COMMISSION WANTS TO FOCUS BARCELONA ON 'MANAGING CHANGE'.

• Position: European Union summit meeting in Spain - Brief Article

Just one month from the March European Council in Barcelona, most social policy activity at EU level is inevitably linked to preparing the summit. The European Commission has recently proposed several documents that will be presented at the Barcelona summit. The EU executive wants the social and economic summit to be centred on 'managing change', and it has adopted a document requesting the social partners to discuss ways to manage corporate restructuring in a socially-responsible way. Such ideas are also mentioned in the general synthesis report for Barcelona, which sets out all the EU policy areas that need to be speeded up in the Commission's view. The report on active ageing and getting more women into the labour market, included as a supplement in this month's European Social Policy, will also be presented at Barcelona.When EU Social Affairs Ministers met at an Informal Council meeting in the Spanish town of Burgos on January 18 and 19, Barcelona was the talk of the day. The most interesting conclusion of the meeting was the need to streamline and simplify the European Employment Strategy, and align it with budgetary policy. This issue will no doubt resurface at...