BETA


2009/2519(RSP) Resolution on implementation of the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States 2008-2010

Progress: Procedure completed

Legal Basis:
RoP 136-p5

Events

2009/10/06
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2009/03/11
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2009/03/11
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2009/03/11
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

Following the debate which took place during the sitting of 19 February 2009, the European Parliament adopted by 548 votes to 74 with 31 abstentions, a resolution tabled by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on implementation of the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States 2008-2010. in the face of a severe worldwide recession and a forecast increase in unemployment of at least 3.5 million in the EU by the end of 2009, Parliament believes that the central goals of employment policy must be:

to preserve as many viable jobs as possible from the short-term failure of demand; to assist employment creation; and to support both the purchasing power of unemployed workers and their ability rapidly to re-gain employment.

It calls on the Commission to give a clear signal to Member States that the Employment Guidelines should be implemented in this spirit, and to tackle employment as a priority issue by putting proposals to the 2009 Spring European Council for a European Employment Initiative, with coordinated action by Member States to safeguard employment and create new jobs.

Parliament notes as a central dilemma in the current crisis that European economic policy instruments are not yet developed enough successfully to meet the challenges ahead. It requires an update of the essential policy tools , in particular the Integrated Guidelines, the Stability and Growth Pact, as well as the Sustainable Development Strategy, in order to integrate them under the umbrella of a New Deal for Smart Growth in the EU.

Parliament urges the Council to agree on short-term measures to safeguard the 2008 employment rate and to invest in the fight against climate change, and to call on the Member States and the social partners to ensure sufficient incomes with special regard to the most vulnerable groups of society. The Commission is asked to launch initiatives with respect to these goals in time for the Spring European Council. Members recall that coordinated investment by the Member States in the five core Lisbon goals – research, education, active labour market policies, childcare and incentives for private investment – must be a key element in employment policy.

Employment Guidelines 2008-2010 : Parliament stresses the urgent need for a rigorous implementation. It wants Member States to report in their National Reform Plans on how to improve compliance with and implementation of the principles of European social legislation, agreements between the social partners and the fundamental principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination. In view of the severity of the economic crisis, the Commission must be prepared to take exceptional measures, including a widening of access to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), which must be able to support workers in a wider range of situations, including temporary workers who have lost their jobs, and a temporary opening of the European Social Fund (ESF) to support employment preservation measures via training schemes.

Parliament stresses the importance of the following:

the strengthening of EU measures to deal with restructuring, in particular the strengthening of information and consultation rights; the next reform of the EU Structural Funds to seek to focus the Funds' objectives more closely on the creation of sustainable, high-quality employment; education to increasing workers’ employability also to improving their mobility, which is important for the functioning of the internal market; guideline 23 and of substantial investments in lifelong learning in order to lower the unemployment rate; the delivery of adult learning to raise participation; fulfilling objective of guideline 18, so that every young person who has left school should be offered, within 4 months, a job, apprenticeship, additional training or other employability measure; decisive action to combat the problem of low participation of women in the labour market; guideline 17 concerning the implementation of social and territorial cohesion to prevent deficiencies in this area; investments in the welfare sector, which needs to be maintained in order to prevent a decline in quality of community services and a rise in unemployment rates.

Parliament notes with regret that it is possible that during this time of economic crisis there may be some pressure on wages in some companies as a voluntary alternative to selective redundancies. It considers it important that:

each Member State establish a policy of taking competition on the basis of poverty wages out of the market; collectively bargained agreements have a wide coverage; the hierarchy of collective agreements be respected; wages and working conditions, as laid out in collective agreements and/or labour law, be respected and implemented in practice.

Coordinated action : Parliament underlines the importance of proactive and coordinated investments across Member States, including in productive infrastructure, education and climate change, to achieve the goal of raising employment levels, and ensuring social cohesion. It stresses also the need to improve the quality of jobs available today.

Documents
2009/03/11
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2009/03/09
   CSL - Debate in Council
Details

The Council agreed to a general approach on a decision maintaining the current Guidelines for the Employment Policies of the Member States unchanged in 2009 and to transmit the document to the Spring European Council. Following receipt of the opinions of the European Parliament and of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, the

Employment and Social Affairs Council is expected to reach political agreement on the Employment Guidelines at its June 2009 session.

To recall, in 2008, the Council decided that the Integrated Guidelines for 2008-2010 should be valid for three years, and that their updating in the intermediate years should remain strictly limited.

The Guidelines for the Employment Policies of the Member State form together with the broad Guidelines for the economic policies the Integrated Guidelines for growth and jobs.

