n°39
12/2014
ISSN 1682-7783
SOCIAL AGENDA
Marianne Thyssen
Employment,
social affairs, skills
and labour mobility
focus on
The new
European Commission
6
12
Social investment
Employment
Cities leading the way
The integrated
approach
Social Europe
2 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
EDITORIAL
© European Union
Rebalancing economic policy, on one hand, and employment
and social affairs, on the other: this is very much what the new
European Commission 2014-2019 is all about. Especially the
mandate of the new Commissioner for Employment, Social
Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility: Marianne Thyssen.
In fact, for at least ten years, the EU has been upholding
a very integrated and comprehensive vision of economic
and social development. Every European election, every
new European Commission has given rise to a deepening
of this vision.
In a new endeavour to break policy silos and accelerate crisis
recovery, the new Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker,
has structured the College of European Commissioners into cross-cutting project teams, headed
by Vice-Presidents.
“Making
the vision
happen”
Marianne Thyssen is a member of the project teams dealing with jobs, growth, investment and
competitiveness, the Euro and social dialogue, the digital single market and the Energy Union, as
well as the one on better regulation and inter-institutional relations: all Commission
proposals will be evaluated in terms of their impact on job creation and social
fairness, i.e. inclusive growth, before entering the EU decision-making process.
On 26 and 28 November 2014, the European Commission put forward two major
policy initiatives which spell out what the EU vision could mean in practice when it hits
the ground: a European Investment Plan and a new Economic Governance Package.
The Investment Plan will translate over the next three years into investing in people,
up-grading jobs and getting the ball decidedly rolling for the kind of growth Europe needs to
be associated with: a model where economic efficiency and social fairness feed each other in
a virtuous job-creating circle. While the Economic package proposes for 2015 a strategic policy
mix based on investment, structural reforms and fiscal responsibility. It calls for urgent action
involving governments, parliaments and social partners at EU level and in each Member State.
Presenting the Economic Package to the press, Marianne Thyssen connected the two initiatives when she explained that “job creation, social policies are at the heart of our agenda (…).
We should all take ownership of this. Member States that courageously reformed their labour markets have proven that reforms really pay off. This should inspire other Member States to follow suit.
The € 315 billion Investment Plan that the Commission presented can boost the results to even
higher levels.”.
Michel Servoz
Director General of the European Commission’s Employment,
Social Affairs and Inclusion department
A magazine providing information on European employment and social policies, Social Agenda is published four times a year in English, French and German by the European Commission’s
Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.
Editor in chief: Michel Servoz, Director-General, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion – European Commission, B-1049 Brussels.
Subscription is free on request – please fill in the registration form available at: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=740&langId=en
Notice: Neither the European Commission, nor any person acting on its behalf, may be held responsible for the use to which information contained in this publication may be put,
or for any errors which, despite careful preparation and checking, may appear. • © European Union, 2014
Non-commercial reproduction authorised, subject to acknowledgement of the source.
For any use or reproduction of photos which are not under European Union copyright, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder(s).
© Belgaimage
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 3
CONTENTS
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
Cities leading the way 6
EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND
Operational partners8
Making it known when it works10
EMPLOYMENT
The integrated approach12
SPECIAL FEATURE
The European Commission 2014-201914
Jobs on top 15
Breaking the policy silos17
Marianne Thyssen: job creation and a fairer society 19
10
8
© Belgaimage
EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND
© Belgaimage
INNOVATION
Jolanta – Nimble fingers24
OTHER VOICES
Thomas Händel, MEP26
19
26
© European Union
Jiri Plecity – auditing performance27
© European Union
INTERVIEW
4 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
NEWS
IN BRIEF
The European Commission presented the Autumn
2014 Economic Governance package kicking off the new
European Semester for 2015. In the Annual Growth Survey,
the Commission recommends pursuing an economic and social
policy based on a boost to investment, a renewed commitment
to structural reforms, and the pursuit of fiscal responsibility.
The Alert Mechanism Report indicates which countries warrant
an in-depth review of their economies. The Joint Employment
Report serves as a basis for further analysis, surveillance, and
coordination throughout the European Semester. A review of
the “Six Pack” and the “Two Pack” packages of EU legislation
on economic and fiscal coordination, reveals areas for further
improvement on transparency and complexity of policy making, and their impact on growth, imbalances and convergence.
Finally, the Commission publishes its opinions on euro area
countries’ draft budgetary plans for 2015.
© Belgaimage
28 November 2014: Kick-off
Valdis Dombrovskis: The European Commission Vice-President presented
the new Economic Governance package.
26 November: Investment plan
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker presented his Investment Plan for Europe at the European
Parliament in Strasbourg, announcing a € 315 billion
Investment Plan to get Europe growing again and get more
people back to work. President Juncker said: “This is an
investment offensive that optimises our economic policy.
We are focusing on long-term, large-scale European investment to create jobs. We are also targeting SMEs – Europe’s
job creators – to give a boost to the real economy. We
are turning a corner, completing fiscal responsibility and
structural reform with innovative investment plans and
instruments”.
© Belgaimage
21 November: Twice as much risk
Non-EU: 48.7 % of non-EU citizens were at risk of poverty or social
exclusion in 2013.
In 2013, non-EU citizens were twice as likely to be at risk of
poverty or social exclusion as nationals in 2013. Almost half
(48.7 %) of non-EU citizens aged 18 and over were at risk of
poverty or social exclusion, while the levels for citizens of the
reporting country, referred to as “nationals”, and for citizens
of another EU Member State were much lower (22.8 % and
28.1 % respectively). The pattern was very similar for the
severe material deprivation rate, one of the three elements
contributing to being at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
1 out of every 5 non-EU citizens aged 18 and over (20.7 %)
was severely materially deprived, meaning that they had
living conditions constrained by a lack of resources such as
not being able to afford to pay their bills, keep their home
adequately warm, or take a one week holiday away from
home. The share was 8.9 % for nationals and even lower for
citizens of another EU Member State (7.4 %).
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 5
NEWS IN BRIEF
The 3rd edition of the Education and Training Monitor shows
that the EU average rate of early leavers from education and
training fell to 12 % in 2013 (down 0.7 percentage points
from 2012), and the EU average rate of tertiary education completion climbed 1 percentage point to 36.9 %. The
respective goals set out in the Europe 2020 growth strategy,
adopted by the EU in 2010, of below 10 % for early leavers
and 40 % of third level education are within reach – however, these averages mask stark discrepancies between and
within Member States.
© Belgaimage
13 November: 12 % of early leavers
Uneven progress: Stark discrepancies between and within EU countries.
1 November: A new Commission
The Juncker Commission officially started its term of
office on 1 November 2014. It will run until 31 October
2019. Marianne Thyssen is the new Commissioner for
Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility.
She is part of six project teams, in particular the one on
Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, managed
by Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, and the one on the Euro
and Social Dialogue, managed by Vice-President Valdis
Dombrovskis (see special feature on the new Commission
page 14 onwards).
© Belgaimage
20 October: Rana Plaza, a year after
Missing son: Some measures still need to be taken urgently
in Bangladesh.
Since the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in
Bangladesh in 2013, the EU has been active to improve
labour rights, working conditions and factory safety in the
ready-made garment and knitwear industry in the country.
