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FRANCE, WHICH TOOK OVER THE Presidency of the European Union in July, has put forward a list of priorities which it hopes to address during the six months it is in the chair. They fall under three main headings: 'reconciling economic modernisation with reinforcement of the European social model', 'forging closer relations between Europe and its citizens' and 'preparing for enlargement and strengthening Europe's place in the world'.
The first priority concerns the twin track approach of the recent Lisbon summit which sought to make Europe 'the spearhead of the information society, research and innovation' so stimulating economic growth of 3% per annum with the result that full employment will be restored by 2010. The French presidency wants to use the Euro-zone (the 11 countries currently having adopted the Euro) as an instrument of economic policy to promote employment, for which there should be numerical targets, to progress towards tax harmonisation and to unify the financial markets. On the information society the French want Internet access at all schools, lower connection costs, a European domain name, a very high speed network for scientists and more European content in web sites. Balancing this modernisation the new presidency wants to see a social agenda which would lead to greater social justice within the EU in the next 5 to 10 years. This would include improvement of employee rights and conditions at work, particularly equal treatment between men and women, a directive on information and consultation and the combatting of social exclusion particularly in the fields of health care and housing. The European Trade Union Confederation was broadly in favour of this agenda when its delegation met French President Jacques Chirac in July. They said ,'We were gratified to see that France sets great store by preserving and developing the European social model'.
The second priority deals with a gap which the new presidency perceives as having developed between the EU citizen in the street and the people who administer it (often called in the UK the 'Brussels bureaucrats'). It hopes to close this gap by taking measures in various areas which it feels concern the ordinary man and woman. These include: adopting an EU charter of fundamental rights, removing obstacles to the mobility of students and teachers, establishing a European food authority, improving passenger safety at sea, initiating a European asylum and immigration policy, combatting drug trafficking and addiction, improving the information available on the Euro and recognising the social rôle of sport whilst fighting against doping. The ETUC was less pleased with the progress on one of these measures, 'It would be ill-advised for the Heads of State and Government's future discussions on the Charter to disregard labour's aspirations for a social and people's Europe'.
The third priority has three main components: smoothing the road towards EU enlargement, creating a single European defence and security area and regulating the international economy. Three reforms were not agreed on the last occasion when the EU Member States discussed changing the European institutions when the new applicant countries are admitted to the club They were the size and composition of the Commission, the extension of qualified majority voting and the weighting of votes in the Council of Ministers. France wants to see all three of these resolved during the six months of its presidency. The ETUC also has its own ideas on institutional reform, 'We also stressed that qualified majority voting must be made the rule on social issues, and, especially, that fundamental social rights, including the rights to organize and collective bargaining, and to strike, must be written into the Treaty' they said after their meeting with French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. The new presidency also favours increased military capacity and military organisation to be at the European level. As far as the international economy goes, France would like to use the World Trade Organisation to control globalisation, to increase the stability of the financial system and to fight financial crime.
The moveable feast that is the EU summit programme now moves on to Nice in December when this long list of priorities must be turned into achievements.
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION HAS written to the social partners (unions and employers) at European level to canvass their views on modernising and improving industrial relations. This is in line with the conclusions of the Lisbon summit. Welcoming the move, Anna Diamantopoulou, the employment and social affairs commissioner said, 'The main problem is that many of the present laws and collective agreements were designed for an organisation of work which is no longer adapted to the increased diversity of situations emerging in the labour market. A thorough review of the system is needed to make sure that it is adapted to a modern organisation of work and that it supports the modernisation process rather than hindering it'. Anxious not to antagonise either side of industry in this sensitive area, she goes on 'It does not mean either that the whole regulatory system needs to be scrapped or that a vast armoury of new regulation needs to be put in place in order to accommodate the new organisation of work'.
The Commission's letter invites the social partners to express their views on the principles to be followed in modernisation and how to review the existing laws and contracts which govern European industrial relations. Two specific areas should also be considered, it says: telework (where employees work at a distance from the workplace through the use of new technology) and 'economically dependent workers' (who are not employees but are economically dependent upon a single source of employment). These new categories of workers are thought to present 'opportunities and challenges concerning employment relationships'. The Commissioner concludes 'A better organisation of work, based on skill, trust, quality and partnership, requires a high investment in human resources and a high level of involvement of workers. Such a policy is not consistent with a devaluation or marginalisation of the work force.
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