Documents
2009/03/09
   CSL - Council Meeting
2009/02/19
   EP - Motion for a resolution
Documents

Documents

Activities

Votes

B6-0133/2009 - Lignes directrices pour les politiques de l'emploi - résolution #

2009/03/11 Outcome: +: 548, -: 74, 0: 31
DE IT FR ES PL RO GB NL HU BE BG EL PT AT LT SK DK FI SE IE SI EE LV LU MT CY CZ
Total
86
57
61
43
45
30
62
26
22
21
16
21
20
13
10
12
14
13
18
9
6
6
7
5
5
5
20
icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE
249

Lithuania PPE-DE

1

Denmark PPE-DE

1

Estonia PPE-DE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE-DE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg PPE-DE

3

Malta PPE-DE

2

Cyprus PPE-DE

2
icon: PSE PSE
188

Lithuania PSE

2

Finland PSE

2

Estonia PSE

3

Luxembourg PSE

For (1)

1

Czechia PSE

2
icon: ALDE ALDE
87
2

Austria ALDE

1

Sweden ALDE

2

Slovenia ALDE

2

Estonia ALDE

2

Latvia ALDE

1

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Cyprus ALDE

For (1)

1
icon: UEN UEN
34

Lithuania UEN

1

Denmark UEN

Against (1)

1

Ireland UEN

3
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
28

Italy Verts/ALE

1

Spain Verts/ALE

1

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

4

Netherlands Verts/ALE

Abstain (1)

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Austria Verts/ALE

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Sweden Verts/ALE

Abstain (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1
icon: IND/DEM IND/DEM
11

Poland IND/DEM

3

United Kingdom IND/DEM

3

Netherlands IND/DEM

2

Denmark IND/DEM

Abstain (1)

1

Sweden IND/DEM

2
icon: NI NI
19

Italy NI

For (1)

1

Poland NI

1

Bulgaria NI

For (1)

1

Austria NI

Against (1)

2

Slovakia NI

Against (1)

1

Czechia NI

Against (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
37

France GUE/NGL

2

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

2

Portugal GUE/NGL

3

Denmark GUE/NGL

1

Finland GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Ireland GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

