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COUNCIL OFBrussels, 9 June 2011 THE EUROPEAN UNION
11341/11
SOC 508
NOTE
from: The Presidency
to: COUNCIL (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs)
Subject: Presidency Conferences
-
-Information from the Presidency (Any other business item)
Delegations will find attached a Presidency note in preparation of the EPSCO Council meeting on
17 June.
During the Hungarian Presidency several conferences have been organised. A summary of the most
relevant events, which have also attracted the largest audience, is set out in this document following
a chronological order by ministries.
MINISTRY OF NATIONAL RESOURCES
Conference "Children of Today, Possibilities of Tomorrow" and Informal meeting of the L'Europe de L'enfance intergovernmental group - 22 March 2011, Budapest
The protection of human rights is a major objective of the European Union. However, there is no common policy regarding children's rights. In various ways the EU tries to express its commitment to promoting the right of children. The regular meetings of the L'Europe de L'Enfance Intergovernmental Group is such a format, which had its meeting during the Hungarian Presidency
in Budapest on 22
nd March 2011.
The conference and the meeting focused on the fundamental right of the child to grow up in a family. In this regard the participants exchanged their ideas on how families receive help to bring up their children, what kind of further support they would need, and they expressed the advantages of large families, and the concerns related to the demographic situation.
Among the presenters were university professors, the head of an NGO, and a teenage boy, who talked about his experience of the Hungarian child protection system, and what it is like to grow up in a foster home. Members of the Permanent Intergovernmantal Group Europe de L'Enfance, representatives of the ChildONEurope organisation, the European Comission, the Council of Europe, Unicef, Eurochild, and Hungarian experts attended the conference and meeting.
In the afternoon the L'Europe de L'Enfance Intergovernmental Group held its meeting, where the European Commission presented the EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child (Commission Communication), on basis of which the participants had the opportunity to express their thoughts and ask questions.
Europe for Families, Families for Europe Population Issues and Policies Awareness Week (Budapest, 28 March 2011 2 April 2011)
The Hungarian Presidency has considered demographic issues as one of the major challenges in the European Union today. Therefore, special attention has been devoted to demographic trends and to families in particular. Fertility issues and work-life balance have been put high on the agenda of the Hungarian Presidency. In order to address the challenges and identifying best practices that might raise awareness and help tackling the problems, the Hungarian Presidency organised a thematic week, with different events spanning the whole week (including also some special national events listed below as well). The Informal Meeting of Ministers responsible for Demography and Family Policy Issues (1 April 2011) was also an indispensable part of this concentrated endeveaur (see more under the relevant agenda point of the Council)
Demographic Change: The Impact of Work and Family Reconciliation on Demographic Dynamics conference (28-29 March 2011): This was the opening event of the thematic week. See more details below.
Success story or Sisyphean Challenge: The Impact of Policy Responses on Family and Fertility Dynamics in Europe Population Europe Event Budapest 2011 (29 March 2011): Population Europe is a collaborative network consisting of 18 European demographics institutes with an aim of increasing the understanding of the problems related to population in Europe, and spreading demographic knowledge extensively. Professor Dr Zsolt Spéder, Director of the Demographic Research Institute, Hungary chaired the meeting where demographic experts changed their views on the latest findings.
Meeting of the Commission's Expert Group on Demographic Issues (30 March 2011):
The latest demographic issues were discussed by the representatives of the Member States' governments, the representatives of the European Commission and freelance experts. The draft working programme of the expert group for 2011 was also adopted. The European Commission has presented its 2010 Demography Report; along the representatives of the FAMILYPLATFORM who gave information on their new European research agenda. General Assembly of the Confederation of Family Associations in the Carpathian Basin (30 March 2011): The Confederation of Family Associations in the Carpathian Basin, a network of 52 Family Organisations celebrated its 10
th anniversary under the high patronage of Dr László Kövér, President of the Hungarian National Assembly. In the frame of the event two cross-border families gave declarations of Oath of Hungarian Citizenship.
30 years of familiaris consortio, apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II State and church for the future generations Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference (30 31 March 2011): The conference has launched the `Year of Families' in 2011. Families being a core value of the Catholic Church, the Conference organised by the Hungarian Catholic Church provided the participants with the clerical point of view.
Family platform and REPRO Dissemination Presentation (31 March 2011): Familyplatform is a social platform working together to chart and review the major trends of family research in the European Union. At the event besides discussing key policy issues Familyplatform presented its research agenda for the European Commission and the European Union Member States that aims to work towards improving the wellbeing of families. REPRO (Reproductive Decision-Making in a Macro-Micro Perspective) is an interdisciplinary research project, aiming to analyse the causes and consequences of low fertility in Europe from demographic, sociological, economic, social psychological and anthropological perspectives. After three years of intensive work, REPRO presented the main results of the project, which laid out new scientific and policy-oriented knowledge on the factors that drive changes in birth rates and influence the reproductive decision- making of Europeans today.
