Kernresultaten van de Raad werkgelegenheid, sociale zaken, volksgezondheid en consumentenrechten (en)

Xavier Bertrand, the French Minister for Labour, Labour Relations, the Family and Solidarity, presided over today’s meeting of the Council of ministers for labour and social affairs, in the presence of Vladimir Špidla, the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

From the beginning of the French Presidency, Xavier Bertrand declared that 2008 should be the year to re-launch European social policy. In this spirit, he welcomed the European Parliament’s adoption on first reading, on 16 December 2008, of a new directive on European Works Councils, following the recasting of the 1994 text. This directive, which gives additional guarantees to European workers, notably in terms of consultation and information arrangements, will make it possible to enhance social dialogue in European enterprises. In the context of the current economic crisis and the increasing risks of restructuring, it has a particular importance which was underlined by all the participants at the Council.

This EPSSCO Council also allowed a political agreement to be reached on the directive on the maritime labour convention, a directive that came from an agreement between the European social partners. This text provides new guarantees for the 300 000 seafarers who are subject to Community law, notably with regard to the recruitment of seafarers, their conditions of employment, their on-board accommodation and their social protection. Xavier Bertrand emphasised the fact that, for the first time, an ILO convention was entering into force at the same time and under the same conditions in all the EU Member States.

The Member States also adopted a joint position on the implementing regulations necessary for the entry into force of the regulation on the coordination of social security systems. This text, which will shortly be submitted to the European Parliament, will modernise and simplify the current rules for coordination between the social security systems of the 27 Member States to simplify daily life for the most mobile Europeans, notably cross-border workers.

The ministers also discussed the European Parliament’s vote on the revision of the directive on working time. The French Presidency noted that this vote reflected the differences between the Council and the European Parliament, which must be fully taken into account with a view to reaching agreement. It recalled that the Council’s common position on this text had been linked to the agreement on the directive on temporary work, which had been approved by the European Parliament on 22 October 2008.

At this final EPSSCO Council under the French Presidency, the social impact of the crisis, the employment situation, and the monitoring of the implementation of the social agenda were also debated. The Member States evoked the risk of increased unemployment and increased poverty. They welcomed the initiatives taken by the Commission in the framework of the European recovery plan to mitigate the effects of the crisis, notably by mobilizing the European Social Fund and the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund. In this context, the French Presidency pleaded for the pace of the reforms to be maintained, particularly those on flexicurity and the social services of general interest, i.e. those services which provide daily help to the most vulnerable.