Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-075"
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"en.20021009.6.3-075"2
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"Mr President, I wish to thank the Council and the Commission for their statements on employment strategy, and I also wish to thank the two rapporteurs. In my speech, I wish to concentrate on employment strategy.
It is good that there has been an evaluation after five years. It is important to see what has worked well, what has not worked so well and where there is room for improvement. The Council is right in saying that it is the result which counts in the end. The overall results for the past five years are, however, fairly good. There has been an increase in active employment measures, unemployment has fallen, and employment has risen accordingly. If we compare the way we have tackled employment during various phases of recession, we can confirm that this recession is a great improvement on the last, even if unemployment is rising at present in some countries.
On the subject now of the proposed changes themselves and their extent, it is certainly the case that the pillar structure is not an end in itself, but it is important that a number of different aspects are included in employment strategy. Here, I am of course talking about the targets of a rise in employment and a fall in unemployment, an increase in employment for women, high-quality employment and aspects of work organisation. There is one more aspect that no one has mentioned, which is that sustainable development must be integrated into employment strategy as it is into the other two strategies.
I share the view that has been expressed on stability. We should not step in and make changes every year. Unless there are any particular developments, these processes should be allowed to continue for a number of years. I also share the view as regards focus. It becomes difficult if there are too many indicators and targets. We need to focus on the most important goals, and we need to take care of implementation and results.
Regarding openness and the participation of partners, I wish to emphasise what has been said about the social partners. They already play a central role, and there are reasons for increasing their participation in the employment strategy. There are, however, some shortcomings, especially in the field of democratic control. There is a lack of influence on the part of the European Parliament on overall strategy, and a lack of influence on the part of the national parliaments regarding implementation and Member States’ national action plans. These issues are important. We cannot let such important issues be decided behind closed doors by employees’ associations. We must have proper democratic control.
When we coordinate the processes, however, no one process is more important than another. The economic process is just as important as the social and employment-policy processes, and we must also bring in the social guidelines when we synchronise the processes. All of this is important. If there is anyone who should be doing the coordinating it is the General Council."@en1
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