1

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

docs/0/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-6-2009-0133_EN.html
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-6-2009-0133_EN.html
events/2/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20090311&type=CRE
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/EN&reference=20090311&type=CRE
events/3
date
2009-03-11T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2009-0122_EN.html title: T6-0122/2009
summary
events/3
date
2009-03-11T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2009-0122_EN.html title: T6-0122/2009
summary
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 136-p5
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 128-p5
docs/0/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B6-2009-133&language=EN
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-6-2009-0133_EN.html
docs/1/body
EC
events/3/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2009-122
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2009-0122_EN.html
activities
  • body: CSL meeting_id: 2930 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=2930*&MEET_DATE=09/03/2009 type: Debate in Council title: 2930 council: Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs date: 2009-03-09T00:00:00 type: Council Meeting
  • date: 2009-03-11T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=16887&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20090311&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2009-122 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0122/2009 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
committees
    council
    • body: CSL type: Council Meeting council: Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs meeting_id: 2930 url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=2930*&MEET_DATE=09/03/2009 date: 2009-03-09T00:00:00
    docs
    • date: 2009-02-19T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B6-2009-133&language=EN title: B6-0133/2009 type: Motion for a resolution body: EP
    • date: 2009-10-06T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=16887&j=0&l=en title: SP(2009)3244 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
    events
    • date: 2009-03-09T00:00:00 type: Debate in Council body: CSL docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=2930*&MEET_DATE=09/03/2009 title: 2930 summary: The Council agreed to a general approach on a decision maintaining the current Guidelines for the Employment Policies of the Member States unchanged in 2009 and to transmit the document to the Spring European Council. Following receipt of the opinions of the European Parliament and of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, the Employment and Social Affairs Council is expected to reach political agreement on the Employment Guidelines at its June 2009 session. To recall, in 2008, the Council decided that the Integrated Guidelines for 2008-2010 should be valid for three years, and that their updating in the intermediate years should remain strictly limited. The Guidelines for the Employment Policies of the Member State form together with the broad Guidelines for the economic policies the Integrated Guidelines for growth and jobs.
    • date: 2009-03-11T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=16887&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
    • date: 2009-03-11T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20090311&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
    • date: 2009-03-11T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2009-122 title: T6-0122/2009 summary: Following the debate which took place during the sitting of 19 February 2009, the European Parliament adopted by 548 votes to 74 with 31 abstentions, a resolution tabled by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on implementation of the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States 2008-2010. in the face of a severe worldwide recession and a forecast increase in unemployment of at least 3.5 million in the EU by the end of 2009, Parliament believes that the central goals of employment policy must be: to preserve as many viable jobs as possible from the short-term failure of demand; to assist employment creation; and to support both the purchasing power of unemployed workers and their ability rapidly to re-gain employment. It calls on the Commission to give a clear signal to Member States that the Employment Guidelines should be implemented in this spirit, and to tackle employment as a priority issue by putting proposals to the 2009 Spring European Council for a European Employment Initiative, with coordinated action by Member States to safeguard employment and create new jobs. Parliament notes as a central dilemma in the current crisis that European economic policy instruments are not yet developed enough successfully to meet the challenges ahead. It requires an update of the essential policy tools , in particular the Integrated Guidelines, the Stability and Growth Pact, as well as the Sustainable Development Strategy, in order to integrate them under the umbrella of a New Deal for Smart Growth in the EU. Parliament urges the Council to agree on short-term measures to safeguard the 2008 employment rate and to invest in the fight against climate change, and to call on the Member States and the social partners to ensure sufficient incomes with special regard to the most vulnerable groups of society. The Commission is asked to launch initiatives with respect to these goals in time for the Spring European Council. Members recall that coordinated investment by the Member States in the five core Lisbon goals – research, education, active labour market policies, childcare and incentives for private investment – must be a key element in employment policy. Employment Guidelines 2008-2010 : Parliament stresses the urgent need for a rigorous implementation. It wants Member States to report in their National Reform Plans on how to improve compliance with and implementation of the principles of European social legislation, agreements between the social partners and the fundamental principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination. In view of the severity of the economic crisis, the Commission must be prepared to take exceptional measures, including a widening of access to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), which must be able to support workers in a wider range of situations, including temporary workers who have lost their jobs, and a temporary opening of the European Social Fund (ESF) to support employment preservation measures via training schemes. Parliament stresses the importance of the following: the strengthening of EU measures to deal with restructuring, in particular the strengthening of information and consultation rights; the next reform of the EU Structural Funds to seek to focus the Funds' objectives more closely on the creation of sustainable, high-quality employment; education to increasing workers’ employability also to improving their mobility, which is important for the functioning of the internal market; guideline 23 and of substantial investments in lifelong learning in order to lower the unemployment rate; the delivery of adult learning to raise participation; fulfilling objective of guideline 18, so that every young person who has left school should be offered, within 4 months, a job, apprenticeship, additional training or other employability measure; decisive action to combat the problem of low participation of women in the labour market; guideline 17 concerning the implementation of social and territorial cohesion to prevent deficiencies in this area; investments in the welfare sector, which needs to be maintained in order to prevent a decline in quality of community services and a rise in unemployment rates. Parliament notes with regret that it is possible that during this time of economic crisis there may be some pressure on wages in some companies as a voluntary alternative to selective redundancies. It considers it important that: each Member State establish a policy of taking competition on the basis of poverty wages out of the market; collectively bargained agreements have a wide coverage; the hierarchy of collective agreements be respected; wages and working conditions, as laid out in collective agreements and/or labour law, be respected and implemented in practice. Coordinated action : Parliament underlines the importance of proactive and coordinated investments across Member States, including in productive infrastructure, education and climate change, to achieve the goal of raising employment levels, and ensuring social cohesion. It stresses also the need to improve the quality of jobs available today.
    • date: 2009-03-11T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
    links
    other
      procedure/legal_basis/0
      Rules of Procedure EP 128-p5
      procedure/legal_basis/0
      Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 128-p5
      procedure/subject
      Old
      • 4.15.02 Employment: guidelines, actions, Funds
      New
      4.15.02
      Employment: guidelines, actions, Funds
      procedure/subtype
      Old
      Debate or resolution on oral questions
      New
      Debate or resolution on oral question/interpellation
      activities
      • body: CSL meeting_id: 2930 docs: url: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/content/out?lang=EN&typ=SET&i=SMPL&ROWSPP=25&RESULTSET=1&NRROWS=500&DOC_LANCD=EN&ORDERBY=DOC_DATE+DESC&CONTENTS=2930*&MEET_DATE=09/03/2009 type: Debate in Council title: 2930 council: Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs date: 2009-03-09T00:00:00 type: Council Meeting
      • date: 2009-03-11T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=16887&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20090311&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2009-122 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0122/2009 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
      committees
        links
        other
          procedure
          reference
          2009/2519(RSP)
          title
          Resolution on implementation of the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States 2008-2010
          legal_basis
          Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 128-p5
          stage_reached
          Procedure completed
          subtype
          Debate or resolution on oral questions
          type
          RSP - Resolutions on topical subjects
          subject
          4.15.02 Employment: guidelines, actions, Funds