Council debates participation proposals

A wide range of social issues was discussed at the EU Employment and Social Policy Council held on 27–28 November 2000. However, although a discussion was held on the proposed Directives on worker involvement in the European Company Statute and on national-level information and consultation of workers, no formal agreement was reached on either.

The Employment and Social Policy Council of Ministers met in Brussels on 27–28 November 2000 under the French Presidency to work through a wide-ranging agenda of social issues.

Information and consultation at national level

Following a brief exchange of views at the 16-17 October 2000 Employment and Social Policy Council (EU0010274F), a debate was held on the European Commission's proposed Directive establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (EU9812135F). The debate concentrated on:

• the advisability of introducing a Community framework in this area;

• the scope and conditions for exercising the right to information and consultation; and

• the roles of the social partners and public authorities in the implementation of this right.

After this debate, the Presidency took note of the "difficulties expressed by certain delegations", but stated that substantial progress had been made and that a majority of Member States had reached an agreement in principle on the central elements of the text. The main points under discussion include:

• a provision allowing Member States to chose between a workforce-size threshold for the enterprises covered by the Directive of either 50 employees or 20 employees;

• a general definition of how information and consultation rights should be exercised, leaving detailed regulation to Member States;

• the need to draw up measures at national level in order to ensure confidentiality; and

• the importance of ensuring protection for employee representatives and "adequate" sanctions in the case of non-compliance, the detail of which will be decided at national level.

The Presidency asked the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) to continue work on this dossier and to draft compromise proposals in the areas which remain unresolved (EU0012285F).

Worker involvement in the European Company Statute

The Council also discussed the issue of worker involvement in the proposed European Company Statute (EU9911211F), with agreement on most of the issues at hand. The main outstanding issue was that of which involvement provisions should apply in the absence of an agreement between employee representatives and management. Ministers stated that work would continue on this dossier, and a consensus was subsequently reached at the Nice European Council held on 7-9 December (EU0012288F).

An extraordinary Employment and Social Policy Council will be convened for 20 December 2000 in order to agree a revised text, which will subsequently be forwarded to the European Parliament (EP) for an opinion.

Formal adoption of proposals

The Council formally adopted a number of texts on which political agreement had been reached in previous Councils, notably:

• the Directive implementing the principle of equal treatment in employment and occupation (EU9912218F), on which political agreement was reached at the 16–17 October Employment and Social Policy Council (EU0010274F);

• the accompanying Community Action Programme to combat discrimination, on which political agreement was also reached at the 16-17 October Council; and

• the Directive giving legal effect to the social partners' agreement on working time in civil aviation (EU0004238N).

Employment issues

The Council reached unanimous agreement on the 2000-1 "employment package ("EU0010276F), comprising the 2001 Employment Guideline s to Member States, the joint employment report 2000 and the 2000 recommendations to Member States on employment policy. The texts were forwarded to the Nice European Council for information.

The Council also heard an oral report on the progress of the European Commission's proposal of 20 July 2000 for a Decision on Community employment incentive measures. COREPER will continue work on this dossier.

Unanimous agreement was reached on the European Commission's five-year social policy agenda (EU0007266F), on the basis of a compromise text put forward by the French Presidency. The document was forwarded to the Nice Council for approval.

Social security measures

A number of measures in the field of social security were discussed by the Council. Ministers took note of a progress report on the Commission's proposal for a Regulation aimed at modernising and simplifying Regulation 1408/71 on the coordination of social security for migrant workers. The Council noted that the reform would be "lengthy". Note was also taken of progress concerning proposed amendments to this Regulation in the area of the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community.

Further, a progress report on the future of social protection was given to the Council, drawn up by the high-level working party on social protection (EU0006256F). Particular emphasis is placed in the report on the challenge of an ageing population.

Equality measures

Political agreement was reached on the Commission's proposal for a Decision on the Community programme on gender equality 2001-5 (EU0007264F). The Decision will be formally adopted at a forthcoming Council.

Further, the Council took note of a report from the Presidency on the relationship between family life and working life in the Member States, in the context of the Beijing Platform for Action agreed at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.

Health and safety

The Council reached unanimous political agreement on a draft common position on the amended proposal for a Directive setting minimum health and safety requirements for workers exposed to risks arising from mechanical vibrations, within the context of the Framework Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989. The text will now be forwarded to the EP and formal adoption of a common position will follow "at a later stage".

Commentary

This Employment and Social Policy Council made a significant contribution to the progress of a number of social policy instruments, not least those relating to the information and consultation of workers. Although consensus was not reached at this Council, it is clear that the discussions on the proposals relating to worker involvement in the European Company Statute cleared the way for the consensus which was subsequently reached a few days later at the Nice summit.

Further, the debate held on the proposal relating to the national-level information and consultation of workers represents the first substantial discussion of this proposal since it was issued by the European Commission in November 1998. There now appears to be some hope that agreement will be reached at some point in 2001.

Finally, this Council saw the formal adoption of the framework equality Directive and accompanying action programme, thus completing adoption of the three statutory instruments (the Directive on equality regardless of race or ethnic origin was adopted in June 2000 - EU0006256F) issued in November 1999 under the new Article 13 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. This is a significant achievement as these three instruments will now broaden EU-level protection against discrimination beyond grounds based solely on gender. (Andrea Broughton, IRS).