European Social Policy articles from March 2009

European Social Policy archives from March 2009

INFLATION : EU RATE CONTINUES FALL.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Annual inflation in the eurozone continued to ease, falling to 1.1% in January 2009, down from 1.6% in December 2008 (and 3.2% a year earlier).aEU annual inflation was 1.7% in January 2009, down from 2.2% in December 2008. A year earlier, the...

SOCIAL PROTECTION : ALL PENSION FUNDS WILL SUFFER FROM THE ECONOMIC CRISIS.
March 12, 2009... The current economic crisis is beginning to impact on the EU's pension funds, although substantial reductions in pensions paid out to newly retired people are still rather rare, according to the European Commission. The EU executive says it is...

HOME AFFAIRS : COMMISSION PROPOSES EUROPEAN ASYLUM SUPPORT OFFICE.
March 12, 2009... The European Commission proposed, on 18 February, to establish a European asylum support office with the objective of improving the coordination of asylum policies in the EU. According to statistics presented by Vice-President Jacques...

COMMISSION WARNS SPAIN ON PENSIONER HEALTH CARE.(European Commission)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Spain fails to comply with EU legislation on social security rights for people travelling in Europe. That is the content of a reasoned opinion (the second stage of the infringement procedure) sent by the European Commission to Spain, on 19...

UNEMPLOYMENT : CRISIS PUSHES EU JOBLESS RATE UP.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The EU unemployment rate, on the increase due to the recession currently affecting businesses, was 7.6% in January 2009, compared with 7.5% in December 2008 anda 6.8% in January 2008, announced Eurostat, on 27 February. aIt was even higher in...

EDUCATION : EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION CLOSE TO TARGET, STUDY FINDS.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... In 2006, 87% of four-year-olds participated in pre-primary education in Europe. This is one of the key figures of a comparative study on early childhood education and care in the member states and in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein in...

WORKERS' HEALTH AND SAFETY : EMPLOYERS OPPOSE EU-WIDE ANTI-SMOKING LEGISLATION.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Rather than EU-level laws against smoking in the workplace, the employers' lobby BusinessEurope would prefer "non-binding initiatives". It believes that the problem is "largely a societal issue" that "should be dealt with at national level"....

FREE MOVEMENT OF SERVICE PROVIDERS : EP ADVOCATES EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL CARD.(European Parliament)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... A European professional card for service providers should facilitate the temporary exercise of their profession in the EU, according to an own-initiative report by Charlotte Cederschiold (EPP-ED, Sweden), adopted on 19 February in Brussels by...

IMMIGRATION : EP ENDORSES PENALTIES FOR EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.(European Parliament)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The European Parliament adopted, on 19 February, its formal position on the directive establishing penalties for employers of illegal immigrants and ensuring legal pay conditions for such workers. At its plenary session in Brussels, the EP...

WORKING TIME : EP WANTS SAME RULES FOR SALARIED AND SELF-EMPLOYED DRIVERS.(European Parliament)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs does not want two separate sets of rules for drivers employed by a company and self-employed drivers. It rejected, on 2 March, a European Commission proposal to exclude...

ERASMUS FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Young entrepreneurs will be able to spend from one to six months with an experienced entrepreneur in another EU member state, as from 19 February.aEurochambres, the association of European chambers of commerce and industry, will coordinate the...

ERASMUS MUNDUS EXTENDED.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The EU's education ministers decided, on 16 February, to "significantly increase" - to 950 million - the budget for the Erasmus Mundus programme for 2009-2013. Since 2004, 6,200 students and 1,000 academics have spent one or more semesters...

TRAINING : EU PROGRAMMES PROMOTE CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION.(Brief article)(Conference notes)
March 12, 2009... The conference entitled Creativity and innovation: Best practice from EU programmes' was opened in Brussels, on 2 March, as part of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation. These two domains are crucial and more so in these times of...

SOCIAL PROTECTION : FORCED RETIREMENT AT 65 LEGAL, SAYS ECJ.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... EU member states may lay down in their national laws that companies have the right to force employees to retire after the age of 65, according to a ruling announced by the EU Court of Justice, on 5 March (Case C-388/07). The laws in place in...

