A4-0056/94

Resolution on an action plan on employment policy to be adopted at the Essen European Council meeting of 9-10 December 1994

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, particularly Articles 2, 3a, 103(2) and 118 thereof,

-having regard to Rule 135 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to its decision of 20 July 1994 on the setting up, number of members, mandate, powers and responsibilities of a temporary committee on employment, particularly paragraph 2, subparagraph 3 thereof,

-having regard to the decisions of the European Council at its meetings at Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Brussels and Corfu,

-having regard to the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment (COM(93)700) and the Commission Report - Employment in Europe 1994 (COM(94)381),

-having regard to its resolutions of 2 December 1993 on the broad guidelines of the economic policies of the Member States, 9 March 1994 on the Commission White Paper on Grwoth, Competitiveness and Employment and 10 March 1994 on employment in Europe,

-having regard to the report of its Temporary Committee on Employment and to the opinion of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy (A4-0056/94),

A.whereas high unemployment, low employment rates and regional disparities are problems facing all Member States; whereas common and joint policies agreed at Union level which take full account of the needs of economic and social cohesion need to be developed, and Member State measures in this area coordinated, in order to tackle these problems,

B.whereas the right to work is an inalienable right for every European citizen and must be enshrined in the future Constitution of the Union,

C.whereas the question of employment must be seen in the context of the globalization of the economy; whereas a constructive dialogue is needed at world level,

D.whereas the current level of unemployment in the European Union represents a huge and unacceptable cost in economic and human terms which is undermining the Union's social fabric,

E.whereas despite the relatively high economic level of the Union the number of people living under the poverty line is still on the increase,

F.whereas the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment set out a medium term strategy for the Union and its Member States with the aim of creating fifteen million sustainable new jobs, and whereas this White Paper was endorsed by the Brussels European Council meeting in December 1993 on the basis of which the European Council adopted an action plan,

G.whereas the jobs created by growth are available to workers with good qualifications, whilst those destroyed by increased competitiveness are unskilled jobs or inappropriately skilled, so that this situation necessarily results in a constant increase in long-term unemployment, causing social exclusion among the most vulnerable groups - women, workers over the age of 50, the disabled, and young people without training,

H.whereas the European Council decided in Corfu that a new action plan would be adopted at its meeting in Essen in December 1994 and whereas only through the involvement of the European Parliament in the drawing up of this plan will its institutional legitimacy and public acceptance be ensured,

I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1.Reaffirms its view that the problem of unemployment in the European Union is a major challenge facing it and that the objective of creating at least fifteen million sustainable new jobs by the turn of the century should be an overriding priority;

2.Believes that while sustainable economic growth in the Union is a necessary condition for creating new jobs it is not a sufficient one, and accepts, in addition, that the Union must pursue structural reforms as set out below in order to convert economic growth into more jobs;

3.Believes this is the more urgent since new technologies and methods of work organization may not only reinforce competitiveness in many firms and create new jobs, but also reduce employment in the short term in others; asserts, accordingly, that the jobs created by growth are not of the same type as those destroyed only by increased productivity; although growth may help to reduce some kinds of unemployment, it will have no impact on the long-term unemployment which causes exclusion; it must not be used as a pretext for backpedalling on measures to combat social exclusion, but as a means of strengthening those measures;

4.Recognizes that the economic success of the EU is linked to global trade; recognizes that poverty and indebtedness in developing countries has a serious impact on the EU's ability to export goods and to create employment in Member States; in order to achieve that objective, policies of support for the developing countries must be developed and there is also a need to incorporate into international trade agreements and put forward for adoption by the new World Trade Organization (WTO) an environmental and a social clause based on compliance with the conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and which includes, as a minimum, rules on child labour, the right of association and the prohibition of forced labour;

5.Maintains that more effective structural policies are needed to create employment, and that these actions should be accompanied by active participation of the social partners and supported by adequate financial backing, particularly that based on private/public partnerships; confirms the need to develop the social dialogue, as outlined in the Maastricht protocol, since this is essential for carrying out successfully the measures needed to create jobs;

6.Considers that monetary, currency and financial coordination at EU level is important notably from the point of view of employment policy; stresses that exceptionally large increases in long-term interest rates at the beginning of a cyclical upswing have an adverse effect on investment decisions and calls for a marked reduction in base rates to check an interest rate increase in the capital markets; to this end, a coordinated policy on the part of the central banks would be desirable; criticises the lack of transparency and social legitimation of the monetary institutions whose decisions have an impact on financial and wage policy;