In a stocktaking meeting organized in Brussels, it was found
that labour law has been amended to strengthen freedom of association, collective bargaining and occupational
health and safety; new trade unions have been created;
more labour, fire and building safety inspections have been
carried out. However, other measures need to be taken
urgently, such as better guarantees for freedom of association, protection of workers and trade unions from intimidation or discrimination, and ensuring that all workers have the
same rights, including those working in Export Processing
Zones. 2015 will be the European Year of Development,
more information: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sectors/
employment-social-inclusion-social-protection_en
6 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
SOCIAL
INVESTMENT
Cities leading the way
© Belgaimage
Innovative practices are being collected at city-level
by Eurocities
Smart investiment: Smarter public spending today (e.g. in early childcare) can prevent social problems and create saving in the future.
City authorities have an important role to play in delivering social investment, in line with the recommendations
of the Social Investment Package (see box page 7) to
make social policies more efficient and effective and to
implement more active strategies for social and labour
market inclusion.
Particularly helpful for cities is the concept of social expenditure as social investment, to support people as they deal
with life changes and challenges. This is one of the core
messages of the Social Investment Package. It is based on
the principle that smarter public spending today can prevent
social problems tomorrow and create savings in the future.
Typically the overall framework for employment and welfare policies is set at national level. But it is at local
level that policies are implemented, becoming tangible
and meaningful for people. Cities are the level of government closest to citizens. This advantage of proximity
gives a better insight into the real issues that people
are facing and into new emerging trends of poverty and
social exclusion.
Success factors
Even in affluent cities, there are neighbourhoods with
persistent social problems and high levels of inequalities
that cannot be ignored by the local administration. This
is why reshaping policy intervention, improving service
delivery and investing in preventative measures are all
issues that lie at the heart of cities’ concerns.
EUROCITIES - the political platform for major European cities towards the EU institutions, which networks the local
governments of over 130 of Europe’s largest cities and
40 partner cities - has identified a number of successful
approaches that are guiding the reshaping of social policy
intervention in cities. It did so as part of a project funded by
the European Commission programme for Employment and
Social Innovation (EaSI, see Social Agenda n°35).
The first factor is flexibility in the delivery of services. Local
administrations are moving away from the ‘one-size-fits all
approach’ to better respond to the specific and often changing needs of individual people.
© Ramon Vila, Vision Communications
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 7
Good practice: Le Relais Nord provides a single service point for childcare services
in the Northern part of Nantes, France.
The second one is a stronger focus on preventative approaches
than in the past. This means more investment in children and
young people, and also to prevent people from ending up in
dramatic situations such as becoming homeless.
responsive to people’s needs and challenges and that eventually lead to better outcomes.
More information:
The third factor is improved coordination and integration
of different policies and services, leading to ‘single access
points’ or ‘one-stop-shops’ for multiple services, and combining access to social services with, for example, labour market
activation measures.
Early childcare
One example of good practice is the approach taken to social
investment in early childcare services by the city of Nantes,
France. There is a strong and positive correlation between
attending early childcare and better social and cognitive skills
in children, as well as between access to early childcare and
female and single parent household employment rates.
Nantes has set up a pilot project to improve early childcare
in an area of the city with the highest level of unemployment
and of single parents, mainly women on low income. The
pilot project is based on the provision of early childcare in a
highly flexible way. Childcare is available outside standard
working hours on a short-term basis. Emergency childcare is
also offered, and children can be enrolled in the facilities at
any time during the year.
To simplify the life of parents, a ‘single service point’
– le Relais Nord – has been set up to manage family requests
and to identify solutions to fit individual family needs. The service also brings together several city departments and NGOs
to improve coordination between the provision of early childcare, family allowances and measures to support employment.
The pilot project has had positive results: service users have
been able to return to employment, or enrol in training and
education programmes. The plan is now to roll out the project
throughout the city.
This is one of the numerous examples of how cities can
develop and test social interventions, which are more
Eurocities publication
“Social Investment in cities: Developing coordinated and
integrated services at local level”.
European Commission website
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1044
Social investment in cities
http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/publications/
Intergrating-services-at-local-level-WSPO-9REKN6
Nantes best practice
http://bit.ly/1znglkj A child’s rights approach
Failure to invest in children’s up-bringing and education
would make it very difficult for many to live up as adults
to their full human, social and economic potential, and
generate higher costs to the EU countries’ welfare states.
As part of a package of social investment measures
(see Social Agenda n°33), the European Commission
put forward in February 2013 a Recommendation entitled
“Investing in children – Breaking the cycle of disadvantage”.
The Recommendation takes a child’s rights attitude
and its implementation is being monitored through the
European Semester, the EU’s economic governance
coordination process. The Semester leads to annual
Country Specific Recommendations which EU countries
must take into account when drawing up their national
budgets for the following year.
In 2014, seven countries received EU recommendations
calling explicitly for doing more to reduce child poverty.
More countries received recommendations on inclusive
education and increasing early childhood education
and care service provision.
8 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
Second chance: France will receive
€620 million of EU funding to counsel
and train less skilled young people.
EUROPEAN
SOCIAL FUND
>>
Operational partners
© Belgaimage
One by one, EU countries agree with
the European Commission on how to spend EU funding
Skills adaptation: The European Commission and Denmark agreed to strengthen labour supply by taking training initiatives.
For the first time, common rules have been set down for all
the European Structural and Investments Funds: the European
Social Fund (ESF), the European Regional Development Fund,
the Cohesion Fund, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
This will ensure a more strategic and complementary use
of the different funds.
The new set of rules and legislation governing the
2014-2020 cycle of EU investments came into force on
22 December 2013. It requires a much stronger link to the
European Semester process of EU economic governance
and to the objectives of Europe 2020, the EU’s strategy for
smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It must also focus
on results and goals which can be measured and monitored
throughout the period.
A minimum share of 23.1 % is guaranteed for the ESF within
the total of cohesion policy funding. Current programming
documents show that Member States are even going beyond
this share: € 12 billion are likely to be invested each year
via the ESF. Moreover, at least 20 % of the ESF allocation to
each country must go to social inclusion.
Partnership agreements
Member States must draw up and implement strategic plans
called Partnership Agreements – one per country, covering the
five funds. In so doing, they consult regional and local authorities,
interests groups and civil society.
The partnership agreements build upon the position paper the
Commission sent to each country in 2012, which set out how EU
investments should support the Europe 2020 strategy. They are
adopted by the European Commission (see Social Agenda n°37).
The Member States had until the 22 April 2014 to submit their
Partnership Agreements. The European Commission had three
months to make observations and has four months to adopt
the agreement if its observations have been adequately taken
into account.
Denmark
On 5 May 2014, the European Commission adopted the first
partnership agreement, from Denmark. It outlines the country’s priorities and objectives to spend €400 million, of which
© Belgaimage
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 9
over €200 (around 3 billion DKK) from the EU budget under the
‘Investment for growth and jobs’ objective.
The adopted strategy will boost competitiveness and growth by
promoting education and innovation. Investments will also promote entrepreneurship, fight against social exclusion and support
an environmentally-friendly and resource-efficient economy.
In particular, the European Commission and Denmark agreed
to strengthen labour supply by taking initiatives in the fields of
inclusion, adaptation of skills and training. They also agreed to
boost national and regional competitiveness and job creation
through investing in innovation and business development, promoting entrepreneurship and fostering the agriculture, fisheries
and aquaculture sectors.
Operational programmes
Each EU country also draws up Operational Programmes (OP)
for each specific Fund or for several Funds combined. These
programmes break down the objectives of the Partnership
Agreements into investment priorities and concrete actions. For
the ESF, 187 such programmes are currently being drawn up,
addressing specific challenges in European countries or regions.
Just like for the Partnership Agreements, the European
Commission negotiates with Member States the OPs with the
national and regional authorities. And social partners and civil
society are involved in the programming and in the actual management of the Operational Programmes.
