The rapporteur, Mr HUGHES, wanted to see a monitoring system set up for the implementation of the process launched by the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, and particularly the employment surveillance procedure to monitor Member States’ multi-annual programmes. He also called for training to be used for promoting job creation in the employment markets of the future, instead of being seen as a means for increasing competitiveness in a saturated marketplace. He also wanted to see the Community programmes Leonardo, Socrates and Youth for Europe managed as democratically as possible and called on the Commission to look at ways in which action could be taken in the following areas: the protection of teleworkers, the protection of workers’ privacy, holidays and sick pay and more flexible working hours. The rapporteur was keen to see social policy being given its own legal basis within the Treaty and to this effect he also recommended that the principle of equal treatment irrespective of race, gender, religion or handicap be introduced at the Intergovernmental Conference. Finally, he called on the Commission to include social clauses (on child labour, trade union rights, etc.) in the international agreements being concluded in the context of the World Trade Organisation. Commissioner Flynn cited a number of measures that had been taken by the Commission: recommendations on racism and xenophobia, the strengthening of national legal instruments relating to collective bargaining and the Fourth Framework Programme, which focused on health issues, the role of women in the decision making process, early retirement, social protection and the handicapped. He also referred to the fact that the Commission’s 1995 annual report on employment had given priority to young people and to a strategy for employment; this was soon to be complemented by a report on structural policy. The programme was to be reviewed during the first half of 1996 and the Commission would be taking account of the opinions expressed by the social partners, the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee. As regards equality, Mr FLYNN pointed out that this issue affected each and every citizen and for this reason the Commission would be calling for an anti-discrimination clause to be included in the new Treaty. Finally, the Commissioner said that 32 proposals dealing with employment were still being examined by the Council and that this deadlock had to be broken.

The Committee of the Regions noted that due to the decentralisation of labour market policy over the past few years, local and regional authorities played an active part in planning, prioritising and coordinating labour market measures to help the unemployed. Efforts should be made to implement job creation measures but the imposition of uniform objectives on all Member States would make it impossible to provide a flexible and rapid response to labour market trends in the regions. The Committee recommended that Member States organise administration of the Social Fund Objective 4 on regional lines and urged the Commission not to uphold proposals for rules that might create special problems for local and regional authorities in their capacity as employers. It was opposed to any move to impose regulations affecting local wage negotiations. It was also very interested to note the Commission’s desire to initiate consultations with the social partners on individual dismissals, but at this early stage it had some doubts about the need for EU legislation concerning such conditions of employment. Community action on citizens’ social rights should not be too detailed, given the cultural, economic and organisational diversity of Europe . The Committee was surprised that housing policy did not play a greater part in the programme, and it called on the Commission to highlight this issue in the programme. It also urged the Commission to draw up a programme for monitoring and collecting information on threats to public health, such as allergies, toxic substances and drug residues in foodstuffs. It called for the EU to work harder to ensure the inclusion of minimum social standards in international trade agreements, thus ensuring discrimination against products manufactured under socially unacceptable conditions.