10 Open Method of Coordination for social
protection and social inclusion
| (29821)
11560/08
COM(08) 418
+ ADDs 1-2
+ ADD 3
+ ADD 4
| Commission Communication: A renewed commitment to social Europe: reinforcing the Open Method of Coordination for social protection and social inclusion
Commission staff working documents: impact assessment and summary of assessment
Commission staff working document: efficiency and effectiveness of social spending
Commission staff working document: biennial report on social services of general interest
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| Legal base | — |
| Department | Work and Pensions
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letters of 3 December 2008 and 26 January 2009
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 16-xxix (2007-08), chapter 5 (10 September 2008)
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| Discussed in Council | 17 December 2008
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Legal base for Community action
10.1 Three Articles of the EC Treaty provide the legal base for
Community action on social policy:
- Article 136 requires the Community and Member States to have
as their objective (among other things) the promotion of employment,
the improvement of living conditions, proper social protection
and combating social exclusion.
- Article 137 requires the Community to support
and complement the activities of Member States on (among other
things) social security, the social protection of workers, the
integration of people excluded from the labour market and the
modernisation of social protection systems.
- Article 140 requires the Commission to encourage
cooperation between Member States and to facilitate the coordination
of their action in all fields of social policy.
10.2 In addition, Article 144 of the EC Treaty requires
the Council to establish the Social Protection Committee to promote
cooperation between Member States on social protection policy,
monitor social conditions, encourage the exchange of information
and good practice, give advice and do work at the request of the
Council or Commission. The members of the Social Protection Committee
are officials of the Member States and the Commission.
The development of the Open Method of Coordination
10.3 The European Council defined the Open Method
of Coordination (OMC) in 2000 when approving the Lisbon Strategy.
The main ingredients of the OMC are as follows:
- Member States voluntarily agree
EU-wide objectives and goals;
- they also define a set of common indicators to
measure progress towards the achievement of the objectives;
- each Member State translates the common objectives
into national policies; and
- progress is assessed jointly by the Commission
and Member States.
10.4 This general framework has been applied to a
variety of EC policy areas, including social policy and there
is now a single OMC for social protection and social inclusion
("the Social OMC").
10.5 The Council has agreed both general and specific
objectives for the Social OMC. The general objectives are to promote:
"(a) social cohesion, equality between men and
women and equal opportunities for all through adequate, accessible,
financially sustainable, adaptable and efficient social protection
systems and social inclusion policies;
"(b) effective and mutual interaction between
the Lisbon objectives of greater economic growth, more and better
jobs and greater social cohesion, and with the EU's Sustainable
Development Strategy;
"(c) good governance, transparency and the involvement
of stakeholders in the design, implementation and monitoring of
policy."
The specific objectives include, for example, ensuring
that everyone has access to a retirement income which enables
them to maintain, to a reasonable degree, their standard of living
after retirement. Member States have also agreed 14 EU-wide indictors
to monitor progress towards the objectives. Member States produce
national action plans once every three years. Each plan reports
on the Member State's progress towards achieving the OMC's objectives
and its intentions for further action. The national plans provide
the basis for a Joint Report by the Commission and Council to
the European Council.
Previous scrutiny of the document
10.6 In September 2008, we considered this Communication
from the Commission.[28]
It takes account of the views of the Member States, the Social
Protection Committee, regional and local authorities, service
providers, academics and others who responded to the Commission's
public consultations about the strengths and weaknesses of the
Social OMC. Their general assessment was largely positive. But
the Commission had concluded that there are some important weaknesses
in the Social OMC and it needs strengthening.
10.7 The Commission suggests, for example, that:
- each Member State might define
and publicise its own national quantified targets for such things
as minimum retirement pensions, the reduction of poverty, increases
in life expectancy and reductions in infant mortality;
- Member States with similar problems might wish
to work together in sub-groups, under the umbrella of the OMC;
- the Commission will make Recommendations for
common principles to be used in monitoring and peer reviews;
- improvements are needed in the collection and
analysis of statistics relevant to social policy; and
- there should be better and more extensive use
of peer review.