7.Agrees with the recommendation made by the European Council in Edinburgh that the Community and the Member States must make sustained efforts to promote clean technologies and non-polluting industrial products and production processes, as well as the objective of 'environmentally sustainable development' proposed by Parliament in its resolution of 7 April 1992 on the results of the inter-governmental conferences; believes that Europe's future competitiveness will be secured only if European governments and institutions rally to the challenge of environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development and would welcome the development of an action programme based on Chapter 10 of the White Paper;

8.Expects the Council not to seek the solution to the problem of unemployment in the systematic dismantling of social insurance or job protection, but urges the Council, the Commission and the Member States to introduce a programme of economic renewal in their respective spheres of competence based on the following principles: better economic and monetary cooperation among the Member States to safeguard the attainment of the internal market and restore the credibility of monetary union, removal of the remaining obstacles to the completion of the internal market, a better balance between taxation on work and on capital and the environment, improved support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the form of legislation and tax arrangements which benefit new businesses in particular and stimulate the creation of new jobs, Research and Development funding at the same level as in other industrialized countries, more productive investment and an active trade policy;

9.Reaffirms its attachment to the European social model which seeks not only an efficiently functioning market which takes account of the requirements of sustainable development, but also a high level of employment and effective social protection, and considers that, by setting political and social objectives directed towards a new model of development based on these criteria, the Member States will help Europe's citizens to find the confidence needed to overcome the crisis;

II.IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WHITE PAPER

10.Reaffirms its support for the medium-term strategy set out in the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, which combines the essential elements for the Union to escape from its unemployment malaise, and would resist any attempts to undermine that strategy; believes that all policies should continue to be monitored as to their actual or likely impact on competitiveness, economic growth and employment; believes that despite the signs of economic upswing, there is still insufficient demand and insufficient resources to achieve the White Paper's objective of creating fifteen million jobs by the end of the century;

11.Considers that the environmental impact of infrastructure network projects should always be carefully assessed and monitored, in accordance with the provisions of the ESPOO Convention, of which the European Community is a full member;

12.Refers to the Structural Funds, the Cohesion Fund and the lending facility under the European Investment Fund (EIF) and looks to the Member States to use the financial resources that are available in an efficient manner to create new jobs and activities and to coordinate effectively the measures that are funded in this way; understands the difficulties which faced the Council in setting the borrowing limits for the EIF; is nevertheless concerned that its ECU 8 billion borrowing limit is below what is required to meet the employment objectives of the White Paper; believes that the EIF must be endowed with more resources without endangering policies to attain the Maastricht convergence criteria;

13.Is also concerned that this decision nullifies the instrument through which infrastructural and other investment needed for economic and social cohesion could be combined with observance of the Maastricht convergence criteria; points out that, in order to avoid international capital market trends with an adverse impact on employment, a consistent policy of stability and a solid budgetary policy should be implemented; asks for EU diplomatic action for a new international monetary agreement;

III. A NEW EMPLOYMENT ACTION PLAN FOR ESSEN

a) Member State actions

14.Affirms that the seven areas of labour market policy agreed at Brussels should continue to form a general framework for Member State actions; considers that in the seven areas agreed on in Brussels short-term priorities are the qualification of workers to enable them to adapt to economic and technological changes and reduce the risk of unemployment; believes, also, that in addition to the seven areas others should also be stressed, notably policies to improve the business environment for SMEs, measures concerning the organization of working time, long-term unemployment and investment in human resources: education, training, continuing training and the acquisition of professional qualifications; stresses the importance of education, vocational training and continuous and further education as a key to improving employment opportunities;

15.Believes that Member States still need to do more to reduce labour costs, specifically non-wage labour costs, particularly at the unskilled end of the labour market where such costs are disproportionately high, by shifting the burden of taxation and employers' contributions so that current levels of social protection are not reduced; calls for a European blueprint for an alternative scheme for financing non-wage labour costs for less-qualified jobs; where appropriate, differentiation by sector may be agreed between the two sides of industry;

16.Believes at the same time, however, that social protection and tax systems must function so that incentives to work are maintained and incentives for the black economy discouraged; also believes that public spending must be used rationally and therefore abuses in the supply of public services, clandestine work and illegal employment have to be combated efficiently;