INTERNAL MARKET : FREE MOVEMENT OF BULGARIANS AND ROMANIANS: ECJ CONDEMNS FRANCE.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... To avoid being fined, France is going to have to take immediate steps to allow Bulgarians and Romanians to practice certain professions (doctor, dentist and lawyer, among others), establish residence and provide their services on its territory....

GLOBALISATION FUND : FUNDING APPROVED FOR SPANISH CAR INDUSTRY.
March 12, 2009... The Spanish car industry is the next in line to get financial support from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). Madrid's request for financial support was approved by the European Commission, on 10 February. The European Parliament...

AGRICULTURE/SOCIAL POLICY : GERMANY CHALLENGES FOOD AID PROGRAMME.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... "The European food aid programme for the most deprived is in danger." In their cry of alarm, food banks recalled in a statement, on 11 February, that this mechanism has allowed food products to be delivered in kind to charitable organisations...

ILO HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR DECENT WORK'.(International Labour Organisation)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Access to decent work' - ie more and better jobs with social protection, social dialogue and equal opportunities - is part of the solution to the economic and financial crisis, said EU Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla in his address to...

UNEMPLOYMENT : JOBLESS RATE VARIES WIDELY ACROSS EUROPE'S REGIONS.
March 12, 2009... Regional unemployment rates varied widely across the EU in 2007, from 2.1% in the region of Zeeland in the Netherlands to 25.2% in Reunion, a French Overseas Department, according to a report published by Eurostat, on 16 February. Of the...

EU/INDIA : JOINT DECLARATION SIGNED ON MULTILINGUALISM.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The EU signed, on 6 March, a joint declaration on multilingualism with India, represented by Minister of State Daggubati Purandeswari. "I believe that the EU and India can learn from each other in this area," declared the European Commissioner...

LABOUR ACTIONS CAUSING CONCERNS.(BusinessEurope)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Recent actions to prevent the "legal employment of foreign European workers" have caused "great concerns" among the members of BusinessEurope. The EU's biggest business lobby says it "understands" workers' concerns "in the face of the economic...

LAWYERS: BULGARIA IN BREACH OF LAW.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The European Commission decided, on 19 February, to send a letter of formal notice to Bulgaria in connection with certain provisions of the Bulgarian Bar Act, which could constitute a violation of the freedom of establishment of lawyers and law...

MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION DIRECTIVE ADOPTED.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The EU Council of Ministers definitively adopted, on 16 February, the directive aimed at transposing into Community law the provisions of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention. The text had been the subject of...

SOCIAL DIALOGUE : MEMBER STATES FAIL TO TRANSPOSE DIRECTIVE ON EMPLOYEE CONSULTATION.
March 12, 2009... Despite the obligation placed on them by Directive 14/EC of 2002, the Union's member states appear to be reluctant set upapermanent systems of information and consultation of employees. Several states have even failed to transpose this into...

EDUCATION COUNCIL : MEMBER STATES WANT LESS AMBITIOUS EDUCATION OBJECTIVES.
March 12, 2009... The EU's member states are not likely to adopt, during the next Education Council in May, the European Commission's proposal for six new education benchmarks. This was one of the conclusions of a public debate held during the Council meeting of...

CROSS-BORDER HEALTH CARE : MEP JOHN BOWIS RECOMMENDS "SENSE AND SENSIBILITY".
March 12, 2009... British MEP John Bowis (EPP-ED) supports overall the proposal for a directive on cross-border health care, but wishes to clear up certain "areas of uncertainty". His draft report on the subject will be submitted to the European Parliament's...

SOCIAL ECONOMY : MEPS HIGHLIGHT BENEFITS OF THIRD SECTOR'.(Members of Parliament)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Although often "misrecognised", the spread of social economy enterprises could "reduce exposure to speculation in financial markets". This is the opinion of 580 MEPs, who voted in favour (27 against, 44 abstentions) of a report, on 19 February,...

WORKING CONDITIONS : MEPS WANT RESPONSIBLE SUBCONTRACTING PRACTICES.(Members of the Parliament)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... MEPs want the European Commission to come up with a legal instrument at EU level that would ensure the social responsibility of subcontracting companies at the different stages in the supply-manufacturing chain in the EU. In a report by Lasse...

