Informele Raad Werkgelegenheid en Sociale Zaken over flexibele arbeidsmarkten (en)

The Informal Council meeting will take place 19-21 January in Villach, Austria. The Employment and Social Affairs points will be taken on 20 January, beginning at 09h00. The morning meeting will be chaired by Federal Minister for Economics and Labour Martin Bartenstein (on flexicurity) and Federal Minister for Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection Ursula Haubner will chair the afternoon session (on the social dimension of the revised Lisbon strategy). The Commission will be represented by Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimír Spidla.

The main two items on the agenda are 'Flexicurity' (promoting both labour market flexibility and job security with social protection) and the social dimension of the revised Lisbon strategy.

Prior to Council, the issues on its agenda will be discussed at a meeting on 19 January between the European Commission, the EU Troika Ministers, the European Parliament, the European social partners and NGO's, represented by the Social Platform.

Flexicurity: flexibility through security

Discussion will centre on the compatibility of the European Social model with maintaining EU competitiveness. An exchange will take place on national experiences of how to dovetail a social safety net (security) with the adaptability (or flexibility) required by businesses operating in a globalised economy. Ministers and the Commissioner will analyse how workers can be helped to adapt to a constantly changing economic environment and also how to ensure that flexibility does not affect just a small section of workers nor curtail their opportunities. The possibility of engaging in common European policies and actions will be raised.

The social dimension of the revised Lisbon strategy:

The meeting will also discuss the streamlining of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) of social protection and integration. As part of the Lisbon process, the EU has used the OMC to promote cooperation and learning among Member States. The process involves Member States agreeing common objectives to reduce levels of poverty and to improve the provision of pensions and health care.

At present, the OMC has three separate processes on social inclusion, pensions and health and long-term care. The European Commission has presented proposals for a new OMC framework to streamline this work into one overall process. The aim is to make the OMC more effective by simplifying the objectives, by reducing the reporting burden on Member States and by making better links between poverty, pensions and health.