Date of release : 08-02-2005

Policy area : Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs

During a presentation of the key points of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union regarding labour, employment and social security, Ministers François Biltgen (Labour and Employment) and Di Bartolomeo (Social Security and Health) committed themselves to "the maintenance of all the pillars of the Lisbon Strategy, including the social aspect." François Biltgen underlined that "this is even more important at a time when many people are concerned that Europe is exclusively a Europe of liberalisation aimed at the economy and growth and that they may be deprived of social protection. Faced with such concerns, we must show that social Europe exists." Mindful of maintaining the balance between growth, the creation of high-quality jobs, social cohesion and sustainable development, the Luxembourg Presidency will help prepare the EPSCO Council of 3 March 2005 and the Spring Summit.

For François Biltgen, however, maintaining the social aspect does not mean that it cannot be modernised: "Job creation is above all a question of creating better jobs, not only cheaper jobs." The Presidency expects the Commission to submit a new Social Agenda which can be integrated into the Lisbon Strategy.

The social dimension of globalisation is another point which concerns the Presidency. It insists on monitoring the Halonen-M’Kapa report drawn up by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with the EU’s support. The issue will be tackled in Budapest from 14 to 18 February 2005 during the ILO’s regional "Europe" conference, which will be co-presided by the Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

Regarding the Bolkestein directive, the Luxembourg Presidency advocates the free provision of services, but opposes social dumping. The minister announced that "Particular attention will be paid to the provisions relating to the application of the ‘detachment’ directive, to which the directive will not apply in principle, and to the fate awaiting temporary work, which does not currently form an integral part of the directive because of the risk of undermining the protective legislation of most Member States."

François Biltgen announced that he wanted to direct the talks on the "Reform of working hours" directive towards "more specific and more technical ground." The opt-out, the option for an employer and an employee to decide by means of an individual agreement on more than 48 working hours as provided for by the directive, will be touched on in accordance with the needs of the various Member States with regard to flexibility. The issue of employees’ health and the need to avoid individual agreements will be taken into consideration so as not to undermine social dialogue where it exists. "Because", the minister emphasised, "social dialogue does not exist in a number of Member States, particularly among the new EU countries."

Minister Di Bartolomeo expressed his satisfaction with the excellent cooperation on social security between the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament. "The Kok report", he added, "has not developed the social aspect sufficiently. The upshot is that the Luxembourg Presidency is able to deliberate on this issue. The talks on the Bolkestein directive have also had a positive effect. First of all, a debate was held before, and not after, its promulgation. Then, a number of people who did not take part in the European debate beforehand have realised that Europe is important and that we must adopt a position. The effect of all this is that the directive is once again under the spotlight."

Mars Di Bartolomeo explained that "the Luxembourg Presidency will have to deal with the coordination of social security schemes and various modifications to European Regulation No. 1408/71 which relates to security schemes for migrant workers." We must determine objective criteria in order to qualify a non-exportable service and integrate national provisions that correspond to these criteria in the regulation.

As part of the work on healthcare within the context of rationalisation, the Luxembourg Presidency will be organising two conferences aimed at orienting future work on this issue. The aim is to guarantee access for all European citizens to high-quality healthcare, irrespective of their financial means, including care provided abroad if it is deemed necessary.