Communiqué, issue 4, 2004
Articles
- Towards the Lisbon objectives: The new four-year programme
- Occupational pension systems in Europe
- Quality of life in Germany and Poland
- Focusing on Europe’s working poor
- ERM records high levels of job losses
- Living to work, working to live
- Life satisfaction varies but Europeans are generally optimistic about the future
- Challenging times ahead
Previous issues of Communiqué
More and better employment, work–life balance, industrial relations and partnership, and social cohesion are the four key priority themes for the Foundation’s work over the next four years. On 9 July, the Foundation’s Administrative Board approved the new four-year work programme 2005-8.
The Foundation’s new four-year work programme takes account of the opportunities and challenges presented by the enlarged European Union. The programme underlines the importance of a comprehensive and integrated approach to these policy issues, allied with an effective communication strategy aimed at the Foundation’s key audiences across Europe. The aim is to channel knowledge from the monitoring activities and other research into understanding the challenges, supporting change in society and the economy, and providing its stakeholders with the information necessary for managing change.
Looking ahead to the new Europe
This work programme, the eighth four-year programme since the Foundation’s inception in 1975, is rooted in the challenges and objectives of the Lisbon strategy. The drive to make Europe the most competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world, to increase employment rates and improve the quality of employment, to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, while promoting social cohesion and inclusion – in short, realising the objectives of the Lisbon strategy – is the leitmotif of the programme.
‘There is an urgent need to move forward on all fronts – employment, competitiveness, good quality living and working conditions – at the same time,’ says Willy Buschak, the Foundation’s acting Director.
Issues high on the European Social Agenda
Over the last decade, the Foundation has provided its stakeholders and the general public with an extensive knowledge base of comparative data on industrial relations, working conditions and related aspects of living conditions. Many of the issues the Foundation has examined in recent years – like ageing, working time, and the information society – are now high on the European social agenda.
The Foundation’s detailed work programme is approved on an annual basis by the Foundation’s Administrative Board.