European Social Policy articles from November 2006

European Social Policy archives from November 2006

WORKING TIME : EMF CALLS ON ALL GOVERNMENTS TO RESPECT THE SAFEGUARDS.(European Metalworkers' Federation)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Meeting in Bled (Slovenia) on 9-10 October, the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) Collective Bargaining Policy Committee noted that there is currently strong pressure on the European Council and national governments to come to a political...

SOCIAL POLICY : EUROPEAN HOUSING NETWORK TO PUSH FOR INNOVATIVE POLICIES.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Nineteen social and public housing companies from Italy, Germany, France and Sweden, in charge of the management of nearly 300,000 dwellings, are meeting on 18 October in Brussels in order to create Eurhonet (the European Housing Network). ...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : FINNISH PRESIDENCY DESPERATE FOR A COMPROMISE.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The Finnish EU Presidency is looking for a way to end the deadlock in the discussion on the Working Time Directive (see Europolitics 3122) and has therefore organised an extraordinary Council on this question in Brussels on 7 November. One...

WORKING TIME : FINNS UNVEIL COMPROMISE ON WORKING TIME DEADLOCK.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The Finnish Presidency of the EU wants to resolve the long-debated issues surrounding the Working Time Directive, which seeks to cap the working week at 48 hours. For this reason, having negotiated with the social partners, it decided in the...

GETTING EUROPE TO WORK.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... This study considers the problems related to the flexibility (and thus efficiency) of labour markets in Europe, which leave too many outside the job market and fail to match the unemployed with job opportunities. Key questions that arise are...

KYPRIANOU CLAIMS TO BE "SATISFIED".(Markos Kyprianou)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The strategy against alcohol abuse in the EU has not been "watered down". All the elements related to the damaging effects and illnesses caused by alcohol abuse are listed in the communication adopted by the European Commission in Strasbourg on...

SCHENGEN INFORMATION SYSTEM : NO ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR DELAYS.
November 15, 2006... The European Parliament debated on 23 October three reports, with over 200 compromise amendments, presented by Carlos Coelho (EPP-ED, Portugal). The reports, one consultation and two co-decision reports, examine the establishment, operation and...

VAT : REDUCED TAX RATES FOR ONLINE NEWS: FRANCE HAS TO WAIT.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Although it has not been directly snubbed, France is going to have to be patient with regard to the Council giving the green light to the application of a reduced VAT rate for online news, in line with traditional press services (see...

EUROPEAN GLOBALISATION ADJUSTMENT FUND : REGIONS MORE AMBITIOUS THAN THE COMMISSION.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The EU's Committee of the Regions (CoR) feels the 500 million budget earmarked for the future European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF, intended to help workers made redundant owing to the repercussions of globalisation on their company) is...

RESTRUCTURING AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE EU.(European Union)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... This is the first report of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM). The aim of these reports is to present information on restructuring data, policies and practices. It finds that there are serious measurement problems in most member states...

INSURANCE-PENSIONS : SIX MEMBER STATES BREACHING EU LAW.(European Union; Italy, Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The Commission is pursuing infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Poland for failing to correct breaches of law on insurance and occupational pensions. The Commission will refer Italy to...

EUROPEAN COMMISSION : WORK PROGRAMME 2007 PUTS THE ACCENT ON BETTER LEGISLATION'.
November 15, 2006... Twenty-one strategic initiatives' and 60 priority initiatives' to be adopted in the next 18 months are on the agenda for 2007, as seen in the European Commission's work programme published on 24 October (1). The document aims to be...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : 23 COUNTRIES FACE COMMISSION ACTION IF NO SETTLEMENT IS REACHED.
November 15, 2006... Following the failure of the Council of Empolyment ministers, on 7 November, the European Commission can proceed with action against member states deemed to be out of line with Directive 2003/98 on working time, as interpreted by the...

WORKING CONDITIONS SURVEY : 80% OF EU WORKERS SAY THEY ARE SATISFIED.(European Union)
November 15, 2006... The European Commission published on 7 November the results of the Fourth Working Conditions Survey conducted by the Dublin Foundation (www.eurofound.europa.eu). This survey presents the views of workers on a wide range of issues, including...

