6.III.2001

C/01/62

6507/01 (Presse 62)

PRESS RELEASE

Subject:

2333rd Council meeting
- EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL POLICY -
Brussels, 6 March 2001
President: / Mrs Ingela THALÉN
Minister at the Ministry of Social Affairs, with responsibility for Social Security, of Sweden

CONTENTS

PARTICIPANTS...... 3

ITEMS DEBATED

SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE PENSIONS AND PENSION SYSTEMS - open debate...... 4

PREPARATION OF THE STOCKHOLM EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON 23/24 MARCH 2001...... 5

EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME 2001...... 7

SOCIAL PROTECTION WORK PROGRAMME 2001...... 7

REGULATION 1408/71 ON THE APPLICATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEMES TO MIGRANT WORKERS 8

INFORMATION ON THREE MEETINGS ORGANISED BY THE PRESIDENCY...... 9

Informal meeting on gender equality and social security (Norrköping, 21-23 January 2001)...... 9

Informal meeting on employment and telecommunications (Luleå, 15-17 February 2001)...... 9

Conference on "Work Life 2000 - Quality of work" (Malmö, 22-24 January 2001)...... 9

ANY OTHER BUSINESS...... 10

ILO measures against Burma/Myanmar concerning forced labour...... 10

ILO Convention on the worst forms of child labour...... 10

Evaluation method for the European Employment Strategy...... 10

ITEMS APPROVED WITHOUT DEBATE...... I

EXTERNAL RELATIONS...... I

Dual-use items and technology...... I

Afghanistan - Additional restrictive measures against the Taliban...... I

Cyprus...... I

ACP I

RELATIONS WITH THE ASSOCIATED CCEE...... II

Poland...... II

Latvia...... II

ANTIDUMPING - electronic weighing scales...... II

Japan...... II

Singapore...... II

ENVIRONMENT...... III

ESPOO Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context...... III

AGRICULTURE...... III

Disposal of butterfat - Council conclusions...... III

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For further information call 02 285 62 19 - 02 285 63 19

PARTICIPANTS

The Governments of the Member States and the European Commission were represented as follows:

Belgium:
Mrs Laurette ONKELINX / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment
Mr Franck VANDENBROUCKE / Minister for Social Affairs and Pensions
Denmark:
Mr Henrik Dam KRISTENSEN / Minister for Social Affairs
Germany:
Mr Gert ANDRES / Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs
Greece:
Mr Anastasios GIANNITSIS / Minister for Labour and Social Security
Spain:
Mr Juan Carlos APARICIO PÉREZ / Minister for Labour and Social Affairs
Mr Gerardo CAMPS DEVESA / State Secretary for Social Security
Mr Juan CHOZAS / Vice-Minister for Employment
France:
Mrs Elisabeth GUIGOU / Minister for Employment and Solidarity
Mrs Nicole PERY / State Secretary attached to the Minister for Employment and Solidarity, with responsibility for Women's Rights and Vocational Training
Ireland:
Mr Jim BRENNAN / Deputy Permanent Representative
Italy:
Mr Cesare SALVI / Minister for Labour and Social Security
Luxembourg:
Mr François BILTGEN / Minister for Labour and Employment, Minister for Relations with Parliament, Minister for Religious Affairs, Minister with responsibility for Communications
Mr Carlo WAGNER / Minister for Health and Social Security
Netherlands:
Mr Willem VERMEEND / Minister for Social Affairs and Employment
Austria:
Mr Reinhart WANECK / State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Social Security and Generations
Portugal:
Mr Paulo PEDROSO / State Secretary for Labour and Training
Finland:
Mr Kare HALONEN / Deputy Permanent Representative
Sweden:
Mrs Ingela THALÉN / Minister at the Ministry of Social Affairs, with responsibility for Social Security
Mr Claes ÅNSTRAND / State Secretary to the Minister for Social Security
United-Kingdom:
Mrs Tessa JOWELL / Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment, Minister for the New Deal
Mrs Angela EAGLE / Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security
* * *
Commission:
Mrs Anna DIAMANTOPOULOU / Member
* * *
Other participants:
Mr Séamus O'MÓRÁIN / President of the Employment Committee
Mr Raoul BRIET / President of the Social Protection Committee

SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE PENSIONS AND PENSION SYSTEMS - open debate

The Council held an open debate transmitted live by TV to the press and the wider public on safe and sustainable pensions and pension systems and future European co-operation in this field. The topic had been chosen against the background of mainly three factors: the ongoing reform process to modernise and improve social protection in most of the Member States, the demographic challenges faced by all Member States and the need to find added value in an enhanced co-operation and co-ordination at European level.

In the debate, Member States made reference to the Commission's Communication on the future evolution of social protection from October 2000 and the ten principles identified by the Commission. Ministers also referred to the preliminary study of the Social Protection Committee on the long-term viability of pensions, of which the main findings were presented orally to the Council.

There was broad agreement in the Council on the basic principles underlying safe and sustainable pension systems. Ministers in particular mentioned the following points:

-guarantee pensions that provide adequate and secure incomes to the retired population;

-pension systems should also continue to meet social objectives and thus counteract poverty and social exclusion;

-the need for sound public finances without, however, narrowing the debate to the financial aspects;

-maintain solidarity between and within generations;

-raise the quality of pension systems;

-increase the employment rate, in particular of women and older people, was seen as an important element to cope with the expected demographic imbalances;

-promote equality between women and men as far as the recognition of periods of work in the context of pension systems is concerned.

Ministers also addressed the issue of how to further enhance European co-operation in this area. There was broad agreement on building on the work done so far by the Social Protection Committee and on the usefulness of exchanging information and best practice between Member States. Most Member States were in favour of applying the open method of co-ordination to this area while respecting national competence.

The President concluded that the Social Protection Committee would pursue its work in view of presenting the report requested to the Gothenburg European Council in June 2001. The issue would be taken up in the framework of the strategy on sustainable development to be adopted in Gothenburg. Gothenburg would also establish a framework for continued co-operation at European level on the subject of pensions.

PREPARATION OF THE STOCKHOLM EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON 23/24 MARCH 2001

The Council held a wide-ranging political debate in preparation of the Stockholm European Council. Stockholm will be the first time that Heads of State and Government will convene for their annual spring meeting in order to assess progress made with regard to social and economic reforms in view of reaching the objective set by the Lisbon European Council in March 2000, i.e. to make the EU by 2010 "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion".

The discussion in the Council was preceded by an exchange of views in the Standing Committee on Employment which met the same day[1].

The Council based its deliberations, in particular, on the following documents:

-the Commission's Synthesis Report : "Realising the European Union's potential: consolidating and extending the Lisbon strategy";

-the Employment Committee's Opinion on the Synthesis Report;

-the Social Protection Committee's Opinion on the Synthesis Report;

-the preliminary study of the Social Protection Committee on the long-term viability of pensions;

-the Commission's scoreboard on the implementation of the Social Policy Agenda;

-the Commission's Communication on "New European Labour Markets".

Commissioner DIAMANTOPOULOU presented the main elements of the Synthesis Report and the 10 priorities identified in view of the Stockholm European Council. She referred in particular to the four areas concerning employment and social policies, i.e. the creation of more and better jobs, the development of new European labour markets, the necessity to cope with the skills gap, in particular in the information and communication technologies' sector, and the strengthening of social cohesion.