17.Believes that such shifts may be sought via a fiscal policy - rightly mentioned in the White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment - which would shift the tax burden from labour to factors such as the environment, natural resources and energy; takes the view that new sources of finance for social protection must be tapped in order to reduce the burden of non-wage labour costs;

18.Is conviced that there is great scope in Member States for job creation in a number of emerging employment areas, especially in the health and other caring services, the environmental, leisure, tourism, craft and cultural sectors, ecological farming, business, trade and audiovisual services as well as encouraging new initiatives including the establishment of "service vouchers" as outlined in the White Paper; believes that giving higher priority to such areas of employment will in turn generate other jobs in both the public and private sectors, even in areas which have traditionally been situated within the public sector;

19.Stresses the importance of ensuring that the new Community initiatives are implemented without delay and draws particular attention to the job creation potential of the initiatives for SMEs, LEADER and URBAN;

20.Recognizes that many of the new jobs needed in the Union, including those mentioned above, can be created by SMEs; takes the view, however, that Member States need to do more to improve the business environment for SMEs by simplifying regulations, ensuring a more favourable fiscal treatment and facilitating their access to public procurement markets and to new technologies; a reduced VAT rate on labour-intensive services e.g. by expanding Annex H of Directive 92/77/EEC would be a particularly welcome measure;

21.Reiterates its view that positive flexibility within the labour market, particularly as regards working time and work organization, can help to meet the needs of both employers and employees; stresses that more flexible work patterns must be accompanied by supporting measures with regard, for example, to childcare and equivalent levels of protection; strongly urges that directives concerning secondment of employees, parental leave and part-time, temporary and interim work should be adopted as a matter of priority;

22.Notes that according to the new Employment in Europe Report almost nine million workers in the Union work on average more that 48 hours a week and believes that there exists scope for creating jobs if average working time could be reduced; is convinced that by distributing the work available among more people, an important contribution would be made to job creation and lowering the number of redundancies; calls on the social partners, the Member States and the Union to take steps to encourage part-time work, career breaks, training leave, sabbaticals and other ways of reducing working time, while ensuring that the competitiveness of businesses and the social protection of workers are not jeopardized in the process;

23.Views with concern the imbalance between the demand and supply for skilled labour; urges Member States to develop their initial and continuing training systems and to ensure these systems are able to adapt to changes in the labour market;

24.Takes the view that, since they play a decisive role in the creation of new jobs, local authorities must be assessed as to their ability to create new employment in their areas; it is also desirable that in promoting local development the relevant bodies should consult the social partners on a permanent basis to encourage greater cooperation and participation in the decisions on action to be taken;

25.Believes that the European Union and the Member States should create the conditions to guarantee young people access to work or appropriate, efficient and recognized vocational training schemes and notes that a wide range of training courses and measures with different requirements are needed and that all young people who wish to do so should have the opportunity of improving their vocational qualifications and adjusting to changes due to technological progress; looks therefore to the Council to implement as soon as possible the Leonardo and Socrates programmes as approved by the European Parliament, and calls on the Member States to prioritize actions aimed at young people who are particularly vulnerable to unemployment; calls on the Commission to act upon the proposals for a programme as put forward in the White Paper;

26.Calls on the Member States to develop actively the social and labour market infrastructure in order to respond positively to changing gender roles in society, and in particular to identify gender-related barriers relating to childcare, taxation, social security and labour regulation issues (for example, take action to individualize tax/social security arrangements);

27.Points out that under no circumstances may the principle of equal labour market opportunities and equal treatment of men and women or the policy of equal opportunities be violated;

28.Calls for further positive actions to integrate people with a disability into the labour market;

b) Actions to be undertaken by the Union

29.Is convinced that labour costs must be brought down, particularly at the lower end of the labour market; points out in this context that the important step of reducing non-wage labour costs in the Member States is dependent upon the adoption at European level of compensatory measures, particularly environmental, consumer and property taxes; calls on the Council to honour its obligations in this respect;

30.Believes that Member States should develop clear strategies both within and across Member States, to implement the objectives of the above and other agreed areas of labour market policy and local development strategies; believes that social and economic criteria, which reflect diverse approaches and problems, should be established to measure progress, with appropriate statistical tools, of Member State policies on the basis of a regular reporting procedure; Member State actions should be complemented by accompanying actions undertaken by the Commission where these can add value to national policies;

