EMPLOYMENT/EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT : EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE FAVOURS MAINTAINING EXISTING GUIDELINES.

• Position: Brief article

The European Parliament's Committee for Employment and Social Affairs adopted, on 21 March, a report by Magda Kosane (Hungary, PES) on the guidelines for employment (36 votes for, 3 against and 2 abstentions).aMembers of the committee agree with the Commission that the integrated guidelines for growth and jobs which were set for 2005-2008 should remain largely unchanged. They therefore adopted only several amendments concerning the recitals underlining certain priorities. The EP is only consulted on this matter.

MEPs underline that further progress is needed to increase workers mobility. Furthermore, renewed emphasis should be placed on the employment of young and older people, on workers' health, on combating work-related accidents at European level, on the integration of vulnerable social groups, on combating social exclusion, on outlawing illegal working and on improving the quality and the stability of jobs and to the...