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EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 16 - Page 3

Good job market depends on education and training say Council of Ministers

THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL, OFTEN still called the Council of Ministers, has added more official weight to the view that education and training lie at the heart of the EU's plans to reduce unemployment, to modernise the labour market and to increase the quality of jobs. The 1997 summit at Luxembourg initiated an 'employment strategy' based on four 'pillars': 'employability', 'entrepreneurship', 'adaptability' and 'equal opportunities'. As part of the same process the meeting at Cardiff layed out plans to reform the labour market. This was followed up by last year's summit at Lisbon at which the EU set itself a new strategic goal so that over the next decade Europe should become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. It also emphasised the fundamental role of education and training in the successful transition to a knowledge-based economy.

The European Council at Gothenburg this year

Now the Council of Ministers has adopted a resolution that 'recognises the importance placed on education and training policies in the European Employment Strategy' and 'acknowledges the importance of addressing education and training ... taking full account of the development of society and the individual as well as the development of the economy'. In more concrete terms it stresses the need to increase the quality and effectiveness of European education systems, facilitate access to them for all and to open them up to the wider world. Regarding the importance of education in the labour market the Council go on to highlight the need for quality initial education to provide young people with the basic skills needed to meet the demands of the knowledge society and the need for recognition of informal and formal training by a unified education system. On co-operation between Member States they stress the importance of statistics which are comparable between countries and the exchange of information so that examples of best practice can be disseminated.

Kyoto treaty is saved, but has it been watered down too much ?

FOLLOWING THE WITHDRAWAL of the United States (see Issue 15 page 5) almost all the other nations of the world, effectively led by the EU, managed to rescue the treaty on cutting emissions of 'greenhouse' gases that are responsible for global warming.At a tense conference in Bonn, Germany in July, a last minute compromise delaying legally binding penalties for not reaching targets for cuts in emissions was enough to persuade 178 environment ministers to sign up. Now the 55 countries that are responsible for 55% of the emissions must ratify the treaty for it to take effect; so far 30 nations have done so.

The deal also allows governments who maintain forests that absorb gases such as carbon dioxide, which would otherwise persist in the atmosphere and trap heat, to offset this against their targets for cutting industrial pollution. These so called 'carbon sinks' and other compromises have been criticised by environmental groups as a watering down of the treaty but the leader of the EU conference delegation Olivier Deleuze responded 'I prefer an imperfect agreement that is living than a

perfect agreement that doesn't exist' and British Prime Minister Tony Blair commented 'It shows that the international community can face up to the challenges of the modern world and globalisation when they sit down together'. Kate Hampton of Friends of the Earth reflected some of the anger that the conference felt towards America, whose delegate was booed, 'It is also a political disaster for President Bush, who with the arrogance of power, thought that his decision to renege on

Olivier Deleuze, leader of the EU delegation and U.S. representative Paula Dobransky

Kyoto would be enough to kill it' and warned 'But the price of success has been high.The protocol has been heavily diluted. Its effect on the climate has been massively eroded'. Margot Wallström, European Commissioner for the Environment, said: 'The EU made considerable concessions to get this deal but it was a worthwhile price to pay. Now countries can finally move ahead and ratify the Protocol, the European Commission fully intends to present a proposal for EU ratification before the end of the year so that the process can be completed in 2002'.

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The deal also allows governments who maintain forests that absorb gases such as carbon dioxide, which would otherwise persist in the atmosphere and trap heat, to offset this against their targets for cutting industrial pollution. These so called 'carbon sinks' and other compromises have been criticised by environmental groups as a watering down of the treaty but the leader of the EU conference delegation Olivier Deleuze responded 'I prefer an imperfect agreement that is living than a			perfect agreement that doesn't exist' and British Prime Minister Tony Blair commented 'It shows that the international community can face up to the challenges of the modern world and globalisation when they sit down together'. Kate Hampton of Friends of the Earth reflected some of the anger that the conference felt towards America, whose delegate was booed, 'It is also a political disaster for President Bush, who with the arrogance of power, thought that his decision to renege on
	Olivier Deleuze, leader of the EU delegation and U.S. representative Paula Dobransky