EPSCO COUNCIL : EMPLOYMENT: ANDOR URGES MEMBER STATES TO SET THEIR SIGHTS HIGH.

At the Employment and Social Affairs Council, on 6 December 2010, Commissioner Laszlo Andor urged member states to be more ambitious in their national reform programmes (NRPs). "As highlighted by the Employment Committee (EMCO), we must do more to achieve the EU employment target of 75%. I therefore take the liberty of reminding you of this target, endorsed in the Europe 2020' strategy," he said. The commissioner pressed the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to submit their draft programmes as soon as possible.

This warning followed an initial review of the draft programmes, which shows that approval of all the NRPs would equate to an employment rate of only 72.8%. "That is barely more than half what is needed to achieve the target we set," explained EMCO Chair Bruno Coquet, who presented the committee's opinion during an airing of views on employment policies in the context of the 2020 strategy and the European semester. Member states have five months (until April 2011) to turn in the final version of their programmes.

MONITORING OF PROGRESS

The ministers, convinced that they have a key role to play in achieving the ambitious target of 75% employment, adopted the joint opinion of EMCO and the Social Protection Committee (SPC) on the joint assessment framework and employment performance monitor. This framework is an indicator-based assessment system covering both general and specific policy areas under integrated Guidelines 7-10 (on employment policy). It aims to facilitate the identification of key challenges in these areas to help member states in establishing their priorities and to contribute to the general assessment of progress at EU level. "Special attention will be given to the neediest, the role of social protection systems, labour activation policies and access to training and health care," explained Aurelio Fernandez Lopez, chair of the...