OPEN FORUM/MARTIN SCHULZ, PES GROUP PRESIDENT IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT : A BERLIN AGENDA TO AWAKEN EUROPE...
November 15, 2006... Like Snow White, the European Union has fallen into a deep sleep... and needs to be brought back to life. The constitutional referendums in France and the Netherlands were the poisoned apple. Their No' has quashed the resounding Yes' in...

HEALTH : ACTION PLAN WILL ATTACK ALCOHOLISM AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE.
November 15, 2006... Its angle of attack - young people's consumption of alcohol - spoke volumes about the European Commission's proposed action plan to combat alcohol abuse in the EU for the period 2007 to 2012. A draft of the communication setting out the plan,...

MIGRATION : APPROVAL OF NEW FUNDS DRAWS MIXED REACTIONS.
November 15, 2006... The European External Borders Fund inched towards implementation ahead of a vote in the European Parliament's Brussels plenary at the end of November. The fund is part of the general programme Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows with...

UNEMPLOYMENT : BELGIAN LEGISLATION INCOMPATIBLE WITH PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The EU Court of Justice feels that EU regulation(1) is incompatible with a 'legislation under which the competent institution of the member state of residence denies unemployment benefits to a national of another member state on the ground...

POSTING OF WORKERS : CLARIFICATIONS AND BETTER ENFORCEMENT NEEDED.
November 15, 2006... Members of the European Parliament are worried that the Posting of Workers Directive (96/71/EC) is not being implemented properly in some member states and is therefore failing to achieve its aims. They call for urgent actions by the...

EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND : COMMISSIONER PIDLA DENOUNCES MEMBER STATES' BAD CHOICES.(Vladimir Pidla)
November 15, 2006... Speaking at a Party of European Socialists' workshop on the European Social Fund (ESF) at the European Parliament on 9 November, Vladimir pidla, the Commissioner responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, denounced the...

SOCIAL POLICY : COMMISSIONER PIDLA'S SERMON ON LABOUR LAW.(Vladimir Pidla)
November 15, 2006... Prior to the tripartite social summit that was held in Lahti on 20 October, Vladimir pidla, the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, addressed a conference entitled Boosting Productivity and Creating Better...

DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES : COMMISSION HIGHLIGHTS WORRYING EFFECTS OF AGEING.
November 15, 2006... In a communication adopted on 12 October, the European Commission highlighted several alarming statistics which would have a significant social impact in at least three areas if current trends and policies did not change. Although the...

FREEDOM OF ESTABLISHMENT : COMMISSION QUESTIONS NATIONALITY REQUIREMENT FOR NOTARIES.
November 15, 2006... The European Commission sent reasoned opinions to seven member states for breaching EU laws by only permitting their own citizens to become notaries. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are being asked to...

HEALTH : COMMISSION SURFS THE WAVE OF SMOKING BANS IN THE EU.(European Union)
November 15, 2006... The European Commission, which is preparing to launch its consultation on the fight against passive smoking and the harmful effects of tobacco in public places, is very pleased to see the growing number of public places in the EU where smoking...

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES : COMMISSION TO COMPILE STUDY ON SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES.(Report)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... 'A study on poverty and social exclusion affecting single-parent families will shortly be finalised,' Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Commissioner Vladimir Spidla told the European Parliament's Family and Child Protection Intergroup on...

SOCIAL SECURITY : COURT RULES ON COMPENSATION FOR THE VICTIMS OF ASBESTOS.
November 15, 2006... The EU Court of Justice has ruled that a French provision on compensation for victims of asbestos fails to respect the principle of free movement of workers since it fails to take account of pay received in another member state in calculating...

CSR FOR INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS.(corporate social responsibility)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The Finnish EU Presidency will host a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) conference on 22 November. Some two hundred experts from government, business and civil society across Europe will explore what CSR can do for innovation and...

DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES : DEMOGRAPHIC AGEING OF THE EU IS NOT INEVITABLE.
November 15, 2006... If it tackles the issue now, the European Union is perfectly capable of defusing "the demographic time bomb" statisticians have been predicting for the last 20 years. That is the message put across by Commissioners Spidla (Employment and Social...

RIGHT OF RESIDENCE : ECJ STRIKES DOWN HIGHER TAX FOR NON-RESIDENT PENSIONERS.(European Union. Court of Justice)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Millions of pensioners who go to live in sunnier climates when they retire will welcome the latest ruling of the EU Court of Justice on the right of residence and tax discrimination. On 9 November, the Court found (Case C-520/04) that Finland...