The Operational Programmes should be submitted by Member
States at the latest three months following the submission of
the partnership agreement. The European Commission makes
observations within three months and adopts the programmes
no later than six months from the date of its submission, if
the country concerned has adequately taken into account
its observations.
The managing authorities in each country and/or region then
select, implement, monitor and evaluate each project, according
to the priorities and targets agreed with the European Commission
for the programmes.
More information:
http://ec.europa.eu/esf/home.jsp
Youth-specific programmes
EU countries may draw up Operational Programmes
specifically geared to implementing the EU Youth
Employment Initiative, which targets young people
not in employment, education or training in regions
experiencing youth unemployment rates above 25 %.
The first such programme was adopted by the
European Commission on 3 June 2014, for France
where around 1 million young people are out of
employment, education or training.
France will receive €620 million from the Youth
Employment initiative and the ESF to counsel and train
the less skilled, as well as give a second chance to those
who left school without any diploma or qualification,
through work experience or traineeships.
On 11 July, the Commission adopted another such
programme, for Italy. The country will mobilise
€1.5 billion from various sources, including €1.1 billion
from the Youth Employment initiative and the ESF.
This money will mainly serve to implement the
Youth Guarantee: a scheme ensuring that everyone
living in the EU under 25 (or up to 29, if a national
government so decides) receives a good quality offer
for a job, apprenticeship, traineeship or continued
education within four months of leaving school
or becoming unemployed.
10 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
A gender perspective to ageing: PROGRESS funded
a project called “policies and instruments for a healthy
and dignified active ageing for elderly women”.
INNOVATION
Making it
>>
known when it works
© Belgaimage
The results of the best projects funded
by the European Commission will be better disseminated
The first ever: PROGRESS funded the first ever European Sectoral Skills Council, in the leather, textile and clothing industries sector.
A “simulated enterprise” to help young people in their transition from education to the labour market; a multi-service
community centre for women over 70; European Sector Skills
Councils to better anticipate the need for skills in specific
sectors: These are the kind of projects which the European
PROGRESS programme funded between 2007 and 2013.
programme which also funds the European Employment
Services Network (EURES), the successor to the European
PROGRESS Microfinance facility, as well as social entrepreneurship (see Social Agenda n°35).
PROGRESS also financed analytical, knowledge sharing and
mutual learning activities supporting the implementation of
the Europe 2020 strategy, as well as EU wide campaigns such
as Youth on the Move.
A final evaluation of PROGRESS was published in July 2014.
It shows how this programme has contributed to improving
the design and implementation of EU policies and laws. It has
also provided support to various actors, including EU-level
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
Managed directly by the European Commission, PROGRESS
supported the development and coordination of EU policy in
the areas of employment, social inclusion, social protection,
working conditions, anti-discrimination and gender equality.
It did so, not just in EU countries but also in candidate and
potentially candidate countries, as well as in Norway, Iceland
and Liechtenstein.
In 2014, PROGRESS was replaced by the programme for
Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI): an umbrella
Evaluation
The main weaknesses of PROGRESS relate to a bad translation of results into action and insufficient take-up of its
results by other, bigger programmes such as the European
Social Fund (ESF). EaSI will therefore boost the identification and dissemination of good practice projects, starting
with those funded under PROGRESS in 2011-2012. This will
help decision makers, socio-economic partners, NGOs, academia, the media and civil society at large benefit from
good practice.
© Belgaimage
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 11
Simulated enterprise
For example, during those years, PROGRESS funded a project
called “First Step to First Job – Innovative methods leading
youth to a solid career”. It involved universities, research
centres, consulting companies and ministries from Romania,
Portugal, Austria, Italy and Spain. It was coordinated by a
Romanian body: the National Scientific Research Institute for
Labour and Social Protection.
The project generated a knowledge base on the impact of
innovative measures, which helped to assess to what extent
these measures were really making a difference on the
European labour market.
The most successful actions to overcome the crisis and
youth unemployment in particular, seemed to be those
taken by Austria. This country managed to secure a more
balanced labour market with a young labour force. While
Spain, Portugal and Italy, in spite of a multitude of measures
specially tailored to young people, had very high rates of
youth unemployment.
The project found that one innovative measure in particular,
the “Simulated Enterprise”, had great potential for transfer
and replication in other EU countries. It is increasingly used
by tertiary education institutions in Austria, Romania and
Spain in particular.
Students are highly motivated if they can use theoretical
knowledge in “real” situations and translate the competences
into practice. It is also highly important that young people
benefit from personal support throughout their transition
from school to the labour market.
Therefore, the role of elderly women - both as main providers
and main users of care services - becomes a crucial gender
issue and needs specific policy measures.
PROGRESS funded a project called “Policies and instruments
for a healthy and dignified active ageing for elderly women”.
It developed a knowledge base on active ageing factors and
policies, in a gender perspective. It collected policy and practice examples from Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, the
United Kingdom, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Greece,
Romania, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands, with a more
detailed comparison between Italy and Germany.
Implemented by the Italian Department for Equal opportunities, the project designed innovative policies and interventions
for elderly women, such as a community services centre for
women. A feasibility study for creating such a centre was
carried out and one of the Italian municipalities involved in
the project has planned to create a pilot one.
Sectoral skills
PROGRESS has also funded the creation of the first ever
European Sectoral Skills Council, in the textile, clothing and
leather industry sector. The project generated a knowledge
base which provided the Council with information on the
evolution of supply, employment and skills, including needs
foresight and prospective analysis.
Good practices for reducing the mismatch of competences
were identified, as well as innovative tools, national and
regional strategies, local initiatives and methods which could
be used for peer learning. The experience gained through this
project can be transferred to other sectors which, since then,
have established similar councils.
Elderly women
Inadequate or obsolete work skills are the main obstacles for
elderly women to remain in or re-enter into the labour market,
not to mention unpaid care workloads and responsibilities.
More information:
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=327 12 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
Single brand: Austria has integrated all
voluntary and supportive climate change
mitigating measures under a single brand.
EMPLOYMENT
>>
The integrated approach
© Belgaimage
Connecting employment, climate change and green growth
Circular economy: Repairing smartphones (here in Brive, France) is good for the environment, competitiveness and employment.
The stakes are high, both in terms of opportunities and challenges: The EU’s annual spending on foreign oil and natural
gas reached €400 billion, or approximately 3.1 % of the EU
Gross Domestic Product, in 2012; and its energy dependency is set to grow from the current rate of 54 % to that
of 70 % in 2030, according to International Energy Agency
(IEA) projections.
A structural shift towards a resource and energy efficient
circular economic model (where existing materials and products are reused, repaired, refurbished and recycled) would
not only be environmentally sound: It would also provide an
economic competitive advantage for the EU, with overall positive employment effects.
This is why, in July 2014, the European Commission issued a
Communication on “A Green Employment Initiative”. It sets out
a single framework to tackle a whole range of issues: from
fostering the development of appropriate skills and better
forecasting skills needs; to shifting taxation from labour to
pollution, improving the quality of data and strengthening
international cooperation in this area.
It was part of a larger policy package, including a further
Communication on the Circular Economy and a Green Action
Plan for small and medium size enterprises.
Continuous up-skilling
Whilst a number of jobs in the energy intensive sectors (e.g.
chemicals, iron and steel) and in the high-emission ones
(e.g. energy, transport, agriculture and building) would be
shed, the bigger changes are expected to come as a result
of skills being redefined upwards: This process is set to raise
the skills levels of many workers across the economy. It will
therefore have a positive impact on European productivity
and company competitiveness.
