EUROPEAN POLICY TO COMBAT UNEMPLOYMENT

by Altiero Spinelli

SUMMARY: The European Parliament considers the report of the Committee on Social Affairs on the problems of unemployment in the Community.

Once again, Spinelli returns to the need for a comprehensive revival of the European economy, centered on relationships between Europe and developing countries.

During this debate, the President of the European Parliament announces the news of the murder of Aldo Moro. In "Speeches in European Parliament, 1976-1986", Pier Virgilio Dastoli Editor. (EP, 9 May 1978)

Mr President, the majority of the Communist and Allies Group will vote in favour of Mr Lezzi's motion and of the amendments which he has moved to the Commission's proposals. We shall vote in favour because, after all, these measures are for use in fighting unemployment and we cannot therefore adopt a non-committal attitude.

At the same time however, we have to make it clear that our opinion of the proposal as a whole is not very favourable one, and I should like to illustrate this by referring briefly to three of its basic features.

The first criticism, which has been voiced by others, is that we are dealing with a drop in the ocean: I am told that all these aids taken together will help to provide work for 100 or 150 000 people, whereas the total number of young people out of work is more than 2 million. Obviously, this measure falls far short of what is required. Its inadequacy becomes even more obvious when it is borne in mind that, apart from the enormous problem of youth unemployment, there is the other, equally serious, of female unemployment. We have to recognize that, in the way our society is at present organized, there is a bias in favour of males and adults at the expense, generally speaking, of women and young people; in other words, there is something deep down in our society, over and above the purely economic situation , which ought to be changed.

This means - and this brings me to the second criticism - that if we intend to tackle the problem of unemployment we have to begin by thinking out a comprehensive policy for employment and not concentrate on one aspect, however important, such as that concerning the young; we have to establish what, at the present day, constitute the particular foundations on which employment is based, for what reasons the system fails to absorb more than a given quantity of labour and what remedial measure are required. We must not lose sight of the fact that if we rely on nothing more than a return to straightforward market rules, this will absorb only a part of the labour forces in our countries and part of the population will still remain out of work. As has already been stated during the debate, it is cleat that we must give detailed reconsideration to the plans for the future: we must look again at the relationship between training and work to ensure that training is not something completely divorced from work but prep

ares the younger generation in time for it. It will probably be necessary to organize the various industries and the work itself, on a different basis; in this way work can, generally speaking, be carried on according to the rules of the market but would in some sectors have to be organized in a way which departed from the rules, in order to ensure that everybody had some chance of work, however little.

I have no time to develop these ideas but I should like to emphasize that our situation calls for a comprehensive strategy on the subject of employment which takes all aspects of the problem into account and it is under these conditions that we should go into the particular employment problem of young people, women, the older generation, and so on.

The third point which must be borne in mind is the need for an economic revival; even if we try to organize employment on a better basis, we cannot seriously expect to remove the dead weight of unemployment without applying a policy for recovery which provides new jobs; it is enough to say that we must create new jobs but if we do nothing about it, it will remain in the realm of good intentions.

For a considerable time to come our economy must be based on some new plans which encourage effort and interest in investment and labour and, in this way, gradually reduce unemployment. As I have said on previous occasions, this is another possibility which must be tackled realistically and not, as hitherto, in terms of inflation or deflation. No one can claim that countries like Germany and japan, who are not in such straits, should go far in the direction of an expansionist policy for consumer goods, in order to give a little help to other countries, because these would be short-term and temporary expedients and would solve nothing in the long run. We in the developed countries should commit ourselves to making supplies available to all the developing countries and begin to realize that aid, and the despatch of supplies, equipment and funds for development projects in countries that are still awaiting development are no longer just assistance that we are giving to them but assistance which we are giving to

ourselves since in so doing we are helping them to open up fresh markets and fresh opportunities of work for our own industries. If we have economic conditions of that kind, reinforced by a revival of trade and output, we can confidently tackle the problem of employment and of providing it for women and young people.

At any rate, in the hope that the Commission and Parliament will handle these major problems as the key to the particular problem, we shall vote in favour of Mr Lezzi's motion, for a resolution supporting the Commission's proposals.