PURPOSE: to revise Council Decision 2003/174/EC
establishing a Tripartite Social Summit for Growth and
Employment.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
BACKGROUND: the Tripartite Social Summit for Growth
and Employment (TSS) was set up by Council Decision 2003/174/EC,
which formalised the practice of holding highlevel, informal
meetings since 1997 in the framework of the European Employment
Strategy, and subsequently the Lisbon Strategy.
This Decision was proposed to institutionalise the
practice of high-level consultation between the EU institutions and
the EU social partners. The proposal meant abolishing the former
Standing Committee on Employment, which was set up in 1970 and
reformed in 1999.
Since 2003, the TSS has been a separate event from the
European Council meetings and has broadly fulfilled its aim of
facilitating the exchange of views at the highest level between the
Commission, the EU Presidency and the EU social partners on
employment and social aspects of the Lisbon Strategy (since 2010,
and then of the Europe 2020 Strategy).
Until the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, the
meetings were co-chaired by the Council Presidency and the
President of the Commission. The 2003 Decision also gave a role to
the two subsequent Presidencies.
In its Communication of 2 October
2013 on the social dimension of the EMU, the Commission announced
that it will present a proposal to revise the 2003 Council
Decision. This is the aim of this proposal.
The amendment of the 2003 Council Decision is also
needed as a result of the institutional changes brought in by the
Treaty of Lisbon.
In addition, the overall policy framework needs to be
revised, replacing the Lisbon Strategy with the Europe 2020
Strategy and specifying how the TSS for Growth and Employment
contributes to the overall governance.
CONTENT: this proposal seeks to revise the 2003
Council Decision. The main provisions may be summarised as
follows:
Task: its tasks shall be
to:
- ensure, in compliance with the Treaty and with due
regard for the powers of the institutions and bodies of the Union,
that there is a continuous concertation between the Council, the
Commission
- and the social partners;
- enable the social partners at European level to
contribute, in the context of their social dialogue, to the various
components of the Unions strategy for growth and
jobs.
Membership: the main
amendments concern the membership of the TSS. The Summit shall
consist of the:
President of the European Council,
- the Council Presidency,
- the two subsequent presidencies,
- the Commission,
- the social partners.
The ministers from those three presidencies and the
Commissioner responsible for employment and social affairs shall
also be present.
The social partners representatives shall be
divided into two delegations of equal size comprising 10
workers representatives and 10 employers
representatives, taking into account the need to ensure a balanced
participation between men and women.
Each delegation shall consist of representatives of
European cross-industry organisations, either representing general
interests or more specific interests of supervisory and managerial
staff and small and medium-sized businesses at European
level.
Technical coordination shall be provided for the
workers delegation by the European Trade Union Confederation
(ETUC) and for the employers delegation by the Confederation
of European Business (BUSINESSEUROPE).
Technical provisions are set out as
regards:
- the preparation of the Summit;
- the operation (the Summit shall meet at least twice a
year. The meetings shall be held before the respective spring and
autumn sessions of the European Council);
- information on the Summits
discussions.
Presidency and organisation: the Summit shall be chaired jointly by the President
of the European Council and the President of the
Commission.
The meetings of the Summit shall be convened by the
joint chairmen on their own initiative, in consultation with the
social partners.