Celebration of Families with Europe (02 April 2011): The closing festival of the Week required active participation of families visiting the event. Concerts, folk dance shows, international playground for children with the most popular toys of Member States; exhibitions of folk costumes of Member States were provided for their amusement.
Demographic Change: The Impact of Work and Family Reconciliation on Demographic Dynamics conference (Budapest, 28-29 March 2011)
The conference, the opening event of the Population Issues and Policies Awareness Week, was dedicated to the reconciliation of work and family life with the aim to exchange views, identify the best measures and practices and to address all related fields from labour market issues to care facilities by drawing the actors' attention to the importance of this issue.
The first panel attempted to elaborate the effect of work-family conciliation on fertility and fatherhood roles in families in Europe. The second panel focused on the best practices implemented in Member States in order to reconcile paid work with family responsibilities and the added value of an EU policy response.
The main outcomes of the conference presented also at the Informal Meeting of Ministers responsible for Demography and Family Policy Issues (1 April 2011) were as follows:
ˇ While bearing in mind that policy mix varies across Member States, Governments should provide a choice to reconcile work and family life by:
o ensuring policy coherence by using all tools at their disposal o ensuring the provision of a sufficient number of care facilities for children and other
dependents, at an affordable price o providing these policy measures for both
ˇ The involvement of social partners is important in implementing the above mentioned measures.
ˇ Enhancing equality between women and men in various aspects throughout the life-cycle might improve the reconciliation of work and family life, since:
o more equal sharing of household responsibilities is crucial in striking the right work- life balance.
o it might enhance the recognition of social value of care activities.
ˇ Relevant actors should participate in collecting, processing and disseminating knowledge on demography and family policy issues.
ˇ A coordinated and coherent action at European level is needed to adverse the current trends.
The conference was supported by the European Commission. Representatives of the Member States, the European institutions (European Commission, European Parliament, European Economic and Social Committee, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, European Institute for Gender Equality), NGOs and experts and academics were greeted also by the President of Hungary.
New Challenges in the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 - High Level Expert Conference (Budapest, 19-20 April 2011)
The overall objective of the conference was to discuss measures improving the enjoyment of rights, training and education, employment and social inclusion of people with disabilities in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020. This was the first EU Presidency conference on disability since the Convention had entered into force with respect to the European Union on 23 January 2011. The conference raised political awareness and dialogue, indispensable for advancing disability issues.
The objectives and the current policy of the European Commission were presented by Commissioner Viviane Reding (through a video message). Most Member States of the current and the following TRIO Presidency were represented at ministerial or state secretary level. About 1/3 of nearly 150 participants represented national and international NGO-s. Among the key representative the leaders of EDF (European Disability Forum), ANED (Academic Network of European Disability experts), EPR (European Platform for Rehabilitation), ASNE (Agency for Special Needs Education) and EASPD (European Association of Service Providers for People with Disabilities) were present and gave presentations on relevant issues.
The conference programme highlighted three main areas for action out of the eight in the European Disability Strategy: employment, education and training as well as social protection. Within these three areas, in accordance with the implementation of the UNCRPD and the three main targets of Europe 2020 Strategy, the conference focused on improving employment and inclusive education, and combating poverty with regard to persons with disabilities.
The conference underlined that integration is a key factor which contributes to the employment of persons with disabilities. However, the protected and supported workplaces that provide predictable and secure working conditions are also important. A paradigm shift is necessary: one must consider what a person with disability is capable of doing, as opposed to what that person is incapable of doing. The employer should take into account the special needs of a person with disability and incentives should ensure that the employer is encouraged to hire a person with disability. A person with disability should be encouraged to perform work corresponding to his or her skills. The training and education must be personalised and not exclusive. Physical accessibility, accessibility to info communication services and raising social awareness are also major tasks. We need to achieve that people help in improving skills and contribute to maintaining society, rather than providing assistance or charity for people with disabilities.
The Conference was supported by the European Commission.
Burden of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases: Challenges in Work Capacity and Prevention of Disability - High Level Expert Conference (Budapest, 20-21 April 2011)
The Conference focused on prevention of disabilities through prevention, screening and early, effective treatment of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. It called the attention to the alarming
facts: rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) affect 25% of the population of the European Union and are identified among the main causes leading to disabilities. Rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases affect more than 40 million workers in the EU and 60% of early retirement is due to RMDs.
Key topics of the conference included the impact of musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) in the European Union and at national level and national plans or frameworks for RMDs in the light of European Disability Strategy. The Conference stressed RMDs should be given due attention in the workplace across the EU and recommended development of early intervention strategies to maintain functionality/workability and avoid disability. Role of vitamin D supplementation in the prevention of osteoporosis was also among the topics.
