‘Shaping Europe’s social future’ is one of the topics outlined in the government’s programme for the German EU presidency, focusing on issues such as ‘flexicurity’ and equal opportunities in the labour market. While trade unions and social non-governmental organisations have called into question Germany’s plans to promote ‘good work’ for all, the first informal meeting in January and a conference on the European social model in February aimed to facilitate a more precise understanding of what Germany hopes to achieve with regard to social and employment policy.
Presidency programme
While the media dwells on other issues of concern, social and employment policy is among the topics which the German government outlines in its programme for the German EU presidency from 1 January to 30 June 2007. Under the heading ‘Shaping Europe’s social future’, the programme (296Kb PDF) focuses on issues like ‘flexicurity’, demographic change, equal opportunities in the labour market in line with the European year of equal opportunities for all, as well as health and safety at work.
Reactions to programme
Already in the autumn of 2006, the German employer organisations and trade unions issued their demands for the German EU presidency. The recommendations (in German, 251Kb PDF) put forward by the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände, BDA), generally focusing on trade and economic policy, contain three clear demands, namely to:
- stop the current proposal for a directive on supplementary pensions;
- introduce opt-out clauses in the working time directive;
- promote the work on the EU qualifications framework.
While also looking at the same issues from a different perspective, the Confederation of German Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB) focuses on other issues in their requirements (in German, 118Kb PDF), including the directive on temporary agency work and the revision of Council Directive 94/45/EC on the establishment of European Works Councils. The DGB document proposes to relaunch the constitutional process by giving the next European Parliament the mandate to revise the EU constitutional treaty and by improving the treaty with regard to the European social dimension – by strengthening the legal status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
In addition, the memorandum (148Kb PDF) of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) focuses on the same issues, demanding the addition of a social protocol to the constitutional treaty and pushing key legislative measures such as a revision of Council Directive 93/104/EC on working time (EU0612019I), progress on the temporary agency work directive, and the revision of the European Works Council directive.
Finally, the Social Platform, an alliance of European social non-governmental organisations (NGOs), presented a catalogue of nine ‘tests’ (83.7Kb PDF) for the German presidency. It demands the following measures:
- a transparent and democratic process in order to revise the constitutional treaty, safeguarding positive EU legislation such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the article on participatory democracy, and the social and equality mainstreaming clause in part III of the treaty;
- a clearer meaning of flexicurity, taking into account ‘the need for solid social infrastructure, wide public support, care services, support for families, supportive activation policies, minimum income and investment in lifelong learning’.
First stages of German presidency
On 18–20 January 2007, the informal meeting of employment and social affairs ministers held in Berlin aimed to further develop the Lisbon Strategy objective of creating ‘more and better jobs’ by clarifying the concept of ‘good work’. The Chair’s Conclusions define good work as ‘employee rights and participation, fair wages, protection of safety and health at work as well as a family-friendly work organisation’. Furthermore, the meaning of flexicurity is clarified by stating that reconciling greater flexibility and adequate employee social security ensures ‘that employees can defend their participation rights with the help of collective bodies representing their interests’.
On 8–9 February, a conference on the European social model was held in Nuremberg. In his summary of the ‘Messages from the conference’, the Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, Franz Müntefering, proposed a more visible inclusion of social policy guidelines in the 2008 revision of the Lisbon Strategy, based on the Joint report of the Council and the Commission on social protection and social inclusion.
Commentary
Despite the clarifications emerging from the informal meeting in January and the conference in February, the German presidency’s social agenda continues to remain vague regarding the questions raised by trade unions and social NGOs. The initiative of nine EU Member States to break the constitutional deadlock through a strengthening of the constitution’s social dimension, while at the same time matching the demands of social actors, was not supported by Germany. In particular, those legislative measures defined by ETUC as ‘key measures’ are not included within the German presidency’s official documents. While the German government highlights the importance of employee participation, the revision of the European Works Council directive is notably missing from the German presidency’s agenda.
Stefan Lücking, Technical University Munich