10.8 The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
at the Department for Work and Pensions (Mr James Plaskitt) told
us that the Government would be carefully considering each of
the detailed proposals in the Communication.
10.9 In our report on the Communication, we said
that, on the one hand, the EC Treaty provides a legal base for
the Community to provide support for the social policies of the
Member States. And Article 140 of the Treaty gives the Commission
responsibility for encouraging cooperation between Member States
and facilitating the coordination of their action on social policy.
On the other hand, there is no specific Treaty provision for the
Open Method of Coordination. Cooperation between the Member States
on social policy is voluntary; and it is the Member States —
not the Commission or the Community — who make the policies
and have the responsibility for implementing them. We concluded,
therefore, that constant vigilance is required to ensure both
that the Commission does not exceed the functions given to it
by the EC Treaty and that the Council, after discussion with the
Commission, determines how the OMC operates. We asked the Minister
to tell us the outcome of the Government's detailed consideration
of the proposals. Meanwhile, we kept the document under scrutiny.
The Minister's letter of 3 December 2008
10.10 In his letter of 3 December, the Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions
(Mr Jonathan Shaw) told us that the Government:
- had obtained an assurance that
the Commission that was only encouraging Member States to set
their own targets as a matter of good practice; it was not advocating
the creation of common EU-wide targets;
- DWP and Treasury officials were considering whether
the UK's current national targets should be widened; and, in particular,
whether to recommend targets for UK pensions;
- the Government agreed with the Commission that
there can be an advantage in those Member States with a shared
interest in a subject coming together in a sub-group of the OMC;
- the Government also agreed with the Commission
about the need for better collection and analysis of social statistics
but will examine each proposal for additional collections to see
if it would entail disproportionate cost or administrative work;
- the Social Protection Committee (comprised of
senior officials from the Member States) had produced an Opinion
on the Communication. It reflected the Government's priorities
for the OMC, stating for example that setting quantified national
targets is a core responsibility of the Member States; and
- the Minister expected the Employment and Social
Policy Council to approve the Opinion at its meeting on 17 December.
10.11 We thanked the Minister for his helpful letter
and asked him to tell us about the outcome of the Employment and
Social Policy Council's discussion.
The Minister's letter of 26 January 2009
10.12 The Minister tells us that, because of the
need to discuss responses to the economic down-turn and the European
Parliament's proposed amendments to the Working Time Directive,
the Council did not have time for a substantive discussion of
the Communication at its meeting on 17 December. But the Council
unanimously adopted the Social Policy Committee's Opinion.
10.13 The Minister says that:
"This successful outcome for the UK is already
being reflected in early follow-up. For example, discussion of
the draft Joint Report for Social Protection and Social Inclusion,
at the [meeting of the Social Protection Committee on] 15 January
… confirmed that the Commission is promoting the use of national
targets as a potentially useful tool — consistent with the
sharing of information and good practice under the Open Method
of Coordination — but accepts that this is a matter for
member states."
The Minister adds that the Government has good support
from other Member States on the need to respect national competence
and that it will continue to take a positive part on the OMC as
a valuable means for Member States to learn from each other.
Conclusion
10.14 We are grateful to the Minister for the
information in his letters of 3 December and 26 January. It seems
to us clear that the Government is well aware of the need to resist
any move by the Commission to intrude on Member States' responsibilities
for social policy and that it wants the OMC to remain a flexible
means for voluntary cooperation. We welcome the Opinion of the
Social Protection Committee and the Council's adoption of it on
17 December.
10.15 We have no further questions to put to the
Minister and we are now content to clear the document from scrutiny.
28 (29821) 11560/08: see HC 16-xxix (2007-08), chapter
5 (10 September 2008). Back
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