PRIORITY ON EMPLOYMENT.

• Position: Brief article

The Spanish EU Presidency firmly defended the prolongation of national economic support measures as long as unemployment continues to rise, saying signs of recovery are too weak to give them up just yet. Meeting in Barcelona for an informal Employment and Social Affairs Council, on 28-29 January, the European social partners and the three countries presiding the EU for the coming 18-month period (Spain, Belgium and Hungary) agreed that the EU had to keep using the crutch of social measures.

In a recent report, however, the European Commission states that eligibility criteria for crisis measures should be much stricter than in 2009 before being phased out, in order to avoid a long-term negative impact on...