At the end of the debate the Presidency summarised the discussions highlighting in particular the following points:

-the Employment and Social Policy Council had an important role to play in the follow-up to the strategy set up in Lisbon;

-Ministers generally welcomed the Commission's Synthesis Report, while stressing their commitment to a balanced approach between employment, economic and social policies;

-reiterated the central goal of achieving full employment;

-highlighted the importance of the social dimension for reaching the employment objectives; an example was seen in the integration of an equality perspective into social security systems; in this context, Ministers looked for further progress in reconciling family and work life;

-emphasised the need to promote quality of work, both in its own right and as a means of increasing the employment rate;

-welcomed the Commission Communication on "New European Labour Markets" but stressed the importance of ensuring open access for all;

-underlined the necessity of removing barriers to mobility and supported in this context the establishment of a High-level Task Force to look into these problems and to propose solutions to the skills gap identified in particular in the information and communication technologies' sector;

-attached particular importance to the work in fighting poverty and social exclusion and expressed the need for further development in this area.

The President thanked all delegations for the constructive debate and the valuable contributions. She said that she had carefully listened to all the comments made and that she would transmit the messages from the Employment and Social Policy Council to the President of the European Council in view of the Stockholm meeting.

EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE WORK PROGRAMME 2001

The Council took note of the work programme of the Employment Committee for 2001, which is submitted at the beginning of each year to the Council essentially for information.

One key area of work for the Employment Committee in 2001 is, as usual, the preparation of theannual employment package. The Committee also plans to be involved in the impact evaluation of the European Employment strategy, which should be concluded in early 2002.

In addition, the Committee intends to participate in the preparation of the Stockholm and Gothenburg European Council meetings, in particular through elaborating contributions from an employment policy angle on the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines 2001, the Commission's Synthesis Report and the Sustainable Development Strategy.

Furthermore, the Employment Committee aims at assisting in the implementation of the Social Policy Agenda which was agreed at the Nice European Council in December 2000.

SOCIAL PROTECTION WORK PROGRAMME 2001

The Council also took note of the work programme of the Social Protection Committee for 2001, which is submitted to the Council in accordance with the Committee's Rules of Procedure for information purposes. The Social Protection Committee started functioning in December last year, replacing the interim High-level Working Party on Social Protection which was set up at the beginning of 2000 following Council conclusions on the matter.

The Social Protection Committee will meet once per month. The main tasks identified in the work programme are first of all to launch the open method of co-ordination in the area of social inclusion in line with the common objectives defined in October 2000 by the Employment and Social Policy Council and agreed at the Nice European Council. Secondly, the Committee plans to pursue the review of pensions' reform in collaboration with the Member States.

Another important aspect identified will be the work on developing indicators to serve as a basis for measuring progress in the fight against poverty and social inclusion, as well as on the modernisation of social protection. The work on indicators will be led by a Subgroup of the Committee.

REGULATION 1408/71 ON THE APPLICATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEMES TO MIGRANT WORKERS

The Council was informed by the Presidency on the state of play regarding the proposed amendments for 1999 and 2000 to Regulation No1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, self-employed persons and members of their families moving within the Community. The purpose of the proposal is to update the Community Regulation to take account of changes to national legislation.

On 15 February, the European Parliament delivered its Opinion. The amendments voted are acceptable to the Council. As the Commission submitted a modified proposal which takes up Parliament's amendments, there is now agreement on the text between the three Institutions.

The Council thus took note of the agreement reached in first reading. Formal adoption will take place without discussion at a forthcoming Council session after legal-linguistic finalisation of the text.

INFORMATION ON THREE MEETINGS ORGANISED BY THE PRESIDENCY

The Council was informed by the Presidency on the outcome of three meetings organised in preparation of the Stockholm European Council on 23 and 24 March 2001:

Informal meeting on gender equality and social security (Norrköping, 21-23 January 2001)

This informal meeting of Ministers responsible for gender equality and social security examined the interrelationship between these two sectors and the possible contribution of gender mainstreaming in social security and employment policies to the achievement of higher employment levels and thus improved economic growth prospects.

Informal meeting on employment and telecommunications (Luleå, 15-17 February 2001)

The main theme of this first joint meeting of Employment and Telecommunications Ministers was the skills gap that has been identified as one of the major obstacles to using the potential of information and communication technologies for employment and growth in the EU.

