6 Employment and social solidarity
| (a)
(25910)
11949/04
COM(04) 488
+ ADD 1
(b)
(26968)
13691/05
COM(05) 536
|
Draft Decision to establish a Community programme for employment and social solidarity — PROGRESS
Commission staff working document — evaluation of the proposed programme
Amended draft Decision establishing a Community programme for employment and social solidarity — PROGRESS
|
| Legal base | Articles 13(2), 129 and 137(2) EC; co-decision; QMV
|
| Document originated | (b) 21 October 2005
|
| Deposited in Parliament | (b) 3 November 2005
|
| Department | Work and Pensions
|
| Basis of consideration | (b) EM of 16 November 2005
|
| Previous Committee Report | (a) HC 34-vi (2005-06), para 10 (19 October 2005)
(b) None
|
| To be discussed in Council | 8 December 2005
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | (a) Cleared
(b) Budgetary provisions not cleared; further information requested
|
The draft Decision to establish a Community programme for employment
and social solidarity
6.1 There are four current EC programmes that support activities
to counter social exclusion and unfair discrimination and to promote
cooperation in employment matters. All four will expire at the
end of 2006.
6.2 In October 2004, the previous Committee considered
this draft Decision (document (a)).[11]
It provides for the existing programmes to be succeeded by one
new programme — PROGRESS — covering broadly the same
activities and running from 2007 to 2013, with a total budget
of €628.8 million. The present 28 separate budget lines would
be replaced by two, and the new legislation would be simpler.
6.3 The PROGRESS 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%).
6.4 The activities to be supported by the programme
would include the collection, analysis and dissemination of information
about employment and social conditions in the Member States; monitoring
the implementation of relevant EU legislation; and supporting
bodies and networks which promote the Community's policies on
equality, skills for employment and countering social exclusion
and poverty. Member States, regional and local authorities, employers'
and employees' organisations, EU-level non-governmental organisations
and universities would be eligible for grants.
6.5 The PROGRESS programme is part of the Commission's
package of spending proposals for the 2007-13 Financial Perspective.
The governments of the United Kingdom and five other Member States
consider that the Community's priorities in the next Financial
Perspective could 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 would have to be consistent with the outcome of the
negotiations on the budget as a whole, and this might affect the
scale and priorities of the programme.
6.6 The previous Committee recognised the benefits
of simplifying and consolidating the legislation on the Community's
support for its employment and social policies. Because the negotiations
on the document were only just beginning and the outcome of the
discussions on the total budget for the next Financial Perspective
could have a significant impact on the PROGRESS proposal, our
predecessors decided to keep document (a) under scrutiny and asked
the Government to keep them informed of the discussions of it.
6.7 In September 2005, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State at the Department of Work and Pensions (Mr James Plaskitt)
told us that, in March 2005, the Council had agreed "a partial
general approach"[12]
on a revised text of the draft Decision (excluding Article 17
which specifies the size of the budget for PROGRESS and the allocation
of the budget between the five sections of the programme). Consideration
of the text could be re-opened in the light of the European Parliament's
opinion, the outcome of the negotiations on the EU's total budget
for 2007-13 or the emergence of a new fact. The Minister explained
why he thought the revised text an improvement.
6.8 We saw no objection to the changes on which
the Council reached a partial general approach in March. We asked
the Minister to tell us whether he considers that the Commission
has provided a satisfactory justification for the full range of
activities included in the proposal. Meanwhile, we kept document
(a) under scrutiny.
The amended draft Decision
6.9 On 6 September, the European Parliament adopted
72 amendments to document (a). The Commission's opinion on the
amendments, together with an amended draft of the Decision, is
set out in document (b).
6.10 The Commission considers that many of the European
Parliament's amendments are acceptable in whole or part. But it
rejects some because, for example, they would: require that EU
anti-discrimination networks must always include specialised and
impairment-specific disability NGOs; make 90% the cap for EU contributions
to projects rather than the normal 80% maximum; and duplicate
provision elsewhere in the text. The Commission reserves comment
on the European Parliament amendments that would affect the programme's
budget.
The Government's view on the amended draft Decision
6.11 The Minister tells us that the UK Presidency
is content with the amendments included in the Commission's new
draft of the Decision. He says that most of them are "drafting
or technical improvements". It will be necessary to consider
the European Parliament's amendments to the budgetary provisions
when the total EU budget has been decided.
6.12 In reply to our question about the justification
for the activities covered by the proposed programme, the Minister
tells us that the programme would provide:
"a framework to support EU-level actions, to
help deliver agreed EU-level social and employment objectives
under the 5 fields of activity. Such actions include developing
statistical tools, sharing of best practice, awareness-raising
campaigns and support for organisations operating in the relevant
fields."
6.13 He gives illustrations of such cross-border
work which is currently in progress: for example, development
of EU indicators of social exclusion; trans-national research
on ways to improve links between central and local government
on social inclusion; exchanges of good practice on health and
safety at work; and funding for voluntary bodies to help employers
understand and implement the EU legislation on equality. Similar
work would be supported by the PROGRESS programme. The Minister
explains why he is satisfied that the proposed programme would
add value across all five of its sections.
6.14 He tells us that Member States are keen to make
progress on the draft Decision. He hopes that the Council meeting
on 8 December will be able to reach a "partial political
agreement" on it. The agreement would expressly exclude the
draft Decision's budgetary provisions; they would be reserved
for consideration after the total EU budget for 2007-13 has been
settled.
Conclusion
6.15 Document (a) has been superseded by document
(b) and so we clear it from scrutiny.
6.16 We see no reason to differ from the Commission's
and the Government's views on the amendments proposed by the European
Parliament.
6.17 We also see no need to object to the proposed
partial political agreement on the new draft of the Decision on
the understanding that it excludes the budgetary provisions.
6.18 We ask the Minister to continue to send
us progress reports on the negotiations. Meanwhile, we shall keep
the budgetary provisions of document (b) under scrutiny.
11 See HC 42-xxxii (2003-04), para 12 (13 October 2004). Back
12
"A general approach" is a non-binding agreement on a
text before its presentation to the European Parliament. The House's
Scrutiny Reserve Resolution of 17 November 1998 makes no reference
to general approaches. Back
| 
