Seminar on Employment Summit: Anti-crisis measures must respect common EU rules
Today Prague hosted the last of the three seminars paving the way for the Tripartite Employment Summit, to be held in Prague on 7 May. The participants discussed general principles to shape the employment policy in times of crisis so as to minimise negative impacts on employment.
The Prague seminar focused on issues associated with employment retention, new jobs creation and support of mobility on the labour market. The Presidency emphasised that the measures adopted by the Member States to deal with the crisis must be coordinated so as to respect the rules of the internal EU market and be in line with the long-term reform efforts of the EU.
The aim of the meeting was to give a common basic direction to the measures adopted by the EU Member States to combat the crisis. The Member States have different needs and opportunities to consider in implementing specific measures. Therefore, a single recipe for combating unemployment that would apply to all simply does not exist. However, the fundamental steps chosen by the Member States must be harmonised and contribute to the resolution of the crisis in the entire EU. “The measures should not result in people leaving the labour market prematurely or place a long-term burden on public funds. Their effectiveness and efficiency should therefore be carefully assessed”, said the Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Petr Nečas. “The measures must not export problems abroad”, he added.
The specific measures adopted by the Member States to retain the current employment levels mainly support flexible working hours during temporary production cuts.
Measures aimed to support new jobs creation include, for instance, reductions in labour costs (save for remunerations), simplified administration or improvements of the business environment. However, actions taken to simplify business-making must focus on perspective fields of business.
Substantial space for improvement can also be observed in labour market mobility. This includes, in particular, recognition of qualifications, transferability of social security claims and better awareness of vacant jobs in the individual Member States.
The Prague seminar is the third of a number of events organised within the preparations for the May Employment Summit. The first event, focused on improvement of skills and adaptation to labour market needs, was held on 15 April, and the second one, focused on improving access to employment, was held on 20 April in Sweden.
Contacts:
- Jana Říhová, Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
- tel.: +420 221 922 249, GSM: +420 725 761 147; e-mail: jana.rihova@mpsv.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:29
