EU jobs pledge faces tough test

Date: 04/04/1996

By Tim Jonesand Rory Watson

THE EU's pledge to wage war on unemployment will be severely tested in the run up to what the Italians are already billing as a 'summit for jobs' in June.

While member states, the European Commission and the Parliament all agree on the need for fresh initiatives, fundamental differences are already emerging over what role - if any - Union-wide measures can play in creating more jobs.

Concern is also growing that the sheer number of conflicting ideas now on the table - and the plethora of meetings to be devoted to the issue in the coming months - could actually hinder, rather than help, attempts to get agreement on a common approach to the problem.

Industry and unions will meet on 28-29 April to prepare the ground for a tripartite meeting with finance and employment ministers in Rome, intended to produce agreement on a series of measures to make working time and practices more flexible in the hope of generating jobs.

The Rome meeting will take place less than two weeks before the issue once again tops the agenda at the June summit in Florence. In addition, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has called for an informal summit devoted entirely to employment to be held in the autumn.

But the coolness with which the cornerstone of Commission President Jacques Santer's proposed 'Confidence Pact for Employment' - his call for 2 billion ecu of unused agricultural funds to be transferred to potential job-creating projects such as the Trans-European Networks (TENs) - was received in Turin last Friday has given an early indication of the arguments which lie ahead.

As the agenda for Turin fell victim to the collapse of the British beef industry, Santer's prized initiative was all but forgotten in the stampede.

The Commission president remains determined to win governments over to his idea and will take up the cudgels again next week when he embarks on a second round of meetings with EU leaders in national capitals to discuss his proposed pact.

Santer's decision to take the plan to Turin was aimed at sidelining those finance ministers who have declared themselves implacably opposed to the idea.

But the tactic failed. Instead, finance ministers have been asked to prepare a detailed assessment of the plan to be considered by EU leaders in Florence.

Opposition to the Santer initiative reflects a belief in many EU capitals that while it can be useful to share experiences about job-creation measures, national governments alone hold the levers of employment policies.

Even Sweden, which is arguing for a chapter on employment to be written into the revised treaty, nevertheless believes that jobs policy should remain in the hands of member states.

The depth of the divisions on this issue was underlined in Turin by a dispute over Danish calls for the phrase “the fight against unemployment is the priority task” to be included in the summit conclusions, amid fears that this could undermine the pursuit of the single currency goal.

Member states also question whether providing extra funds to help complete the TENs priority projects will create as many jobs as the Commission suggests.

“The beneficial effects (of funding TENs) are overrated, they are more apparent than real,” Werner Hoyer, Germany's junior minister for European affairs said yesterday (2 April).

Amid all the hype, the fear is growing that if there is nothing concrete for EU governments to discuss in Florence, they will be left looking helpless in the face of what all agree is their most serious challenge.