Indeed, the trend of continuous skills adaptation and upgrading is to become a feature of the EU countries’ economies,
as they seek to make their workforces more flexible and
resilient to structural and cyclical shifts.
Most of these new emerging activities will be less likely
to undergo delocalisation: they will be rooted in the local
© Belgaimage
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 13
economy (e.g.in the areas of energy efficiency of buildings, pipe insulation, recycling and innovative renewable
technologies).
Developing the correct skills policies will require that the necessary information, data and analytical tools are put in place.
Mobilising and bringing together the relevant labour market
actors (trade unions, business organisations, public employment services, vocational training bodies, national education
systems) will also be critical to anticipate change and service
labour demand as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Klimaaktiv
A few EU countries (Austria, Finland, France and the United
Kingdom) have already started developing an integrated
approach, linking up the governance of green growth
and employment.
Fourteen years ago, Austria integrated all voluntary and
supportive climate change mitigating measures (training,
consulting, quality management, networking and awareness
campaigns) under a single brand: Klimaaktiv.
Klimaaktiv brings together the construction, energy efficiency, transport and renewable energy areas in a “market
transformation” approach: raising the share of energy efficient products and services in the Austrian economy.
Its main activity is to provide education and training to professionals, develop standards, ensure quality, inform and
inspire rethinking and bring together players from business
and the public sector into a single climate protection network.
constructed between 1900 and 1980. In addition to energy
efficiency, Klimaaktiv looks into the choice of location, ecological quality, comfort and the quality of the work carried
out in buildings.
Between 2008, when the financial and economic crisis
broke out, and 2012, the turnover of Austria’s green sector
increased from €31 billion to €35 billion -12 % of GDP!
More information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-765_en.htm
Sustainable and quality jobs
The Green Employment Initiative put forward by
the European Commission in July 2014 presents
the shift to a greener economy as a dual opportunity:
to invest in more sustainable jobs; and to underline
the importance of job quality as a source of productivity
and competitiveness.
But what is a quality job? In 2002, the EU agency
for the improvement of living and working conditions,
Eurofound, defined quality jobs as those which ensure
career and employment security, maintain the health
and well-being of workers, develop their skills
and competencies and enable reconciliation of working
and non-working life.
Buildings old and new
Moreover, Eurofound produces a “Trends in job quality
in Europe” report which assesses job quality at the
level of the job itself, independently of the personal
circumstances of the worker holding it and of the wider
labour market setting, with even more criteria. Results
show that, at present, 20 % of jobs in Europe are lowquality jobs putting the health and well-being of jobholders at risk.
In Austria, around 40 000 new apartments are built
every year and approximately 1.5 million buildings were
http://eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2012/
other/trends-in-job-quality-in-europe
As a result, 900 building specialists now actively exchange on
an e-learning platform and 9 000 plumbers, master builders,
fuel-save trainers and energy consultants have been trained.
New trainings have been put in place in areas like e-biking,
bicycle mechanic and bio heat plumbing.
14 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
S PE CIAL
F E AT U R E
The European Commission
2014-
2019
Structured to mainstream employment and social affairs
“Investing in people – this is what the social market economy is about” said the new European Commission President,
Jean-Claude Juncker, when he presented an investment plan
for Europe to the European Parliament on 26 November 2014.
“In Europe, we spell ‘social’ with a capital ‘S’”.
In particular, she works hand in hand with two VicePresidents: Jyrki Katainen, in charge of Jobs, Growth,
Investment and Competitiveness, and Valdis Dombrovskis,
responsible for the Euro and Social Dialogue.
From now on, all Commission proposals are scrutinised
to ensure that they have a positive impact on job creation and social fairness. Not to mention the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights, for the respect of which the First VicePresident of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans,
has a specific responsibility.
Skills and labour mobility
Other voices
The new College is structured in cross-cutting project teams,
headed by Vice-Presidents. As she explains in an interview
page 19, the new European Commissioner for Employment,
Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen,
belongs to six project teams.
On page 26, in the “Other Voices” section, the chairman of
the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and
Social Affairs, Thomas Händel, presents his own views and
priorities in a policy area which is key for ensuring that
economic recovery, when achieved, will last.
© Belgaimage
On 1 November 2014, a new College of European
Commissioners took office following the European elections
of June 2014. This special feature explains how it perceives
employment and social affairs and how it has organised
itself to address these policy areas.
Social with a capital S: “Investing in people is what the social market economy is all about”, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said
when presenting an EU investment plan.
© Belgaimage
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 15
Accelerating: The new Commission wants to accelerate and progressively broaden
the implementation of the EU Youth Guarantee scheme.
Jobs on top
Job-creating growth is the number one priority
of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
Job creation, economic growth, social fairness and democratic change: this is how Jean-Claude Juncker, who took
office as European Commission President on 1 November
2014, sums up his programme for the next five years.
Addressing the newly-elected European Parliament in July
2014 to present his candidacy, he started by saying that:
“More than 6 million people lost their job during the crisis. Youth unemployment has reached record highs (…)
The measures taken during the crisis can be compared to
repairing a burning plane whilst flying. They were successful overall. Yet mistakes were made. There was a lack of
social fairness”.
On 26 November 2014, he presented an investment plan
for Europe, built on three strands: the creation of a new
European Fund for Strategic Investments, guaranteed with
public money, to mobilise at least €315 billion of additional investment from 2015 to 2017; a project pipeline
coupled with an assistance programme to channel investments where they are most needed; and a roadmap to
make Europe more attractive for investment and remove
regulatory bottlenecks.
“If Europe invests more, it will be more prosperous and create more jobs”, he said on this occasion. “Now is the time to
invest in our future, in key strategic areas such as energy,
transport, broadband, education, research and innovation”.
Investment plan
Job creation comes first whenever he enumerates his
ten priority policy areas, starting with “A new boost for
jobs, growth and investment”: “My first priority will be
to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and to stimulate
investment for the purpose of job creation”, he said.
The new President regularly points out that “85 % of new
jobs are created by small and medium sized enterprises
(SMEs)”. An important part of his programme will be to
“free them from burdensome regulation” and “identify ‘red
tape’ both at European and national level that could be
swiftly removed”.
16 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
SPECIAL FEATURE
© Belgaimage
Free movement an opportunity
Keeping the pole position: Jean-Claude Juncker wants the EU to
maintain its global leadership in strategic sectors such as chemicals.
The skills challenge
The skills issue comes up in connection to several of JeanClaude Juncker’s priorities. First of all, in relation with creating a connected digital single market which could “generate
up to € 250 billion of additional growth in Europe in the
course of the mandate of the new Commission, thereby
creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, notably for
younger job-seekers, and a vibrant knowledge-based economy”. This will require boosting digital skills and learning,
and facilitating the creation of innovative start-ups.
His ambition is also that the EU become “the world number
one in renewable energies” and to significantly enhance
energy efficiency. It is also to bring industry’s share of the
EU’s GDP back to 20 % by 2020, compared to less than
16 % today.
He wants the EU to maintain its global leadership in strategic
sectors with high-value jobs such as the automotive, aeronautics, engineering, space, chemicals and pharmaceutical
industries. For this to happen, it is crucial to ensure that
“workers have the skills industry needs”.
The skills issue also crops up under another of his priorities: a new European policy on legal migration, which would
help “address shortages of specific skills and attract talent
to better cope with the demographic challenges of the EU”.
He wants Europe “to become at least as attractive as the
favourite migration destinations such as Australia, Canada
and the USA”. As a first step, he intends to review the Blue Card
legislation and its unsatisfactory state of implementation.