FIGHT AGAINST EXCLUSION : ENDING POVERTY REMAINS A "PRESSING PROBLEM".(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... An expert roundtable conference on poverty and social exclusion, organised by the Finnish EU Presidency, ended in Tampere on 17 October. The event was attended by over 300 people (civil servants from member and candidate states,...

IMMIGRATION/INTEGRATION : EP CALLS FOR END TO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST FEMALE IMMIGRANTS.(European Parliament)
November 15, 2006... The double discrimination suffered by immigrant females due to their origin and their gender were condemned in an own-initiative report adopted by the European Parliament in plenary session in Strasbourg on 24 October (449 votes for, 133...

SERVICES DIRECTIVE : EP COMMITTEE REJECTS AMENDMENTS.
November 15, 2006... As expected, the European Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection rejected on 23 October all 42 amendments to the Services Directive, intended to remove barriers to the free movement of service providers in the EU....

LABOUR LAW : ETUC CALLS FOR THE COMMISSION TO PUBLISH GREEN PAPER.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The European Trade Union Confederation wrote on 12 October to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, demanding that he should resist pressure from European employers' organisation UNICE to further delay publication of the...

EUROZONE : ETUC REPORT SAYS 2006 UPTURN DUE TO AGGREGATE DEMAND POLICIES.(European Trade Unions Confederation)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... To coincide with the European Commission's autumn economic forecasts, the European Trade Unions Confederation (ETUC) published a report on 6 November analysing the economic situation and prospects in the euro area(1) Ita explains that the...

ETUC SUPPORTS THE CONSTITUTION.(European Trade Union Confederation )(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), meeting in Brussels on 18-19 October, discussed possible solutions to the deadlock facing the EU's Constitutional Treaty. The ETUC opposes attempts to remove the Charter...

EU/UKRAINE SUMMIT : EU & UKRAINE CONCLUDE VISA AND IMMIGRATION PACTS.
November 15, 2006... During the EU-Ukraine Summit in Helsinki on 27 October, the parties completed negotiations on the EU-Ukraine visa facilitation and readmission agreements. Both parties welcomed progress made on the EU-Ukraine Action Plan, and agreed on the...

HEALTH : EU INVITED TO CHANGE ITS APPROACH TO ASTHMA MANAGEMENT.(European Union)
November 15, 2006... Many professionals working in the health sector wish to draw the attention of European decision-makers to the dangers and the growing prevalence of asthma in the EU. With the backing of MEPs and the European Commission as well as national...

EDUCATION : EU READY FOR LIFELONG LEARNING.(European Union)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The European Union's new Lifelong Learning Programme has passed its last legislative hurdle on 25 October, with the European Parliament adopting its second reading on the dossier. As planned, the text adopted by MEP is identical to the...

DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES : FIRST FORUM ON DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The first biannual forum on Europe's demographic future was held by the European Commission on 30 and 31 October in Brussels (Charlemagne building). The forum's dual objective is to present and discuss the new communication on demographics, and...

GLOBALISATION ADJUSTMENT FUND : FIRST READING ON TRACK IN PARLIAMENT.
November 15, 2006... The European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee has voted by 37 votes to 3 with 2 abstentions to adopt the report by Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin (EPP-ED, France) backing the Commission's proposal to establish a European...

SOCIAL POLICY : FIVE WAYS TO TAKE UP DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES.
November 15, 2006... The Commission has decided to step up actions to take up the challenges of ageing, "a demographic time-bomb" in the words of Vladimir Spidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The new Communication, approved...

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS : FRENCH DENTISTS AND MIDWIVES IN LUXEMBOURG IN THE SPOTLIGHT.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The European Commission has decided to refer France to the European Court of Justice over its legislation relating to the use of the professional title of dentist.aUnder Directive 78/686/EEC concerning the mutual recognition of dentistry...

ALCOHOL STRATEGY : INDUSTRY COMES OUT UNSCATHED FROM STRATEGY TO CURB ALCOHOL ABUSE.
November 15, 2006... Accused only recently of 'disproportionate lobbying,' the drinks industry is now making amends by welcoming the European Commission's strategy to combat alcohol abuse in the EU, adopted on 24 October. Indeed, the industry welcomes the text...

PENSIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS : INFRINGEMENT PROCEDURES AGAINST 16 MEMBER STATES.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The European Commission announced on 12 October that it would pursue infringement procedures against 2 member states: Institutions providing occupational pensions: Italy. The Commission has decided to refer Italy to the EU Court of Justice...

PENSIONS / COMPETITION : INVESTIGATION INTO PROPOSED LA POSTE PENSION REFORMS.
November 15, 2006... The European Commission announced on 12 October that it has decided to open an in-depth investigation into proposals to reform the financing of the pensions of public sector workers employed by the French Post Office (La Poste). It will notably...

UNEMPLOYMENT : JOBLESS RATE STABLE AT 8% IN SEPTEMBER.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... In the eurozone, seasonally adjusted unemployment stood at 7.8% in September, unchanged compared to August. It was 8.5% in September 2005. The EU25 unemployment rate was 8% in September, the same as August. It was 8.7% in September 2005,...

KYPRIANOU ON ALCOHOL ABUSE.(Markos Kyprianou )(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Markos Kyprianou is determined to secure industry's support in the context of his strategy to combat alcohol abuse in the EU. Following the adoption of a communication by the European Commission on 24 October, the commissioner responsible for...

MARITIME TRANSPORT : LABOUR CONFLICTS LOOMING OVER EMPLOYMENT ABOARD FERRIES.
November 15, 2006... The European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) is on the warpath against deteriorating working conditions aboard ferries in the European Union. It is launching a far-reaching information campaign targeted at European and national authorities....

FLEXICURITY : LAHTI: MOST EVERYONE AGREES ON COMMON PRINCIPLES.
November 15, 2006... Social partners, the European Commission, the current Finnish Presidency of the EU and the two next Presidencies (Germany and Portugal) met for an extraordinary social summit in Lahti, Finland, before the actual informal European summit, to...

PROTECTION OF WORKERS : LEGISLATION ON PROTECTION AGAINST ASBESTOS CODIFIED.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... In the context of the process of simplifying Community legislation, the European Commission has decided to proceed with the codification of legislation concerning the protection of workers against risks linked to exposure to asbestos in the...

HEALTH : LIBERALS PUSH PATIENTS' RIGHTS CHARTER.
November 15, 2006... The Group of Liberals in the European Parliament feels that the European Commission's future proposals on cross-border health services, expected in 2007, should also guarantee the rights of European citizens. The ALDE Group has therefore...

IMMIGRATION : MAYOR OF PISA URGES PROTECTION FOR YOUNG UNACCOMPANIED MIGRANTS.(Paolo Fontanelli)
November 15, 2006... The EU must seek to promote greater awareness of the issue of unaccompanied minors (below the age of 18), according to a report by the Committee of the Regions (CoR), adopted at the Brussels-based assembly's October Plenary Session. The report,...

HEALTH : MCDONALD'S AND COCA-COLA PRAISED FOR THEIR EFFORTS TO FIGHT OBESITY.
November 15, 2006... Nine November saw something of a paradox at the European Commission. The champions of the agri-food and soft drinks industries, including McDonald's, Unilever, Kraft, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-cola were there to highlight their actions in fighting...

IMMIGRATION : MEMBER STATES AGREE TO BEEF UP FRONTEX AGENCY.
November 15, 2006... The meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin stole the spotlight from other issues addressed at the informal European Summit in Lahti on 20 October. The discussions on immigration thus lasted less than half an hour. Spain's Prime Minister...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : MEMBER STATES CANNOTAGREE WORKING TIME LIMITS.
November 15, 2006... The EU's labour ministers failed to conclude a compromise on Union-wide working hours legislation at their Council meeting on 7 November. Although the 25 ministers, meeting to discuss the revision of the Working Time Directive, were perfectly...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : MEP: "PARLIAMENT MUST BE HEARD".(Interview)
November 15, 2006... Alejandro Cercas (PES, Spain) is the rapporteur of the proposal for an amendment to the working time directive. Prior to the subject featuring on the agenda of the Council of ministers on 7 November, he pointed out to Europolitics the European...

