CES adopts opinion on future of EU social policy

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In October 2002, France's Economic and Social Council (CES) adopted an opinion entitled 'What social competences will there be and who will be the actors in an enlarged EU'. This report, endorsed by all the groups and organisations represented in the CES, makes very detailed proposals for bolstering the 'European social model' and enshrining the position and role of the European-level social partners, at a time when the European Convention is drafting a new EU treaty or constitution.

On 4 June 2002, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin officially asked the Economic and Social Council (Le Conseil économique et social, CES) (FR9910115N) to produce a report on the division between the respective jurisdictions of the European Union and of its Member States in the social and employment field, and on the position and role of the EU-level social partners. This request by the government continued the CES’s previous work in this area, around its October 2001 opinion on 'The Economic and Social Council’s participation in the national debate on the future of the European Union' (La participation du Conseil économique et social au débat national sur l’avenir de l’Union européenne) (FR0111122F), and reflected the French authorities' desire to make a contribution to the debates on the future of the EU within the Convention- the body charged with preparing for the next Intergovernmental Conference by proposing a new framework and structures for the EU, notably in the light of enlargement (EU0201231N).

Evelyne Pichenot was appointed rapporteur, and after a number of hearings, the CES adopted an opinion entitled 'What social competences will there be and who will be the actors in an enlarged EU?' (Quelles compétences sociales, Quels acteurs dans une Union européenne élargie?) at its plenary session on 23 October 2002.

New challenges

The CES opinion first highlights the advances made by the EU in the social field, which are seen as considerable, over the last 15 years or so. However, it identifies five new challenges facing the Union: insufficient citizen participation; the enlargement of the EU to encompass central and eastern European countries; the shortage of jobs in Europe and the increasingly insecure nature of existing ones; globalisation and its economic and social consequences; and the need to establish new forms of cooperation between the global North and South.

Reaffirming the bases of the European social model

To address these new challenges, the CES suggests 'reaffirming the bases of the European social model' and lays out what it believes to be the paths towards this goal, as follows.

• The CES backs the incorporation of the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union signed at the Nice European Council in December 2000 (EU0012288F) into the treaties or into any potential European constitution, considering that this measure would enshrine 'the indivisibility of civil, political, economic and social rights in European law'. Additionally, the CES recommends the introduction into the Treaty of a procedure of policy follow-up involving the social partners and the European Economic and Social Committee, in order to enable new rights to emerge eventually.

• In order to improve noticeably social and economic consultation at EU level, the CES supports the European Commission's recent proposal to hold an annual tripartite social summit for growth and employment (EU0208203F). The CES wants the implementation of such a summit at EU level to be extended within each Member State - in France, through regular and in-depth work guaranteeing the coordination and balancing of economic and social issues by the Ministry for the Economy, Finances and Industry and the Committee for European and International Social Dialogue (Comité du dialogue social européen et international, CDSEI) (FR9812149N) within the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs.

• The CES sees it as necessary to clarify the distribution of responsibilities in social matters (currently set out in Articles 137 and 144 of the European Community Treaty) and make it more efficient, not so much by redistributing responsibilities between the EU and its Member States, as by drawing out all the potential for action in existing provisions and honouring the commitments made. The CES, however, also feels that more attention ought to be given to pushing forward the employee rights agenda in the coming years, in areas such as vocational and continuing training, the mobility of pension entitlements, and the creation of new guarantees together with new forms of occupational mobility. The CES would like to see: the European Convention reiterate the European Commission's power to take initiatives, especially in the area of social policy; the Council of Ministers adopt all future legislation in the social field through qualified majority voting, except in the area of social protection; and a strengthening of measures to ensure that the Member States integrate EU Directives into their own statutes within the deadlines set, and with the required degree of accuracy. In this regard, the CES suggests that the social partners should have the right to bring such matters before European or national courts.

• The CES stresses the need to bolster the European social model in the face of enlargement. This, according to the CES, implies that the objectives and methods of managing the EU structural funds be reformulated, and in addition, that the EU should rethink the forms of financial solidarity available - and the amounts involved - to respond to the needs of the candidate countries. In return, it is essential, in the view of the CES, that the candidate countries ensure that the body of EU law (acquis communautaire) in the social field is integrated into their own systems.

Reinforcing the European social partners and their role

The CES proposes that the place and the role of the European-level social partners should be bolstered, while at the same time stipulating the methods and contribution proper to the 'civil dialogue', set aside from those of the social dialogue in the strict sense. From this perspective, the CES underlines and supports the work begun by the European Economic and Social Committee in its willingness to be the institutional vehicle for the expression and intervention of civil society at EU level. It intends to bolster its cooperation with that body in order to bind the national and the EU levels more closely.

Moreover, the CES reiterates that reinforcing the role of the European social partners, which is acknowledged in the various treaties, does not mean that the European Commission should be deprived of part of its initiative-taking powers. It suggests, among other measures, a Commission initiative to reduce occupational gender-related differentials. The CES also wants the Commission to complete the social agenda adopted at the Nice summit in December 2000 (EU0012284N) as a coordinated exercise alongside the joint long-term programme of work that the European-level social partners plan to draw up.

In order to intensify the EU-level social dialogue, the CES additionally calls for the information and consultation rights of European Works Councils (EWCs) to be strengthened, and for them be given the right to commission economic consultants. It wants a renewed effort to be made in France to set up EWCs within European-scale companies with headquarters in France and, a study to be carried out into existing EWCs.

The CES considers that the EU-level sectoral social dialogue must be extended to a considerable degree, and that the actions of existing sector-level social dialogue committees (EU0201236F) must be supported. A special effort must be undertaken to identify the difficulties in those sectors where this dialogue is poor or non-existent. The CES is particularly keen to see an initiative in the sectors covering the civil services of the various Member States. The CES underlines the importance of the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) and the European Monitoring Centre on Change ([EMCC](/search/node/emcc OR ?oldIndex)) in supporting the work of the European social partners, especially at sector level, and the importance of European-wide statistics in providing consistent data at industry level.

National measures

The CES intends to make a contribution to fostering greater knowledge and understanding of 'social Europe'. It is thus seeking to give its recommendations added value and synchronise its work more effectively, especially by making the timing and content of its reports on the state of the economy more relevant to the EU agenda.

Moreover, the CES intends to examine the methods for networking with the regional Economic and Social Councils (conseils économiques et sociaux régionaux, CESRs) in each of the French regions, on one hand, and with the Economic and Social Councils or equivalent structures in the other Member States on the other.

Lastly, the perceived need in France for a regular platform at which to clarify issues, debates and results achieved in the European social domain has led the CES to propose jointly organising an annual conference, with the CDSEI, aimed at the relevant government departments and the social partners.

Social partner support

The CES's opinion was unanimously adopted by the members present at the October plenary session (177 votes). All the groups - representing the various trade unions and employers’ associations with representative status, as well as family associations, self-employed professionals, the agricultural sector etc - approved the recommendations. The published version contains an appendix setting out the statements made by the various groups, allowing each of their stances to be publicised in detail.

Commentary

After the report adopted by the CES in October 2001, as part of the national debate on the future of the European Union, the CES has continued its work in this area, and with the adoption of the new opinion on 'What social competences will there be and who will be the actors in an enlarged EU?' it has made a practical contribution to the reform of the European Union treaties and to the European Convention set up by the EU heads of state and government at Laeken in December 2001. This is probably the first time that French trade unions and employers’ associations, albeit under the banner of the CES, have participated together this directly in a political exercise with a constitutional scope. (Maurice Braud, IRES)