IRISH PRESIDENCY : SOCIAL EUROPE INCREASINGLY HIT BY CRISIS.

Balancing national leanings and Community solidarity is the challenge the Irish Presidency faces on social and employment policy. Faced with skyrocketing unemployment that began four years ago and is likely to continue over the next six months, Dublin is committed to putting initiatives for employment-rich growth high up its list of priorities. These include proposals to make it easier for workers to move around the Union. It promises not to shirk from any issue, even the most sensitive, such as those linked to equality (directives on maternity leave and against discrimination) and to solidarity (Globalisation Adjustment Fund and aid programme for the deprived).

STIMULATING MOBILITY

Most of the issues being negotiated concern cross-border mobility. Like its Presidency predecessors, Dublin will first try to progress the implementing directive on the posting of workers presented in March 2012. The text, which amends Directive 1996/71, aims to clarify rules for when employees are sent to a member state other than the one in which they usually work for a limited period when delivering...