HEALTH : MEPS URGE STRONGER ACTION AGAINST BREAST CANCER.(members of the European Parliament)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... By 641 votes for, 11 against, and 4 abstentions, MEPs have adopted, on 25 October in Strasbourg, a resolution urging the EU to act aginst the spread of breast cancer, which has become the ,ost significant cause of death for women aged 35-39...

MINIMUM SOCIAL STANDARDS.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... EAPN Ireland, a member of the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN), has published a first paper on the issue of minimum social standards in Europe. The project, initiated by partners in seven European states and coordinated by EAPN Ireland,...

FREE MOVEMENT OF WORKERS : MOBILITY BUS ROADSHOW MAKES LAST STOP IN BRUSSELS.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... After visiting eight countries across Europe, the Mobility Bus Roadshow made its final stop in Brussels, Belgium, on 19 October. On the last leg of its journey, the bus stopped at the European Commission's Berlaymont building, where Employment...

NEW EESC PRESIDENT.(European Economic and Social Committee, Dimitrios Dimitriadis)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Dimitrios Dimitriadis (Groupe I - Employers) is set to be elected President of the European Economic and Social Committee at the EESC's inaugural session on 25 October in Brussels . He will have a two-year mandate. Dimitriadis will make his...

WORKING TIME : ONE WORKER IN SEVEN PUTS IN LONG HOURS.
November 15, 2006... Since 1991, there has been a continual decrease in the number of weekly working hours in the European Union. The trend altered slightly in 2005 after the accession of the ten new member states, where average weekly working hours are higher....

FREE CIRCULATION : PARLIAMENT GIVES GO AHEAD FOR SIS II.
November 15, 2006... The European Parliament adopted more than 300 amendments to three Commission proposals for the second-generation Schengen Information System (SIS II). Speedy adoption of the three reports by Carlos Coelho (EPP, Portugal) clears the threat of a...

JUSTICE & HOME AFFAIRS : PARLIAMENT HOLDS OUT FOR STRONGER FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AGENCY.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The European Parliament voted, on 11 October, on amendments linked with two reports concerning the Fundamental Rights Agency, without actually adopting the reports themselves. By doing so, Parliament, which voted by a show of hands with a...

SOCIAL POLICY : PES CALLS IN BERLIN FOR LAUNCH OF SOCIAL EUROPE.
November 15, 2006... The issue of social europe was on the agenda of the european Socialists, when they gathered for an extraordinary plenary session in Berlin on 6 and 7 November. All delegates acknowledged the need to 'relaunch social Europe' and 'place...

PILOTS' CONVENTION.(Trans-National Airlines, European Cockpit Association)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... During its General Assembly, on 9 November, the European Cockpit Association - representing 35,000 professional pilots in Europe - signed an unprecedented agreement on pilot representation in Trans-National Airlines (TNA). Through the TNA...

BREAKING STEREOTYPES : POLISH ART STUDENT WINS EU-WIDE POSTER CONTEST.(Aleksandra Wolda)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... A poster designed by a young art student from Poland has been chosen as the winner of the Breaking Stereotypes competition, part of the European Union's For Diversity. Against Discrimination' information campaign. The design, submitted by...

EMPLOYMENT : POSITIVE TRENDS IN 2006 BUT FURTHER REFORMS NEEDED.
November 15, 2006... The European Commission published its traditional report on employment on 6 November, highlighting positive though insufficient trends, according to Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla. 'Despite the rise in the employment rates of women and...

PROGRESS CALL FOR PROPOSALS.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The European Commission has published an open call for proposals (VP/2006/019) for the award of a financial contribution towards the operating costs in 2007 of European-level networks active in the field of combating discrimination, promoting...

PROPOSAL TO END AGE DISCRIMINATION.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... European NGOs representing the elderly, gathered together under the AGE banner, have drawn attention to the need to combat discrimination in access to goods and services for the elderly. They recently published a proposal for a directive to...

ALCOHOL STRATEGY : REACTIONS: A "SIMPLE EXCHANGE OF GOOD PRACTICE".
November 15, 2006... The EU strategy on alcohol, which the European Commission adopted on 24 October in Strasbourg, is but a pale shadow of the proud ambitions outlined by Commissioner Markos Kyprianou just a few days earlier. Firstly, the new version of the...

SOCIAL BENEFITS : RESIDENCE CLAUSE CONTRARY TO CITIZENS' RIGHTS.
November 15, 2006... On the basis of European citizenship, the EU Court of Justice has ruled that a regulation compensating civilian victims of war should apply to all nationals of a member state even if they are resident in another country. The Dutch law on...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : REVIEWING EVENTS: BILATERALS HELD WITH MINISTERS.
November 15, 2006... Determined to settle the issue of the working time directive, which has been dragging on through several EU presidencies, the Finnish EU Presidency stepped up its efforts behind the scenes in the run-up to the extraordinary Council of...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : REVIEWING EVENTS: FINNS UNVEIL COMPROMISE AT LAHTI.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Taking advantage of the European summit of heads of state and government at Lahti, on 20 October, the Finnish Presidency of the EU discuused the issues with with the social partners. Then, it devoted an informal meeting to discussing the...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : REVIEWING EVENTS: SEVEN MEMBER STATES SOUGHT COMPROMISE.
November 15, 2006... Arranging a meeting in Brussels of seven member states, especially big ones, to try to work out a discreet compromise prior to a full Council of the EU25 is something of a rarity. Indeed, the method is original enough to be noticed, especially...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : REVIEWING EVENTS: TRADE UNIONS SAY NO TO COMPROMISE.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The European Trade Unions remained firmly opposed to the individual opt-out clause of the Working Time Directive. The public services unions stated that the Finnish compromise showed the opt-out to be "well and truly redundant" . The...

DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES : SOCIAL NGOS DISAPPOINTED BY COMMISSION'S APPROACH.(nongovernmental organizations)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The Social Platform welcomes the Commission's communication on demographic change but is deeply disappointed by the narrow approach envisaged by the Commission. "It is disappointing to see that the Commission is once again missing a unique...

SOCIAL POLICY : SOCIAL NGOS OUTLINE TEN PRINCIPLES ON FLEXICURITY.(Nongovernmental organizations)
November 15, 2006... Against the background of an extraordinary social summit in Lahti, Finland, on 20 October, the Social Platform of NGOs has adopted a series of ten common principles on flexicurity,' which it argues are essential for all reforms in terms of...

EU COMMUNICATION : SOCIAL NGOS SEMI-SATISFIED WITH THE COMMISSION'S WHITE PAPER.(European Union, Non-Governmental Organizations)
November 15, 2006... The Platform of European Social NGOs feels that Margot Wallstrom's White Paper on a European Communication Strategy is not insistent enough about the responsibility of the EU institutions. On the other hand, it supports the code of conduct...

TELEWORKING : SOCIAL PARTNERS REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT.
November 15, 2006... The European social partners ETUC (trade union), UNICE (private company), UEAPME (SMEs) and CEEP (public services), in the presence of Vladimir pidla, Commissioner for Employment, presented, on 11 October, the report on the implementation of...

WORKING CONDITIONS : STRIKING THE BALANCE BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL AND FAMILY LIFE.
November 15, 2006... The European Commission launched, on 12 October, the first stage of consultation of management and labour on the issue of reconciliation of professional, private and family life (hereinafter reconciliation), following the procedure laid down in...

STUDY ON MENTAL DISABILITY.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The level of transposition and application of the EU Directive against discrimination in employment (200/78) varies significantly from one country to the next, according to the EU Monitoring and Advocacy Programme (EUMAP) and the Open Society...

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE : THE BALL IS NOW IN THE COMMISSION'S COURT.
November 15, 2006... Following the EU employment ministers' failure to reach an agreement on 7 November on the revision of the European Working Time Directive, the question that naturally arises is: what now? This failure is not a failure like any other. It...

AUTUMN ECONOMIC FORECASTS : THE COMMISSION EXPECTS "SOLID GROWTH".
November 15, 2006... The European Commission is expecting "solid growth" in 2007 and 2008 for the EU as a whole, according to the autumn economic forecasts released on 6 November. Commissioner Joaquin Almunia noted that while there is still "a great deal of...

TOWARDS A COMMON EUROPEAN ASYLUM POLICY.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... A new published paper, by Stefano Bertozzi and Ferruccio Pastore, assesses the progress made so far in developing a Common European Asylum Policy, highlights the work which still needs to be done, and warns that both effective implementation...