 2002’

(2002/C 107/30)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for Member States’ employment
policies for the year 2002, COM(2001) 511 final — 2001/0208 (CNS);

having regard to the decisions of the Council on 17 October 2001, under Articles 128 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 12 June 2001 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 91/1999 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 134/1999 fin) (6);

having regard to its opinion on the Proposal for guidelines for Member States’ employment policies
2000, adopted on 18 November 1999 (CdR 360/1999 fin) (7);

having regard to its resolution on the implementation of the European Employment Strategy, adopted on
12 April 2000 (CdR 461/1999 fin) (8);

having regard to its opinion 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 (CdR 310/2000 fin) (9);

(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, 13.10.1999, p. 48.
(5) OJ C 293, 13.10.1999, p. 70.
(6) OJ C 57, 29.2.2000, p. 23.
(7) OJ C 57, 29.2.2000, p. 17.
(8) OJ C 226, 8.8.2000, p. 43.
(9) OJ C 144, 16.5.2001, p. 30.

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having regard to its President’s decision of 12 October 2001 to appoint Mrs Stark 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 271/2001 rev., drawn up by the rapporteur-general, Mrs Stark
S-PES, Member of the Regional Executive Board, Vastra Götaland Region,

adopted unanimously the following opinion at its 41st plenary session, held on 14 and 15 November

2001 (meeting of 14 November).

1. Comments of the Committee of the Regions on the

employment guidelines

The Committee of the Regions welcomes the continuity
1.1.
which in recent years has characterised the European employ-
ment strategy; the four-pillar structure and the various guide-
lines stand firm and remain unchanged. The CoR therefore
sees no reason to propose any major changes, but focuses its
opinion mainly on those changes which can be suitably/advan-
tageously implemented after the ongoing review of the effects
of the guidelines has been completed. The CoR considers that
such future changes may also require amendments to existing
treaties.

produce desirable and adequate solutions. The local and
regional authorities must therefore, along with other players
— particularly local businesses — be effectively equipped to
frame their own strategies and action plans for local growth in
a coordinated manner in keeping with EU employment
strategy, and as part of the relevant Member State’s strategy.
The CoR welcomes the Commission’s emphasis that partner-
ship at all levels is to be encouraged and that both the social
partners and local and regional authorities and representatives
of civil society should be given the opportunity to contribute.
The CoR would like, however, to point out to the Member
States that, should decisions lead to increased costs for
municipalities, county councils and regions, compensation
will have to be provided by the central government.

1.2.
The CoR notes with satisfaction that the Commission
has drawn attention in the guidelines to the contribution of
local and regional authorities. A number of the proposals
presented were fully in line with what the CoR has suggested
in earlier opinions. The subsidiary and proximity principles
hold the key to Europe’s future. Participation is an important
aspect in judging the legitimacy of political systems and
facilitating effective solutions.

1.3.
Practically all employment guidelines for 2002 raise
issues for which local and regional authorities in the majority
of Member States have part or whole responsibility. This
includes everything from youth unemployment to local action
to promote employment and measures to support adaptability
within companies and boost equality. The CoR would therefore
point to the importance of taking the ‘bottom-up’ perspective
into account in both the EU’s employment guidelines and
national action plans.

The CoR wishes to draw attention to the fact that it is
1.4.
not enough to acknowledge the importance of local and
regional authorities; they must also be given a mandate and
tools to work with. The Commission has noticed the need to
differentiate action in view of increasing regional differences
and ‘bottle-neck’ problems. No level of society in the EU today
has at its disposal all the powers and opportunities required to

1.5.
In the CoR’s opinion, the Member States must be
required to notify the Commission of both the measures taken
to implement the directive and the extent to which these
measures were carried out at national, local and regional level.
In the experience of the CoR, local/regional authorities are
unfamiliar with the European employment strategy and the
contents of the national action plans. National action plans fail
to an even greater extent to reflect the strategies developed at
local and/or regional level in different places in Europe. The
CoR therefore calls for the Member States to report on what
they are doing to facilitate the framing of local action plans,
encouraging cooperation between the social and regional
partners and representatives of civil society, in order to achieve
a high level of employment.

The Commission’s recognition of the importance of
1.6.
mobilising all regional and local players for the purpose of
executing the employment strategy does not automatically
mean that the Member States have taken this message on
board. There is a general understanding amongst municipal/re-
gional bodies that the Member States have kept too tight a grip
on regional and local development
issues. To the CoR’s
knowledge, this also goes for local and regional action plans,
with the result that some of these plans do not reflect the aims
of the EU’s employment strategy. Furthermore, they often
focus, to an excessive extent, exclusively on one of many
policy areas, for example a unilateral business perspective.