SAFETY OF CHILDREN : MISSING CHILDREN HOTLINE STILL NOT UP ACROSS EU.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The EU's missing children hotline number - 116000a- is already operational in five EU countries, but Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding is not satisfied. "There is no room or time for complacency when it comes to the safety of our...

INTERNET : NEW COALITION TO FIGHT CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The European Commission is going to grant up to 427,000 to the new coalition' of public and private partners aiming to fight against images and content of child sexual abuse on the internet. The coalition was launched on 3 March in London at...

COMPANY LAW : NEW CONSULTATION ON EUROPEAN FOUNDATION STATUTE.
March 12, 2009... The idea of a European foundation statute has been around since 2003. The European Commission has not taken a decision yet on the need to legislate on this matter and is consequently launching a new consultation to gather additional input. A...

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT : NEW MECHANISM FOR VERIFYING APPLICATION OF SCHENGEN RULES.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The changes that have been made to the legal situation in the Schengen area since its laws were adopted and integrated into the EU acquis mean that the system for verifying the correct application of the Schengen rules needs to be adapted. The...

PUBLIC HEALTH : NEW RULES APPLY TO ANIMAL PRODUCTS FROM NON-EU COUNTRIES.
March 12, 2009... New rules will be applied as of 1 May concerning the introduction of animal products into the EU by travellers. Some of these products, which may be in luggage or sent by post, can in fact be carriers of animal diseases that threaten European...

NOTARIES: DISCRIMINATION IN PORTUGAL.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The European Commission decided, on 19 February, to send a reasoned opinion to Portugal for its practice of allowing only its own nationals to practice the profession of notary. This national requirement runs counter to freedom of establishment...

ECONOMIC CRISIS : REPORT TAKES TEMPERATURE OF EU JOB MARKET.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The European Commission's latest data up to February 2009 identify "a more marked impact of the economic downturn" on the labour market in the European Union, with unemployment rates rising in all but four member states: Austria, Bulgaria,...

SOCIAL PROTECTION : REPORT URGES COORDINATION UNDER SHADOW OF CRISIS.
March 12, 2009... The coordination of social policies at EU level can "cushion" the impact of the economic crisis and help recovery, says the European Commission's Joint report on social protection and social inclusion 2009', presented on 5 March. The study...

SOCIAL PARTNERS : SEILLIERE: "THIS IS NOT THE MOMENT TO QUARREL".
March 12, 2009... The mantra of the need to "avoid protectionism" was recited by representatives of European employers and trade unions during their meeting, on 25 February, with the whole College of Commissioners. According to the European Commission, this...

INTERNET : SOCIAL NETWORKS PLEDGE TO PROTECT CHILDREN BETTER.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The European Commission received, on 10 February, the signatures of 17 major social networking sites which promise to better protect the under-18s, who are particularly vulnerable to the misuse of their private data. While refusing to...

ASYLUM : SOUTHERN COUNTRIES CONTEND FOR EUROPEAN SUPPORT OFFICE.
March 12, 2009... Faced with strong immigration pressure from Africa and the Middle East, the EU's Southern countries are entering the ranks of those contending for the future European Asylum Support Office. The first to do so is Malta, a small Mediterranean...

GENDER PAY GAP : SPIDLA: WOMEN COULD PLAY KEY ROLE IN TACKLING CRISIS.
March 12, 2009... Alongside investments in innovation and creativity and the intra-EU movement of workers, the European Commission believes that women should substantially increase their role in tackling the current crisis. While the Union's central banks...

HIGHER EDUCATION : STUDY SINGS PRAISES OF ERASMUS PROGRAMME.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The current system of higher education would have been very different had there not been the Erasmus programme, which was established in 1987, concludes a recent study by the European Commission. It says that the Erasmus programme for mobility...

WORKING TIME : TALKS GOING ROUND IN CIRCLES.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The European Parliament's negotiators want a "clear mandate" to pursue talks on the Working Time Directive. During the first informal three-way talks, on 10 February, they asked the Czech EU Presidency to obtain a "real document" in which the...

THREE-WAY TUG OF WAR.(Working Time Directive)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The Czech EU Presidency has finally obtained a real mandate' from the member states to start negotiations on the revision of the Working Time Directive. It thus spelled out its position in black and white, on 18 February. This exactly is what...