12 Employment and "social solidarity"
| (25910)
11949/04
COM(04) 488
+ ADD 1
| Draft Decision to establish a Community programme for employment and social solidarity — PROGRESS
Commission staff working document — evaluation of the proposed programme
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| Legal base | Articles 13(2), 129 and 137(2) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Document originated | 14 July 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 1 September 2004
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| Department | Work and Pensions
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 1 October 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; information on progress requested
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Background
12.1 In March 2000, the Lisbon European Council set the EU the
strategic goal of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based
economy in the world by 2010, capable of sustainable economic
growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.[27]
The European Council concluded that investing in people and developing
the welfare state would be crucial to achieving the economic goal
without adding to existing problems of unemployment, social exclusion
and poverty. The European Council called for the promotion of,
among other things, equal opportunities, lifelong learning, skills
required for employment and fair and effective social security
systems.
12.2 The Lisbon European Council also concluded that
the achievement of the strategic goal would be facilitated by
applying "the open method of coordination".[28]
The method is intended to help Member States to develop their
own policies and involves fixing guidelines and timetables for
achieving goals; establishing performance indicators and benchmarks;
and monitoring and evaluating outcomes. The open method of coordination
applies to matters affecting employment and social affairs.
12.3 Article 13 of the Treaty establishing the European
Community (the EC Treaty) empowers the Council to adopt incentive
measures to support action by Member States to combat discrimination
based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability,
age or sexual orientation. Article 129 of the Treaty empowers
the Council to adopt incentive measures to encourage cooperation
between Member States in the field of employment through the exchange
of information and best practice. Article 136 states that the
objectives of the Community and the Member States include the
promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions,
social protection, dialogue between management and labour, and
the development of human resources with a view to lasting high
employment and combating social exclusion. Article 137 empowers
the Council to adopt measures to achieve the objectives of Article
136 through the exchange of information and best practice between
Member States.
The document
12.4 The document comprises a draft Decision establishing
a new programme ("PROGRESS") for the period 2007-13
to provide financial support for the implementation of the Community's
objectives for employment and social affairs and the achievement
of the Lisbon goals. ADD 1 is a Commission staff working paper
which evaluates the proposal for the new programme.
12.5 There are four existing programmes that will
have expired by the end of the current Financial Perspective in
December 2006. The four are:
- a programme to promote measures
to combat direct or indirect discrimination based on racial or
ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;[29]
- a programme to promote gender equality;[30]
- a programme of financial support for analysis,
research and cooperation between Member States in employment and
labour market matters;[31]
and
- a programme to encourage cooperation between
Member States to combat social exclusion.[32]
12.6 These existing programmes would be succeeded
by one new programme — PROGRESS — with a total budget
of €628.8
million for the period 2007-13. The programme would have five
sections:
- Employment (to receive at least
21% of the budget);
- Social protection and inclusion (to receive at
least 28%);
- Working conditions (to receive at least 8%);
- Anti-discrimination and diversity (to receive
at least 23%); and
- Gender equality (to receive at least 8%).
12.7 All five sections would have the following general
objectives:
- to improve knowledge and understanding
of the situation in the Member States through analysis, evaluation
and monitoring of policies;
- to support the development of relevant statistical
tools, methods and indicators;
- to support, monitor and assess the implementation
of Community law and policies in the Member States;
- to promote networking and mutual learning and
the dissemination of good practice;
- to increase awareness of the Community's policies
relevant to the five sections of the programme; and
- to "boost" the capacity of EU networks
to promote and support relevant Community policies.
12.8 Activities aimed at the achievement of these
objectives would be eligible for financial support from the programme
either through contracts with the Commission or grants of up to
80% of the cost of the activity. Financial support would be open
to, among others, Member States, regional and local authorities,
employers' and employees' organisations, EU-level non-governmental
organisations and universities.
12.9 The Commission would be required to conduct
a mid-term evaluation of the programme and a final evaluation
a year after the programme ends.
12.10 The Commission's explanatory memorandum says
that the draft Decision would achieve simplification. There are
currently 28 separate budget lines covering activities included
in the draft Decision; adoption of the Decision would reduce the
number to just two lines. This would save administrative costs
for the Commission and make the financial arrangements more convenient
and comprehensible to Member States and other beneficiaries of
financial support.
12.11 The Commission also says that the draft Decision
is linked to two other proposals. First, the Commission will be
making a proposal for a programme to be called Sustaining Social
Dialogue: free movement of workers and studies and special reports
in the social field. The main aims of this proposal will
be to promote and support dialogue at EU-level with and between
organisations representing employers and employees; it would finance,
for example, activities related to negotiation, training and the
dissemination of information. The budget for 2007-13 would be
nearly €480 million. Second, the Council has it in mind
to propose financial support totalling over €266 million
between 2007-13 for two existing agencies concerned with employment
and social policies — the European Foundation for the Improvement
of Living and Working Conditions and the European Agency for Health
and Safety at Work.
The Government's view
12.12 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
at the Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Chris Pond) notes
that the areas covered by the draft Decision are primarily matters
for which Member States are responsible. The Government will
be pressing the Commission to make the case for continuing with
the full range of activities included in the proposal and to provide
evidence of the value they are expected to add. Moreover, the
Commission's proposals for the evaluation of the PROGRESS programme
focus on measuring activity rather than outcomes. The Government
will try to negotiate better evaluation criteria.
12.13 The Minister also notes that the PROGRESS programme
is part of the Commission's package of spending proposals for
the 2007-13 Financial Perspective. He says that the Government's
overarching objective is to maintain budget discipline and improve
added value. The governments of the United Kingdom and five other
Member States consider that the Community's priorities in the
next Financial Perspective can be funded from a budget equivalent
to 1% of the European Union's Gross National Income, not 1.24%
as proposed by the Commission. The amount of money available
for the PROGRESS programme will have to be consistent with the
outcome of the negotiations on the budget as a whole, and this
may affect the scale and priorities of the programme.
Conclusion
12.14 We can see the benefits of simplifying and
consolidating the legislation on the Community's support for its
employment and social policies. But the proposed spending on the
PROGRESS programme (nearly €629
million or around £490 million) is substantial — particularly
when account is taken of the proposals the Commission has in mind
for expenditure on Sustaining Social Dialogue and
support for the two existing agencies (in total, a further €746
million). So we welcome the Minister's intention to press the
Commission to justify the support of all the activities covered
by the draft Decision and to demonstrate the added value of the
expenditure.
12.15 The negotiations on the document are only
just beginning. Moreover, as the Minister says, the outcome of
the discussions on the total budget for the next Financial Perspective
could have a significant impact on the PROGRESS proposal. We shall,
therefore, keep the document under scrutiny and we ask the Minister
to keep us informed of the negotiations on it.
27 Lisbon European Council, 23/24 March 2004, conclusion
5. Back
28
Conclusion 37. Back
29
Council Decision 2000/750/EC, OJ No. L. 303, 2.12.00, p.23. Back
30
Council Decision 2001/51/EC, OJ No. L. 17, 19.1.01, p.22. Back
31
Decision 1145/2002/EC, OJ No. L. 170, 29.6.02, p.1. Back
32
Decision 50/2002/EC, OJ No. L. 10, 12.1.02, p.1. Back
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