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1.7.
The Committee of the Regions would underline the
significance of long-term employment strategies and how
important it is that these strategies have an impact at both
national and regional/local
level. The strategies should be
sustainable and not be influenced by, for example, short-term
economic swings. If the European employment strategy, which
was ratified in Lisbon, is to make an impact and if its goals are
to be attained, the national consultation process must be
widened and deepened. Cooperation between central govern-
ment and elected representatives at local and regional level
must be strengthened — as must the pooling of officials’
expertise — during the proposal, decisionmaking and
implementation stages.

impact. Apart from the employment situation, these include
indicators which make it possible to assess the expansion of
the European labour market, consistency between different
social systems and promotion of entrepreneurship. The CoR
recommends an employment strategy which both takes
account of regional policy aims and secures economic growth
within the Union. The CoR feels that it is important for
different areas of policy to be mutually supportive and is
pleased to note that the EU’s employment strategy’s sustaina-
bility principle has been backed by an environmental dimen-
sion along with the economic and social issues addressed, as
decided at the Lisbon, Feira and Stockholm meetings.

The forthcoming review of the European employment
1.8.
strategy in 2003 should lay the foundations for future
changes. The CoR would advocate a longer timespan for the
employment guidelines.
Instead of annual guidelines and
recommendations, the EU should be able to set objectives to
be realised in two or three years’ time. Similarly, the Member
States could be required to present national action plans every
second or third year, but compulsory annual reports at each
spring summit. In the space of a year it is impossible for
national, regional or local authorities to translate the guidelines
into practical action or to make an impact and report on the
results achieved. This proposal presupposes amendments to
the Treaty (Article 128), which could be discussed by the
Intergovernmental Conference in 2004.

This reform does not mean, however, that the CoR
1.9.
recommends deviation from the principles adopted at the
Amsterdam summit where it was agreed that employment was
an issue of common interest to be tackled at Community level.
The CoR therefore recommends that employment
issues
remain on the agenda at the forthcoming summit.

1.10. With a view to increasing communication between
different levels of society and bringing about a meaningful
exchange of information the CoR proposes that the Com-
mission overhaul its guidelines for the coming year. The CoR
believes that work at all levels would be facilitated if there were
fewer and more easily understood guidelines. Indicators are
important, but within the EU only those which the Member
States can readily interpret should be applied. There is every
reason to slash redtape and also to try to spread simple yet
forceful messages. In the CoR’s view the four pillars in the EU
employment strategy fully suffice as messages for the purpose
of
the requisite national, regional or local development
measures. Here, the CoR could also envisage the phasing-out
of the current horizontal objectives.

The CoR would suggest that the Commission and
1.11.
Member States frame indicators which facilitate benchmarking
and take account of regional and local developments and

1.12.
The CoR welcomes the Commission’s resolve, in its
drive to achieve full employment, to combine efforts to create
both more and better employment. The CoR would draw the
Commission’s attention to the risk that ‘flexible’ solutions can
prove to be traps for women workers if flexibility results in
the wages of some women being insufficient to live on and
impact negatively on social security benefits. To avoid this
danger, the CoR believes that the Member States and the social
partners must promote policies to integrate work and family
life, which would benefit both employers and workers.

The CoR would stress the importance of social
1.13.
integration and the need to fight xenophobia. In the CoR’s
opinion, this can be most effectively achieved by promoting
social participation and protecting the right of all to work.
Increasingly often a large number of people are barred from
the job market, sometimes because of their lack of skills or
because job opportunities have disappeared in their local area;
all too often, however, the reason is that the individual’s
resources are overlooked. In the Europe of the future demo-
graphic changes dictate that we let all who can work into the
labour market. In years to come we will not — as happens in
many places today - be able to turn away potential workers.
We live in a multi-cultural society, which must be reflected in
the workplace.

1.14.
The CoR feels that the time has come to review the
concept of equality and equal opportunities. Many local
measures to promote equality in the context of the European
employment strategy focus not only on women but on other
groups as well. The CoR would therefore propose that the
Commission be given the task, before the 2004 Intergovern-
mental Conference, of studying whether policy on equality
should in future encompass measures to promote equality
regardless of gender, ethnic background, religion, age, sexual
inclination and physical or mental disability.

