Sociale top: resultaten (en)
The tripartite social summit held today in Brussels and presided over by François Fillon, the French Prime Minister representing the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, allowed the social partners opinons on the consequences of the financial crisis for companies and workers to be obtained.
On this occasion, having recalled the huge and coordinated nature of the European response to the financial crisis, François Fillon emphasised the importance of also taking specific action to respond the concerns of companies and workers and the importance, more than ever, for employment to be at the heart of the Lisbon Strategy. To this end, he called for the renewed European social agenda presented last July to be implemented as soon as possible.
Work is ongoing in a number of areas, notably the revision of the directive on the European Works Councils, the promotion of flexicurity and mobility, and reflections on the development of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund. The French Presidency is committed to contributing actively to moving forward in these areas.
In this respect, François Fillon underlined the need to focus foremost of all these subjects on European social dialogue.
The tripartite social summit was also the occasion for a debate on the economic and social consequences of the climate change. François Fillon emphasised the importance of anticipating these changes. He judged social dialogue to be of central importance in this area as well and supported the idea of the establishment of a tripartite advisory committee charged mainly with examining the impact of current developments on employment.