Under a priority called “a deeper and fairer internal market”,
Jean-Claude Juncker calls for a change of perception regarding the free movement of workers from one EU country to
another: “We should see free movement as an economic
opportunity, and not as a threat. We should therefore promote labour mobility, especially in the fields with persistent
vacancies and skills mismatches”.
He will ensure that the posting of workers directive (see
Social Agenda n°30) is “strictly implemented”. He will also
initiate a “targeted review” of this directive “to ensure that
social dumpling has no place in the EU. In our Union, the
same work at the same place should be remunerated in the
same manner”.
And under a priority called “a deeper and fairer economic
and monetary union”, the new President calls for a “targeted fiscal capacity at Eurozone level” and for “re-balancing” the way in which the EU grants support to Eurozone
countries: “We should be able to replace the ‘troika’ [the
European Commission, the European Central Bank and the
International Monetary Fund] with a more democratically
legitimate and more accountable structure”.
He proposes that “any support and reform programme
goes not only through a fiscal sustainability assessment
but through a social impact assessment as well. The social
effects of structural reforms need to be discussed in public”.
The free trade altar
Jean-Claude Juncker also calls for a “reasonable and balanced free trade agreement with the US”. However, he “will
not sacrifice Europe’s safety, health, social and data protection standards or our cultural diversity on the altar of
free trade”.
Finally, he insists on the fact that the EU is a “Union of
shared values” and he has entrusted his First Vice-President,
Frans Timmermans, with a specific responsibility for the EU
Charter of Fundamental Rights. Mr Timmermans is also in
charge of better regulation, inter-institutional relations and
the rule of law.
More information:
http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 17
SPECIAL FEATURE
Breaking the
policy silos
© Belgaimage
The commissioners work in teams managed by vice-presidents
Teamwork: Presenting the 2015 Economic Package to the press (from left to right, European Commission Vice-President Dombrovskis and Commissioners
Thyssen and Moscovici).
One of the novelties of the new European Commission is that
the commissioners now work in project teams managed by
vice-presidents, most of who were prime ministers or Foreign
Affairs ministers and are therefore used to coordinating policymaking on cross-cutting issues.
The vice-presidents are in charge of a number of priority projects. They steer and coordinate the work of several commissioners. This ensures a dynamic interaction of all members of
the college of commissioners, breaking down silos and moving
away from static structures.
In this new set up, vice-presidents and commissioners are
mutually dependent on one another. A commissioner depends
on the support of a vice-president to bring a new initiative into
the Commission work programme or onto the college agenda. At
the same time, a vice-president will depend on his/her project
team commissioners’ contributions to successfully complete
the project assigned to him/her.
Part of six teams
For example, the new Commissioner for Employment, Social
Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen is
part of the project teams on Jobs, Growth, Investment and
Competitiveness, the Euro and Social Dialogue, the Digital
Single Market, the Energy Union and Better Regulation and
Inter-institutional Affairs, as well as the European Commission
budget and human resources.
Her mandate is in itself quite cross-cutting as it is very much
about rebalancing the economic and social agenda: ensuring
that employment and social affairs are at the heart of the EU
economic governance process – the European Semester - by
further involving the business organisations and trade unions
in this process, and re-launching social dialogue in general;
ensuring also that all Commission proposals and activities take
their potential employment and social impact fully into account;
and giving a social dimension to Economic and Monetary Union.
18 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
SPECIAL FEATURE
An emphasis will be placed on skills and youth employment.
Marianne Thyssen will also step up the fight against inequality
and poverty and ensure decent and safe working conditions and
equal opportunities for all on the labour market.
Another important part of her mandate is to promote free
movement of workers throughout the EU so that people can
take up vacant jobs in other EU countries and employers can
adequately fill vacancies. She will also help national governments resolve possible abuses or fraudulent claims in relation
to free movement (see the interview with Marianne Thyssen
page 19).
was Vice-President responsible for Inter-Institutional Relations
and Administration and Health and Consumer Policy.
The composition of the project teams may change according
to the need and to possible new projects developing over time.
More information:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019_en
Showing the way
The Vice-President in charge of the Jobs, Growth, Investment
and Competitiveness team is Jyrki Katainen, former Prime
Minister of Finland - the country which showed the way for
the EU Youth Guarantee scheme.
The Digital Single Market team is managed by Vice-President
Andrus Ansip, who was the Prime Minister of Estonia from
2005 to 2014, and the Energy Union one by Vice-President
Maroš Šefčovič, from Slovakia, who in the previous Commission
© Belgaimage
The Euro and Social Dialogue team is led by Valdis Dombrovskis,
who was Prime Minister of Latvia from March 2009 to January
2014. Latvia joined the euro area in 2014 and has become one
of the fastest growing economies in Europe.
The Euro and Social Dialogue: The portfolio of Vice-President
Valdis Dombrovskis.
Right-hand man
Breaking policy silos is one of the hallmarks of this new European Commission. A key person in this respect
is First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, who was the Netherlands’ Minister for European Affairs from
2007 to 2010 and Foreign Affairs Minister from 2012 to 2014. He is responsible for better regulation, interinstitutional relations, the rule of law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Frans Timmermans is in charge of applying the principle of political discontinuity, a first for the European
Commission. It entails discussing with the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers the list of
legislative proposals pending from the previous Commission (including a few proposals relating to employment
and social affairs) and determining whether to pursue them.
He is also managing the process of checking the regulatory fitness and performance of EU laws presently
in force - a process that was launched under the previous Commission, as far as 24 EU occupational health
and safety laws are concerned (see Social Agenda n°38).
It is also Frans Timmermans’ task to check any Commission proposal against the EU Charter of Fundamental
Rights: a charter which has a strong social component, as it brings together all the personal, civic, political,
economic and social rights people enjoy in the EU into a single binding instrument.
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 19
SPECIAL FEATURE
Marianne Thyssen:
job creation and a fairer society
© Belgaimage
The new European Commissioner hopes that by 2019,
people will perceive Europe as taking action to facilitate
job creation and make social security systems sustainable
Marianne Thyssen: “Take any problem, it’s all about jobs, jobs, jobs and social protection too”.
“Citizens is what Europe is all about”, you said to
the European Parliament when you presented your
candidacy to become a European Commissioner.
In fact, one could say that citizens is what politics are about.
We are here to look at what problems people have, suggest
solutions and show results – especially right now, in Europe,
after the crisis hit us so hard. This is the only way to keep people’s trust or regain it, as opinion polls and studies show that
trust has gone, in political institutions in general as well as in
the EU institutions. If we see what problems 1, 2 and 3 are…
it’s all about jobs, jobs, jobs – and social protection too. So we
have to work very hard on that and show results. That’s why
I am so happy with this portfolio because I think I am really
at the heart of the problems. But I cannot do this alone. The
whole agenda of the Juncker Commission is focused on jobs,
growth, fairness and democratic change. The entire European
Commission agenda focuses on people’s problems.
Has trust been damaged by the measures taken in
an emergency in the face of the crisis?
People think that things are not fair, by a long way. Personally,
I understand that feeling but I think that what we have done,
all together – the European institutions and the EU countries –
to survive in the middle of the storm and then the structural
improvements and reorganisations, with the banking union
and the budget union… All this was necessary. But now that,
20 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
SPECIAL FEATURE
hopefully, the crisis is behind us, what do we see? Growth is
not coming spontaneously: we have to help it come about.
There are many people without a job, young people especially,
so we have to do something about that. We need to go further
in terms of budgetary consolidation but we also have to look
for growth and investment, with the aim of creating jobs and
offering opportunities to people. In everything we do from now
on, we have to look for the right balance between economic
efficiency and social fairness. The two have to go together,
otherwise whatever we do will not last.
You are a lawyer by training. Does that make you
particularly sensitive to fundamental rights?
Gender is very important for me. After a spell working at
university, I applied for a job in an organisation defending the
interests of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs, see
box) primarily because they were looking for someone to work
on the status of female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs’
spouses: their legal, tax and social security situation. At that
time, the law itself was discriminatory! So I was interested
in giving them equal rights. We live in the 21st century! A lot
has been done but we are not yet where we want to be. So
those who fight for that can find in me an ally, and I will
fight for it too!
A lot still remains to be done for SMEs too, like in
the field of health and safety?
In a small enterprise, the entrepreneur shares the same workplace and conditions as the people he hired! You cannot put
all the entrepreneurs and all the enterprises on the same level
and if you have to make a law, then make it in such a way
that it’s useful for SMEs: then it will be useful for everybody
else. “Think small first”! Also, if you want to fight in favour of
the weakest in society, then you have to fight for the small
enterprises. The big ones are important too of course, but in
general, they have better means to defend their interests.
© European Union
If we look at the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, lawyers
would say it is a kind of modern constitutional law. There are
many social rights in it that you do not find in every Member
State constitution. On the other hand, you cannot go to a
court and say: “this right is in the Charter”. You cannot have
an individual claim on the basis of the rights it contains, so
we have to do politics to achieve what the Charter promises.
That’s why we have a political agenda. Human rights are of
course the basis of everything and the rights contained in
the EU treaty – primary law – are fundamental for European
citizens. It’s up to us to make good use of all these rights and
use them as a hook for better policies and a better balance.
The right to gender equality, for example?
Taking over from László Andor: Skills and labour mobility have been added to the actual name of the new commissioner’s portfolio.
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 21
© Belgaimage
SPECIAL FEATURE
Gender equality: “Those who fight for that can find in me an ally, and I will fight for it too!”.
Skills and mobility are two words which have been
added to the name of your portfolio.
We have a labour market that is not functioning excellently.
One of the problems is that there are many unemployed
people but also many unfilled vacancies. It’s not only a matter of having good public employment services. It’s also a
matter of skills. Do people have the right ones? We know that
we need more skills for the Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (STEM) professions. If we look at the unemployment figures, we see that the worst situation is that of
the lowest skilled. Vocational and other training is a very
important tool for employment and social policy because if
you can train people in an apprenticeship, in a traineeship, in
vocational training when they are still young, they will have
a lot more chance to succeed on the labour market.
Intra-EU mobility has become rather controversial lately…
It’s on our agenda. First, we must defend mobility and the
free circulation of people as a fundamental right and one of
the corner stones of the internal market. You cannot say we
have an internal market but only for goods and capital, and
that people may not move! You cannot have free establishment if you cannot move. You cannot have freedom even of
services if you can’t bring people with you to work in another
EU country for a certain period. But of course we must not
turn a blind eye to problems that may exist. That is why we
must look at the legislation we presently have. I am happy
that we have already adopted an enforcement directive for
the posting of workers. Lets’ hope this really helps but we also
need to look into the posting of workers directive itself, hopefully in 2015. We also need to look into the EU regulation on
the coordination of the social security systems. If somebody
moves to another EU country or is in a cross-border situation,
to which social security provisions is he/she entitled and when?
How are they calculated, on what basis and who pays? Social
tourism has never been the objective of free movement, so
this is something we have to avoid. We need to check and see
whether there are problems. If there are a lot of them, then
there might be something wrong with the legislation and we
might have to open the box of Pandora…
You said “the word social is to regain its full
meaning”.
What I associate with the word “social” is a society in balance.
One that encourages people who have a lot of talents to use
them, take responsibility and go ahead, innovate, invest… but
also a society which looks at other people who are at risk of
getting left behind. We have to take them on board too, giving
them the possibility to participate in the labour market. And if
they can’t, we have to give them adequate social protection so
that everybody can at least participate in society and have the
chance to develop the talents they have. Balance also means
considering that economic growth and social advancement are
not contradictory. I am convinced that you need both! Growth
and economic prosperity won’t last if people don’t benefit
from it. It’s also about fairness, something difficult to define
but everybody knows what it’s about!
22 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
© Belgaimage
SPECIAL FEATURE
European social summit: “It would be great if we could be in the history books for having managed to give a fresh start to social dialogue after the crisis”.
How do you intend to boost the implementation of
the EU youth guarantee?
The money is available at this stage but is there enough
administrative capacity in all the EU countries to absorb it and
to do what was agreed? We are trying to help the Member
States to use the funds in the best possible way. However,
the best thing that can happen is that we have growth and
that more jobs are created. People can enter into a transition
to a job but there must indeed be a job at the other end of
the tunnel!
You want to rebalance the economic and the social
agenda. Are you confident that the European
Semester of economic policy coordination can be
rebalanced?
This was the message of President Junker at the start of our
mandate and if we look at the agenda on which we were all
elected, and at that of my own portfolio, then I will surely have
the support of the President and of the other commissioners. I
am happy that under the previous Commission, auxiliary social
indicators were introduced but now it is time to use them
in a better way, at the same level as other macroeconomic
imbalances indicators. Indeed, when in some EU countries
youth unemployment is above 50 %, you cannot deny that it
constitutes a macroeconomic imbalance which spills over and
has an impact on other EU countries.
As an MEP, you were used to connecting social and
economic affairs.
Yes, you have to connect them: it’s all about people. If you
are busy tackling economic problems, you do so for the people, not just for the functioning of a system. In the European
Parliament, I was rapporteur for the Common Corporate
Consolidated Tax Basis (CCCTB) for enterprises operating
in the EU. Fairness also applies to tax levels and I was very
happy that we could find a good majority to strengthen
some of the European Commission proposals. We could
come to a system where enterprises that work cross-border
and have activities in several EU countries only have to
work with one tax administration, within one tax system
where losses and gains are consolidated, with one tax base
only. The benefits would be distributed among the different countries according to an apportionment formula that
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 23
SPECIAL FEATURE
avoids enterprising, tax planning etc… It’s much fairer. It
might not be possible to harmonise the taxation systems
but if only we could have the CCCTB, we would take a
significant step forward.
How can the EU Economic and Monetary Union become
more social?
We should think in terms of minimum standards. For example,
having a minimum income in every EU country, based on a
reference budget. People are working on that right now. We
definitely need a more social economic and monetary union.
The social indicators I mentioned before can also play a key role
in this process. And so can strengthening the social dialogue.
What would you like to have achieved by the end of
your present mandate?
Considering my portfolio, having less unemployment and
less poverty would be a success, not just for me but for
the whole team of commissioners. I don’t know whether
we will be able to do that within five years. But I hope at
least that people will have seen that we took action to bring
about a fairer society and that Europe is protecting them.
I hope they understand that we are inciting the Member
States to undertake structural reforms, not to take away
their rights but to have sustainable social security systems
and ensure that the next generation of people will also
enjoy those rights. If they perceive Europe this way again,
then I will be happy.
Why do you want to re-launch the European social
dialogue?
Social partners are important stakeholders. I met them even
before officially starting as a Commissioner. So did VicePresident Dombrovskis. And we met them again once in
office, in November 2014. This gave them the opportunity
to influence the EU Annual Growth Survey, the adoption of
which, on 28 November 2014, launched the 2015 European
Semester economic and social policy coordination process.
We also agreed that in spring 2015, we will hold a high level
summit with the EU-level cross-industry and sectoral social
partners. We will also invite the national social partners, whom
we want to involve more in the country-specific recommendations stemming from the European Semester so that they are
better implemented. It would be great if, in ten years’ time,
we could already be in the history books for having managed
to give a fresh start to social dialogue after the crisis, just
as the Val Duchesse process had re-launched social dialogue
back in 1985!
You belong to six project teams chaired by different
Commission Vice-Presidents: the ones on Jobs, Growth,
Investment and Competitiveness, the Euro and Social
Dialogue, the Digital Single Market, the Energy Union,
Better Regulation and Inter-institutional Affairs and
the Budget and Human Resources. Will this kind
of cross-sectoral team work help mainstream the
employment and social dimension into all policy areas?
That’s my objective. In most policy areas, it all comes down
to job creation and fairness. We therefore need to check if all
our proposals have the potential to achieve these two goals.
We have a horizontal, across-the-board social clause in the
treaty, so let’s use it!
More information:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/thyssen_en
From SMEs to Europe via Belgian
politics
A long standing Member of the European
Parliament, from 1991 to 2014, Marianne Thyssen
took part in key parliamentary committees.
She ended up as Vice-Chair of the Economic
and Monetary Affairs committee. She was also
a member, at various stages, of the Internal
Market, International Trade and Climate
Change committees.
At national level, the new European Commissioner
for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour
Mobility was also one of the leaders of the CD&V
party of Flemish Christian-Democrats, of which
she was President from 2008 to 2010 and VicePresident from 1996 to 2001.
A lawyer by training, Marianne Thyssen was
a legal adviser at Unizo, an organisation
representing small and medium-size enterprises,
from 1980 to 1988, before becoming Director of
the Unizo research department. She became acting
Secretary-General of this organisation in 1991,
before moving on to European politics.
24 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
EUROPEAN
SOCIAL FUND
Jolanta – Nimble fingers
Šviesos raštas – © European Union
Deaf and mute, Jolanta is a seamstress for a famous designer
in Vilnius, Lithuania
A passion for sewing and embroidery: Jolanta made it with European Social Fund support.
During her secondary schooling, Jolanta developed
a passion for sewing and embroidery. Thanks to a
training centre supported by the European Social Fund,
she joined a school specialised in those crafts. There, a
teacher suggested she do a traineeship with a famous
designer, who has her own brand and whose first name
is Daiva. At the end of her traineeship, her teacher
persuaded Daiva to give Jolanta a trial job. Daiva
liked the way Jolanta embroidered and the designs
she made, so much so that she involved Jolanta in
the launching of a new line of church garments and
accessories.
tried to find something to blame for my disability. They said
it was my mother’s fault. My mother took their absurd criticisms to heart. She didn’t know how to react. She cried a lot.
Opinions have changed a bit. My mother is stronger now. She
has moved on from the things the doctors said. She learnt
the sign language to communicate with me.
Over to Jolanta:
We were not very hopeful that one day I would have a
‘normal’ job, a rewarding one that I really like. I’ve loved
embroidery since secondary school. I used to take a lot of
photos and tried to reproduce them through embroidery. I’m
lucky to do what I love, something that, at the beginning,
was a hobby for me. The training centre and the European
Social Fund allowed me to get a job that I love.
“I was three years old when the doctors detected my disability. My mother told me that people, at the time, were very
close-minded. They were afraid of deafness. The doctors
I’m the only deaf person in the workshop but my colleagues
and I understand each other really well, in every sense of
the term. It’s important for me to feel of use to society.
Šviesos raštas – © European Union
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 25
Trust: Designer Daiva (right) involved Jolanta in launching a new line of church garments.
They respect my difference and my little flaws. That’s what
matters, in my opinion.
Being deaf is not always easy. People’s reactions can be a
bit silly. Sometimes, when I am going to work, young people
see me signing with another deaf person or even with my
mother and they make fun of me. I just ignore them now.
My disability obviously limits my interactions with others.
But, in my work, I always find ways to communicate with
my colleagues and to understand each other. I sometimes
just use my phone to write phrases.
I am very sociable. I have lots of deaf friends. Deaf people
are a community. On the street, we ‘talk’ really quickly to
one another. I also chat with my friends online. When we
meet up in town, I take my dog. We love watching him play.
We normally meet at the square in front of the cathedral.
I always take lots of photos. When I travel, I do too. My
mother encourages me to take advantage of opportunities
I’m given. I’ve been on all the trips organised by school and
have already been to Russia, Belarus and Poland.
I get on well with my colleagues even if we are not particularly close. We work together so that creates a connection.
They love bringing in photos of their children and talking
about what they did at the weekend. I take photos of the
embroidery I do at home and show them to Greta and my
colleagues. We get together to have coffee and sometimes
I bring chocolate. My mother often comes to see me and I
show her my work.
Daiva, the owner of the company, is always full of new
ideas. She is very creative. And she seems to like the way I
embroider and the designs I am capable of. She wants me to
be involved in launching her new line of church garments and
accessories. I am working very meticulously on this project,
because I don’t want to let her down. I am very flattered by
and proud of her trust in me.
I get on well with Greta, Daiva’s assistant. Greta is the one
who tells me about my work for the day and organises my
schedule. To communicate with her, I write. I can read on her
lips. Greta always encourages me. I know that I am sometimes slower than the others but I am also very diligent in
my work. And quality is very important to us. That’s what
our clients expect.
I am surrounded by family and I love my job. I wouldn’t
change things for anything in the world”.
Taken from:
“Seven lives – on the road to success with the European
Social Fund”, ISBN 978-92-79-30126-1
Video:
http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=564&langId=en&portr
aitId=257 More information:
http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=564&langId=en
Towards work
Jolanta was helped by the “Towards Work”
programme, run by the Lithuanian Deaf Community
and supported by the European Social Fund. The aim
of this programme is to develop mediation services
which facilitate the recruitment of people with
hearing disabilities.
26 / SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014
OTHER
VOICES
We need a
Marshall Plan 2.0
having a job is not the only thing that matters: the conditions
under which people are expected or able to do their work are
important too. “Back to work – at any cost” is not the way forward for a social Europe. The European Union has a particular
responsibility here. This comes explicitly within its powers.
© European Union
Strong labour laws
Thomas Händel: Back to work – at any cost- is not the way forward.
Unemployment, poverty, a fragmented labour market – we are
facing historic challenges.
Unemployment in Europe is at a record level, with almost a
quarter of the people in Europe living in poverty or at risk of
poverty. Fewer and fewer people in Europe have permanent
jobs with wages above the poverty line. Precariousness is eating
away at European societies like a cancer. This is unworthy of
a modern society – let alone in the richest period in Europe’s
history. We need to talk about a European minimum wage level.
Our most pressing task right now, however, is fighting youth
unemployment. In some Member States, 60 % of young people
do not have a job or a decent income. An entire generation is
being robbed of its future. This is a disaster for a social Europe.
The EU has the obligation to keep its promises of prosperity
and employment. Youth guarantees alone will not bring this
about. A comprehensive investment programme for new jobs
is needed. The re-industrialisation of Europe has a key role to
play here. What Europe needs is a “Marshall Plan” 2.0.