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the

The CoR would highlight

1.15.
importance of
developing ways and means of enabling the applicant countries
to actively embrace the European employment strategy’s aims
and join in its implementation. Up to now discussions have
mainly revolved around mobility of labour, and fear that
enlargement could have negative consequences for the current
Member States. The CoR believes that enlargement will create
new opportunities for growth and employment but it would
warn that the applicant countries risk losing their most skilled
workers if economic growth is too slow. The CoR considers
that deeper inter-cultural understanding is just as important as
increased economic cooperation and advocates a policy which
in principle embraces all regions.

In conclusion, the CoR would like to stress that many
1.16.
citizens in the Member States have found it difficult, politically
and emotionally, to adapt to EU thinking. The EU’s decisions
must be framed so as to be transparent and all levels of society
should be jointly responsible for spreading information about
them. As mentioned earlier, in the CoR’s experience very little
is known at local or regional level of the thrust of the EU’s
employment strategy and its guidelines. The CoR is therefore
eager to press ahead — jointly with the Commission — with
the work initiated by the campaign ‘Local action to promote
employment’. The aim is to disseminate information on the
EU’s employment objectives and to exchange experiences of
successful job creation projects at local/regional level. This
information campaign presupposes the active involvement of
a large number of distributors. Only if we can show in practice
that the Union is pursuing a successful employment policy,
can we count on broad public support and then foster a feeling
of loyalty to the Union.

2. Recommendations of the Committee of the Regions
regarding the horizontal Objectives — Building con-
ditions for full employment in a knowledge-based
society

2.1.
The Member States are responsible for the horizontal
labour and employment policy. The local authorities’ role is
specified in guideline 11. However, the CoR feels that other
questions are directly linked with the local authorities’ sphere
of responsibility and that this factor should not be overlooked
in the other guidelines.

2.3.
The CoR considers that the local dimension of the
European employment strategy is a major factor for implemen-
tation of the national action plans. In order to promote job
creation throughout Europe, it would seem essential to take
heed of the local/regional dimension when amplifying and
revising the European employment strategy (EES) in the run-
up to 2003.

2.4.
The forthcoming review of the European employment
strategy in 2003 should lay the foundations for future
changes. The CoR would advocate a longer timespan for the
employment guidelines.
Instead of annual guidelines and
recommendations, the EU should be able to set objectives to
be realised in two or three years’ time. Similarly, the Member
States could be required to present national action plans every
second or third year, possibly with short annual reports. In the
space of a year it is impossible for national, regional or local
authorities to translate the guidelines into practical action or
to make an impact and report on the results achieved. The
proposal presupposes amendments to the Treaty (Article 128),
which could be discussed at the IGC in 2004.

2.5.
The CoR would therefore propose that the Commission
be given the task, before the IGC in 2004, of studying whether
policy on equality should in future encompass measures to
promote equality regardless of gender, ethnic background,
religion, age, sexual inclination and physical or mental dis-
ability.

2.6.
Indicators are important, but the CoR recommends
that within the EU only those which the Member States can
readily interpret should be applied.

2.7.
The CoR would suggest that the Commission and
Member States frame indicators which facilitate benchmarking
and take account of regional and local developments and
impact.

3. The CoR’s views and recommendations on the

employment guidelines

2.2.
If the European employment strategy is to make an
the national
its goals are to be attained,
impact and if
consultation process must be widened and deepened. The
CoR therefore proposes that cooperation between central
government and elected representatives at local and regional
the pooling of
level must be strengthened — as must
officials’ expertise — during the proposal, decisionmaking and
implementation stages.

In the CoR’s opinion, the Member States must be
3.1.
required to notify the Commission of both the measures taken
to implement the directive and the extent to which these
measures have been carried out at national, local and regional
level. In the experience of the CoR, local/regional authorities
are unfamiliar with the European employment strategy and
the contents of the national action plans.

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The CoR calls for the Member States to report on what

3.2.
they are doing to facilitate the framing of local action plans.

3.3.
The CoR observes that all guidelines, except possibly
for guideline 12, concern matters that fall within the remit of
local and regional authorities in most Member States, by virtue
of their different roles. The CoR therefore proposes that a
specific reference be included in the guidelines for 2003 to the
role played by local and regional authorities in implementing
the European employment strategy.

3.4.
The CoR would highlight the importance of developing
ways and means of enabling the applicant countries to actively
embrace the European employment strategy’s aims and join in
its implementation.

3.5.
The CoR is therefore eager to press ahead — jointly
with the Commission — with the work initiated by the
campaign ‘Local action to promote employment’. The aim is
to disseminate information on the EU’s employment objectives
and to exchange experiences of successful job creation projects
at local/regional level.

Brussels, 14 November 2001.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT