European Social Policy articles from September 2008

European Social Policy archives from September 2008

SOCIAL AGENDA.
September 9, 2008... EMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL POLICY, HEALTH AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS COUNCIL Luxembourg - 2 October Draft agenda: EMPLOYMENT - Implementation of the common principles of flexicurity within the framework of the last cycle of the Lisbon...

AID FOR WORKERS IN SPANISH CAR SECTOR.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The European Commission approved, on 23 July, Spain's application for funding worth a total of 10.5 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), aimed at getting the 1,589 workers, who were dismissed from the car component...

RIGHTS FOR REDUCED MOBILITY PASSENGERS : COMMISSION APPEALS TO AIRLINES' GOODWILL.
September 9, 2008... Having a wheelchair damaged or lost during a flight can ruin an entire trip and complicate the life of people with reduced mobility for some time. A recent study shows that airports and airlines take too much time to resolve practical problems...

WORKERS MOBILITY : CONFERENCE ON JOINT APPROACHES FOR PROFESSIONAL MOBILITY.(Conference news)
September 9, 2008... Aaconference on the mobility of workers in Europe, organised by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on 11-12 September in Paris, will present the different aspects of professional mobility and...

CONFERENCE ON PROFESSIONAL MOBILITY.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... A conference organised on 11 and 12 September in Paris by the French EU Presidency and the European Commission will present different facets of professional mobility and will try to define common areas of work in member states in this field. It...

CONFERENCE ON QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION.(Brief article)(Conference notes)
September 9, 2008... A conference organised on 9 and 10 September in Strasbourg (Palais des Congres) by the French Presidency of the Council will deal with the quality of higher education in Europe. It should be a step towards extending the procedures which...

CONFERENCE ON THE PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE ADULTS.(Conference news)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The French Presidency of the EU Council is organising a conference, on 17 September in Lille, on the international protection of vulnerable adults. This conference is to be staged on the eve of the filing of France's instruments of ratification...

CONFERENCE ON WORKS COUNCILS.(Conference news)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... In a press release dated 4 September, the EU Commissioner for Employment, Vladimir Spidla, welcomed the joint opinion by the European social partners, of 29 August, on the proposal for a revision of the Directive on European works councils...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS COUNCIL : COOPERATION ON DIVORCE RULES RAISES FEARS OF TWO-SPEED EUROPE'.
September 9, 2008... The simplification of cross-border divorce in Europe should be the subject of an attempt at "enhanced cooperation", to circumvent a Swedish veto. Gathered on 25 July in Brussels, EU justice ministers contented themselves with an exchange of...

EGF AID IN LITHUANIA.(European Globalisation Adjustment Fund)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The European Commission approved, on 6 August, an application from Lithuania for assistance under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). The application will now be sent to the European Parliament and the European Council for a...

POPULATION : END TO NATURAL' DEMOGRAPHIC GROWTH IN 2015.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The EU's population is expected to increase from 495 million on 1 January 2008 to 521 million in 2035, and thereafter gradually decline to 506 million in 2060, according to figures published by Eurostat on 26 August. The annual number of...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : EP CALLS FOR EMERGENCY COOPERATION IN RECOVERING MISSING CHILDREN.(European Parliament)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The appeal launched by four MEPs to set up emergency cooperation to recover missing children has received the support of a majority of the European Parliament. The written declaration, drawn up by Edward McMillan-Scott (EPP-ED, UK), Roberta...

EP SIMPLIFIES SELECTION DECISION PROCEDURE.(European Parliament)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The European Parliament has accepted a simplification and acceleration of the European Commission's selection decision procedure for projects resulting from the 2007-2013 programmes Youth in Action', Culture', Europe for Citizens' and...

FOOD SAFETY : EU AGENCY NOT CONVINCED BY NUTRITIONAL CLAIMS.(European Union)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has issued an opinion that will make for grim reading for theaagri-foodstuffs industry. Out of its eight initial opinions assessing nutritional claims vaunting the benefits of products on health, and...

EMPLOYMENT : EU EMPLOYMENT RATE UP AT 65.4%.(European Union)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... In 2007, 218.5 million persons (resident in the EU aged 15 years or more) had a job or a business activity. The total employment rate for people aged 15-64 was 65.4% in 2007, compared with 62.1% in 20002 and 64.5% in 2006, according to results...

FREE MOVEMENT OF SERVICES : EU NEEDS TO HURRY UP WITH SERVICES DIRECTIVE, REPORT SAYS.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The EU member states have a number of fundamental problems with the implementation of the so-called Services Directive, an essential piece of legislation supposed to make life easier for service providers and their customers. A new survey,...

JOB DAYS : EVENTS AND SEMINARS ON LABOUR MOBILITY.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... September and October 2008 will see more than 500 events such as job fairs, seminars, lectures, workshops and cultural events in all EU countries all aimed at improving labour mobility in Europe. Under the banner of "European Job Days 2008",...

SAVINGS : FALL IN SAVINGS AND INVESTMENT IN THE EU.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... In the first quarter of 2008, the seasonally adjusted gross saving rate of households (1) was 13.7% in the eurozone compared to 13.8% in the fourth quarter of 2007. In the EU, the household saving rate was 10% in the first quarter of 2008,...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : FISCHER BOEL PRESENTS SCHOOL FRUIT SCHEME.(Mariann Fischer Boel)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... Mariann Fischer Boel presented to the EU's agriculture ministers, on 15 July in Brussels, the programme for the free distribution of fruit and vegetables in schools, with a budget of 90 million, which she proposes to launch with the start of...

FOOD SAFETY : FISH TOPS LIST OF DANGEROUS FOODS.
September 9, 2008... Most of the foods alerted as dangerous by EU member states in 2007 came from the fisheries sector, such as fish contaminated with mercury or dioxins in canned fish liver, states the European Commission's annual report on the Rapid Alert System...

COHESION POLICY : FUNDING OF HOUSING A PRIORITY FOR FRENCH PRESIDENCY.
September 9, 2008... The French Secretary of State for Regional Planning, Hubert Falco, wants to take advantage of the French Presidency of the Council to appeal to the European Commission to broaden the scope of funding possibilities for housing within the EU's...

GDP : GROWTH IN EU AND EUROZONE LOSING STEAM.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The downturn in European economic activity is confirmed in particular due to a fall in both internal and eternal demand. The eurozone's GDP declined by 0.2% and the EU's GDP by 0.1% in the second quarter of 2008, compared with the previous...

PUBLIC HEALTH : HEALTH SECURITY AT HEART OF MINISTERIAL MEETING.
September 9, 2008... Health security, one of the priorities of the French Presidency of the Council in the field of health care, is the chosen theme for the informal meeting of health ministers from the member states, to be held on 8 and 9 September at the...

TRADE UNION MEMORANDUM : INTERNAL MARKET CANNOT YIELD BENEFITS FOR BUSINESSES ALONE.
September 9, 2008... Fundamental social rights cannot be regarded as hierarchically inferior to economic freedoms. In other words, the internal market cannot yield benefits for business alone. This is the appeal issued by the European Trade Union Confederation...

FOODSTUFFS : LEGISLATION ON DIETARY FOODS REQUIRES CLARIFICATION.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... Faced with the haphazard interpretation by member states of the EU legislation on putting dietary foods on the market, the European Commission believes that the situation needs to be clarified. It is in particular a question of clarifying the...

WORKING CONDITIONS : MEETING TO TACKLE WORK-RELATED STRESS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... Representatives of the European Union member states and trade unions will meet on 9 September in Paris to produce a draft text to combat work-related stress in public administrations. These discussions will take place within the framework of...

GLOBALISATION FUND : MEP SAYS FUND RULES SHOULD BE MORE FLEXIBLE.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The "Globalisation Fund rules should have been more flexible," commented Reimer Boge, chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Budgets, during a visit, on 21 July, to Joensuu (Finland) to monitor the use of credits granted by the EU...

MEPS' DECLARATION ON YOUTH EMPOWERMENT.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... A written declaration adopted on 3 September by the European Parliament will be handed to the European Commission and the Council to demand a strengthening of the role of the young in European policies. Based on an initiative by the European...

GENDER EQUALITY : MEPS SEEK TO IMPROVE JOB QUALITY FOR WOMEN.
September 9, 2008... A series of factors contribute to the persistent inequality between men and women, both in their professional lives - salaries, responsibility, etc - and in their private lives - violence crime. A report that the European Parliament adopted on...

SPORT : MINISTERS DISCUSS HOME-GROWN PLAYERS RULE.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... In the presence of UEFA President Michel Platini, the Union's European affairs ministers have reiterated that sport is not a merchandise' like others and insisted on the promotion of sport and physical activities as factors of public health. A...

IMMIGRATION : PARLIAMENT CRITICISES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR ASYLUM REQUESTS.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... Southern EU member states - Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Spain - are collapsing under the administrative burden that an asylum request represents, even though they are not necessarily the final destination of the applicant. The EU system - called...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS COUNCIL : PENALTIES FOR EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS SPLIT THE UNION.
September 9, 2008... The European Union's member states have split into two camps over proposed new rules to fight illegal migration. A directive on sanctions against employers of illegal migrants, proposed on 16 May 2007, ran into opposition of a group of member...

FAMILY POLICY : RECONCILING PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND FAMILY LIFE : MINISTERIAL MEETING.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... An informal meeting of EU family ministers is organized in Paris on 18 September, chaired by Xavier Bertrand, the French Ministrer of Labour, Labour Relations, Family and Solidarity and Nadine Morano, the French Secretary of State for family...

SOCIAL POLICY : SOCIAL AGENDA GETS MIXED REVIEW FROM MEPS.
September 9, 2008... Most members of the European Parliament welcomed the social agenda presented in July by the European Commission as a necessary initiative, especially given the impact of globalisation. But while right-of-centre members welcomed most of the...

WORKS COUNCILS : SOCIAL PARTNERS IN FAVOUR OF NEW DIRECTIVE.
September 9, 2008... The social partners(1) are, on the whole, in favour of the recasting of the Directive on European works councils which the European Commission had presented on 2 July ((2)). They say this in a recent letter sent to French Employment and Social...

SPIDLA SEEKS TO EXTEND MATERNITY LEAVE.(Vladimir Spidla)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The EU's Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, wants to increase the length of maternity leave from 14 to 18 weeks in the European Union. He is expected to present a draft directive on 8 October, according to the 1...

THE EU AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES.(European Union)(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... With its member states winning a total of 87 gold medals in theaBeijing Olympic Games, which have just ended, France's secretary of state for European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet said that the EU is 'the first international Olympic power", ahead...

CITIZENSHIP : TWELVE PROJECTS WIN GOLDEN STARS.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... The Commission has selected 12 citizenship and twinning projects as winners of the 2008 Golden Stars Awards for active European citizenship, it announced on 22 July. The awards will be presented at a ceremony, on 13 November. Presented as part...

UNEMPLOYMENT : UNEMPLOYMENT STABLE AT 6.8% IN THE EU IN JULY.(Brief article)
September 9, 2008... TheaEUaseasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood ata6.8% in July 2008, unchanged compared with June (7.1% in July 2007). The eurozoneaunemployment rate wasaat 7.3% in July 2008, also unchanged compared with June (7.4% in July 2007), indicated...