Conference on "Work Life 2000 - Quality of work" (Malmö, 22-24 January 2001)

The conference in Malmö addressed a broad range of issues, ranging from psycho-social problems to immigration and ageing, with the aim of creating a good scientific basis for future work on a long-term and sustainable working-life strategy.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

ILO measures against Burma/Myanmar concerning forced labour

The Council took note of an intervention by Commissioner DIAMANTOPOULOU on the subject of Burma/Myanmar's continuing violation of the ILO Convention on Forced Labour. The Commissioner underlined the importance of the EU giving a credible and coherent response to the ILO decision to implement a series of measures against Burma/Myanmar.

ILO Convention on the worst forms of child labour

The Council took note of Commissioner DIAMANTOPOULOU's appeal to Member States for rapid ratification of the ILO Convention no 182 from 1999 on the worst forms of child labour.

Evaluation method for the European Employment Strategy

The Council noted the remarks of the Luxembourg delegation, supported by some other delegations, on the method to be used for evaluating the European Employment Strategy in 2002, five years after its launch. The delegation pointed out the risks of duplicated work if Member States were required to provide information of which the greater part had already been provided in the context of the National Employment Action Plans and the Joint Employment Report.

6507/01 (Presse 62 - G)1

EN

6.III.2001

ITEMS APPROVED WITHOUT DEBATE

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Dual-use items and technology

The Council adopted a Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1334/2000 with regard to the list of controlled dual-use items and technology when exported.

It is recalled that the Participating States in the Wassenaar Arrangement decided on 1 December 2000 to modify control parameters in Categories 3, 4 and 5-Part 2, which are included in Annex I of Regulation1334/2000. These amendments represent significant liberalisation of control parameters, that should be implemented at Community level within a reasonable time scale in order to facilitate exports for which export controls are no longer considered necessary at multilateral level.

Afghanistan - Additional restrictive measures against the Taliban

The Council adopted a Regulation prohibiting the exportation of certain goods and services to Afghanistan, strengthening the flight ban and extending the freeze of funds and other financial resources in respect of the Taliban of Afghanistan, and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 337/2000.

On 26 February the Council adopted Common Position 2001/154/CFSP concerning the measures set out in UNSC Resolution 1333 (2000) (see press release nº 6506/01 presse 61, p. V).

The current regulation aims at implementing this Common Position.

Cyprus

The Council agreed a draft Decision of the EC-Cyprus Association Council derogating from the provisions concerning the definition of the concept of originating products laid down in the Agreement establishing an association between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Cyprus

ACP

The Council adopted a Decision regarding the position to be taken by the Community within the ACP-EC Committee of Ambassadors with a view to a decision to adopt rules of procedure for the Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee.

It is recalled that Article38 of the Cotonou Agreement establishes a Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee and specifies that its rules of procedure will be adopted by theACP-EC Council of Ministers.

RELATIONS WITH THE ASSOCIATED CCEE

Poland

The Council adopted a Regulation adopting autonomous and transitional measures concerning the importation of certain processed agricultural products originating in Poland.

Protocols amending the Europe Agreements have been negotiated with nine countries of Central and EasternEurope (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the CzechRepublic) to take account of the last enlargement of the Union and the implementation of the Uruguay Round. The Protocols have already entered into force for eight of these countries. As regards Poland, the procedures for the conclusion of the Protocol are still in progress. Pending completion of those procedures and in order to avoid any distortion of trade, the transitional autonomous measures currently in force in respect of this country need to be extended by oneyear.

Latvia

The Council adopted a decision concerning the Community position within the Association Council on the participation of Latvia in the Community Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE).

Regulation (EC) No1655/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17July2000 concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment provides that LIFE shall be open to the accession candidate Central and EastEuropean countries in accordance with the conditions referred to in the Association Agreements concluded with those countries and on the basis of provisions of the decision of the Association Council competent for each country concerned.