31.Calls on the European Council, in implementation of Chapter 10 of the White Paper and by analogy with its initiatives in the areas of trans-European networks and the information society, to take steps to create new jobs in the framework of a social model based on sustainable development and designed to improve the quality of life and the chances of employment for everyone in the European Union, particularly women; requests the European Council to instruct the Commission to draw up an action programme, including proposals on financing and the environment, in this context;

32.Notes also that Article 103(2) of the EC Treaty determines that 'The Council shall, acting by a qualified majority on a recommendation from the Commission, formulate a draft for the broad guidelines of the economic policies of the Member States and of the Community'; urges the Commission to give priority to the formulation of new guidelines focused on employment creation in the context of the economic upturn;

33.Calls for measures to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union and to buttress genuine convergence efforts in its less-developed Member States; asks the Council to convince the Member States that structural fund resources are fully and properly utilized and that they are used in the interests of both economic and social cohesion;

34.Calls on the Council and Commission to devise a European accounting mechanism to provide a global picture of the European economy and common economic aggregates permitting effective coordination of the Member States' economic policies;

35.Urges appropriate increases in the borrowing limits of the European Union and/or European Investment Fund to enable appropriate finance in trans-European infrastructure projects and urges the establishment of public/private partnerships to finance these projects; considers that the EIF must be able to intervene to assist SMEs, to allow guarantee consortiums to be set up to provide access to credit, with a view to promoting and supporting the development of real services for SMEs and so as to encourage the decentralization of instruments giving shareholders access to the market; urges the European Council at Essen to endorse these proposals as a major dimension of the activities of an expanded EIF;

36.Calls for better coordination of economic policy in the EU and reforms in research and development cooperation so as to allow the European dimension of industrial policy to take effect; calls for rapid decision-taking in the field of industrial policy and an initiative at EU level to implement a framework which fosters industrial innovation, notably in the field of data-processing;

37.Stresses the importance of EURES and other European initiatives aimed at creating a cross-border labour market, particularly in frontier areas with a (potentially) high level of labour mobility; points in this context to the many obstacles which still stand in the way of cross-border labour mobility, particularly the fiscal penalties attached to cross-border work;

c) Monitoring and follow-up procedures

38.Urgently requests the Council to assist the Commission to include in the coming work programme, and in subsequent annual work programmes, a detailed statement of the planned increases in employment overall, and an account of the funding provisions which will underpin them;

39.Suggests that overall monitoring of the action plan be undertaken by the Commission in conjunction with the Social Affairs and ECOFIN Councils, and that the Commission present on a half-yearly basis a progress report on the implementation of the action plan to the European Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee;

40.Mandates its President to present the following declaration of the European Parliament to the European Council meeting in Essen:

'There can be no more important priority than the implementation of the White Paper.

The 15 million new jobs, as agreed by the European Council, Commission and European Parliament, will only be created if the European Union and its Member States make the following commitments:

-to use the present recovery to create sustainable growth and employment and to reaffirm and implement the strategies set out in the White Paper,

-to strengthen and develop the EIF or other appropriate instruments in order to mobilise private and public investment so as to improve production capacity and enhance economic and social infrastructure; invites the Council to present a concrete plan for financing the investments defined in the White Paper,

-to create positive flexibility by developing an active employment policy, supplemented by a determined effort to get those in the greatest difficulty back to work, based on substantial investment in human resources for a high skilled and adaptive society; invites the Council to set targets for common efforts in the Member States,

-to strengthen the policies and programmes to combat youth and long-term unemployment, and to integrate the disabled and the socially excluded into the labour market; expects the Council to come back to Parliament with adequate proposals,

-to transform the present economy into one which is more sustainable by designing reforms in taxation with a view to achieving greater balance, taking account of the protection of the environment; expects the Council to give the Commission a mandate to negotiate proposals for substantial improvements before the end of the decade,

-to support an initiative for new policies to stabilise financial markets and to demand improved coordination of different policies.

We cannot afford to fail our peoples in this promise.

The States and Institutions of our Europe will be measured by their success in facing this challenge.'

41.Instructs its President to forward this Resolution to the European Council, Council, Commission, Economic and Social Committee and Governments of the Member States.