However, the citizens of the EU expect qualitative as well as
quantitative improvements, such as improved rules for health
and safety in the workplace or better cooperation between
the Member States to tackle the situations of abuse, including
undeclared work or the circumvention of laws designed to protect workers, for example when they are posted abroad. Simply
If we want a single European labour market in the future, we
must also renew our commitment to common, strong labour
laws. We still find employment categories subject to different
European laws. This further exacerbates the segmentation
of the labour market. We need to discuss how we can reduce
exceptions to the laws and make it more difficult to circumvent
them. We need to introduce effective measures to fight social
decline and put into practice the principle of “equal pay and
equal rights for the same work in the same place”.
We need to discuss the issue of strengthening the European
definition of an employee to prevent phenomena such as bogus
self-employment, abusive practices in employment contracts
and new forms of “day labour” including zero-hour contracts.
A recast of the European Working Time Directive needs to reinforce the positive effects of the existing directive without sending flexibility skyrocketing. The debate on the creation of a new
free trade agreement must be strictly based on the defence
and reinforcement of our labour and social security standards.
Labour and social security standards are not barriers to trade.
I will direct my energies towards strengthening the social
dimension of the EU as a whole. The crisis management policies
pursued over the last few years have not solved the problems:
on the contrary, they have made them even more pressing.
Fairness and solidarity in a social Europe is only possible if we
have good jobs, good pay, good pensions and social progress
for everyone, protecting us against poverty and ensuring that
we can live without fear. Enough new jobs – and an increase
in the target employment figures – will only become realistic goals if there is massive investment linked to measurable
employment targets. People should speak of the EU in the same
breath as hope and good prospects in life, not associate it with
fear and depression.
Thomas Händel
MEP, Chair of the Committee on Employment
and Social Affairs of the European Parliament
SOCIAL AGENDA / DECEMBER 2014 / 27
Jiry Plecity: Audits look more and more at how programmes
actually performed.
INTERVIEW
© European Union
Jiri Plecity is in charge of control,
audit and legal procedures
in the European Commission’s
department for employment,
social affairs and inclusion
since 16 February 2014
You were 13 when the 1989 Velvet Revolution broke
out in what was then Czechoslovakia. Two years later,
you left for France to spend the last three years of your
secondary schooling.
Yes, in 1991, I was part of the second bulk of 10 young Czechs
to benefit from a cooperation programme. Suddenly, the borders
had opened up, there were many new opportunities. My intention to come to Brussels at some point was born from the very
beginning of those three years.
You went back to France a few years later to study at
the prestigious Ecole nationale d’Administration (ENA).
After the lycée in France, I decide to go back to the Czech Republic
so as not to lose touch with my country, which was undergoing
fast and dramatic change. I studied economics and specialised
in international relations and European integration. Then I did a
competition to be part of ENA’s long international cycle. There,
I learnt more about methodology than substance: how (French)
public administration works in a wide array of areas ranging
from economics to law.
You were involved in designing the EU’s successive
growth strategies. What do you think of the
Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth, with its precise employment and
social inclusion targets?
Considering the complexity of the EU decision-making process, it
is extremely useful to have policy targets towards which we all
work together. Member States tend to be relatively short-term
oriented, in line with the budgetary and political cycles, while the
Auditing
performance
EU delivers a more long term perspective. Europe 2020 fulfils
that role. Of course, there has been a mismatch between the long
term ambitions of Europe 2020 and the short term challenges
brought about by the financial and economic crisis. We had to
adapt our instruments and policies but we should not drop the
objectives of Europe 2020, which are still as relevant as ever.
You now work in the field of audit and control of EU
programmes in the employment and social areas.
This is crucial to ensure that tax payers’ money is spent according
to the rules that have been specifically designed for this purpose.
But what I find really interesting is the increasing importance
of audits looking at the actual performance of programmes
and policies.
How do you measure the performance of programmes
supporting people?
On a case by case basis. There are two aspects to the development of human capital. One aspect is to empower people,
so that they are able to achieve their aspirations, e.g. have a
decent, high quality job. The other aspect is the macro-economic dimension: investing in human capital is not only about
helping people; it is also about promoting economic growth and
productivity and this is much more difficult to measure. You
can only see the effects of human capital investment in the
long run and it’s not always easy to distinguish its impact on
competitiveness from that of other factors. However, there are
very robust studies which show that countries that have decided
to prioritise investment in human capital, such as Finland in
the EU or Singapore and South Korea in Asia, tend to be better
off and more productive than others.
KE-AF-13-039-EN-N
KE-02-14-709-EN-N
Corporate Social Responsibility – National Public Policies in the European
Union - 2014
Corporate Social
Responsibility
National Public Policies
in the European Union
This compendium is partly the result of seven peer reviews on corporate social responsibility (CSR)
that took place in 2013 between EU Member State ministries. It provides an update on the actions
taken by EU Member States since the publication of the 2011 Communication on CSR. Some of
the most common approaches as well as good practices are highlighted in a series of thematic
sections, relating to different parts of CSR policy. There is a substantial annex on initiatives taken
Member State-by-Member State. This publication is available in electronic format in English.
Compendium 2014
peer reviews on corporate social responsibility (CSR) that
e ministries. It provides an update on the actions taken by
2011 Communication on CSR. Some of the most common
ghted in a series of thematic sections, relating to different
ex on initiatives taken Member State-by-Member State.
at in English.
for free at
ut the Directorate-General
n up to receive the free
y_COVER V03.indd 1-3
European Globalisation Adjustment Fund – Solidarity in the face of change
European
Globalisation
Adjustment
Fund
Solidarity in the face
of change
Social Europe
EUEMP12A-1464-I01 - EGF Leaflet - Booklet A5 Accessibility V16.indd 1
05-09-14 15:19:54
Employment across Europe has suffered due to the impacts of globalisation and the worldwide
financial and economic crisis. This leaflet focuses on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
(EGF), which co-funds support to EU workers who find themselves unemployed after the closure of a
large company, major dismissals or when production in a sector shifts outside the EU. Personalised
assistance measures, channelled through regional or national authorities, aim to help those people
who qualify for EGF support to find another job or set up their own business. This report is available in all EU languages.
Catalogue No.: KE-04-14-739-EN-N
Adequate social protection for long-term care needs in an ageing society
Adequate social protection
for long-term care needs
in an ageing society
Adequate social protection for long-term care needs in an ageing society
Report jointly prepared by the Social Protection Committee and the European Commission
ption
23-10-14 14:52:43
KE-04-14-706-EN-C
te-General
an Commission’s free
ial/e-newsletter
Catalogue No.: KE-02-14-709-EN-N
Social Europe
Report jointly prepared by the
Social Protection Committee
and the European Commission
22-08-14 14:05:39
This report examines to what extent innovative approaches to social protection against the
risk of long-term care dependency – such as prevention, rehabilitation and support for the
independent living of frail older people – can help EU Member States ensure that adequate
provisions for long-term care needs can be organised in a sustainable way even at the height
of population ageing. It argues that national policy makers should move from the present
primarily reactive to an increasingly proactive policy approach seeking both to prevent the
loss of autonomy and thus reduce care demand, and to boost efficient, cost-effective care
provision. Published by the Social Protection Committee (SPC), the report identifies promising
innovative approaches around the EU and suggests how the Union can support the efforts of
Member States by facilitating the exchange of best practices, by researching and testing new
solutions and fostering technical and social innovation.
Catalogue No.: KE-04-14-706-EN-C
Useful websites
The website of Commissioner Thyssen: http://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/thyssen_en
The home page of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion: http://ec.europa.eu/social/
The website of the European Social Fund: http://ec.europa.eu/esf
To download or to order these publications, please go to http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en
To subscribe to the ‘Social Agenda’ magazine or to other publications of DG Employment,
Social Affairs and Inclusion, please fill in the registration form available at: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=740&langId=en