The conference was jointly organized by the Ministry of National Resources, the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), Fit for Work Europe Coalition (Fit for Work), and the Hungarian Association of Rheumatologists (HAR). There were around 100 participants including senior political leaders and health professionals: high level officials of the TRIO Presidency Member States, Poland, representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament, senior leaders of EULAR, Fit for Work and HAR, as well as experts from the Member States.
Modernised EU Social Security Coordination, one year later Looking forward expert conference (28-29 April 2011)
The main objectives of the conference were
ˇ to offer a general overview of the main effects of the new rules on social security coordination, which entered into force in 2010, and to examine to what extent new instruments of social security coordination met preliminary expectations focusing on both the achievements and challenges;
ˇ to examine whether the new system contributes to the promotion of the interests of the persons concerned;
ˇ to analyse possible interlinks with other policies of the European Union;
ˇ to create a state of play on the challenges of the preparation to the introduction of EESSI;
ˇ to serve as a tool for the exchange of good practices that may promote a homogeneous application of the rules on social security coordination.
The conference consisted of seven sessions organized by the structure of panel discussion with the participation of around 40 lecturers. Mr. László Andor, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Mr. Mario Monti, former Commissioner of Internal Market and author of the Report on the Single Market and Mr. Miklós Réthelyi, Hungarian Minister for National Resources presented their views among other lecturers during the opening session when social security coordination was put in the perspective of the internal market emphasising the opportunities attached to the principle of free movement of persons and the necessity of enhancing the practical effectuation of this right at all levels. In order to deepen the participants' knowledge on the developments of EU law the Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Mr. Koen Lenaerts gave a thoughtful keynote speech about the relationship of free movement and EU citizenship.
The first session gave the possibility to have an overview on the implementation of the new Regulations from different angles like from a rather theoretical, academic point of view and also on the basis of more practical experiences. The session revealed that the transition from the old regulations went smoothly and gradually with the help of very valuable contribution to clarity of the practical guide on posting, fact sheets, explanation notes by the Commission and the decisions of Administrative Commission. Continuous efforts are needed for further clarification and further fine- tuning of the new Regulations, however, serious problems have not been identified.
The second session focused on the expectations towards the reform and the fulfilment of the objectives through the new Regulations. The session gathered different stakeholders including the representatives of social partners and the civil sphere who unanimously evaluated the new Regulations in a positive manner. It was also agreed that the political compromise left behind some regulatory necessity to be sorted out in the future.
The third session had a clear focus on electronic data exchange to be introduced according to the new Regulations by 2012. The panellists confirmed that EESSI was an extremely complex project, that had already affected and would even stronger influence the national institutions' everyday operation. The importance of information technology, the weight of different influential factors, the present state of play and the oncoming challenges were analysed. The success heavily presumes the enhanced cooperation of the players involved.
The fourth session dealt with the provision of information to citizens. It has been concluded that the main target was to protect the rights of migrant persons who would need to be informed about their opportunities. The accuracy of information and the way it is communicated would play the most important role in the future in the exercise of rights. The panellists reinforced the role of solidarity and stated that the coordination should pay special attention to the marginalised, those who are in need and who has only limited access to information sources.
The fifth session aimed at identifying the key issues tackled upon during the conference. The conclusions were balanced, as a mainstream very supportive towards the results of the ongoing process, and underlined the principles of good administration and good cooperation.
During the Closing Session the challenges for the future have been highlighted stating that the present path was to be followed and solutions for the outstanding issues should be found on the basis of consensus. The qualified majority voting and the external dimension of social security co- ordination were mentioned that could gain specific importance in the future. The efficacy of the coordination regime should be reinforced in order to contribute to a `Strong Europe'.
The expert Conference was supported by the European Commission. It was attended by approximately 160 participants, consisting of senior national social security coordination experts, experts of the European Commission, the European Parliament, representatives of social partners, and other experts involved or competent in special policies linked with social security coordination.
Life-cycles and pension systems High Level Expert Conference (Budapest, 6-7 May 2011)
The conference focused on the importance of life-cycles approach of pension design, the demographic challenge posed by Europe's ageing population on pension systems. It highlighted topics such as:
ˇ the effects of demographic trends (longevity growth, changes in cohort sizes, household structures, dependency ratios, impact on labour and capital markets) on pension systems;
ˇ securing pension rights during career breaks (career length and income earned over the career have become much more important for the pension benefits accruing to individuals, identification of future risk groups, atypical work forms);
ˇ the productive route to financially sustainable pensions (encouraging and enabling more people to work more and longer (barriers to active ageing, effective retirement age, demographic determinants). During the discussions, experts, decision-makers and other representatives identified their priorities; some of these issues were debated.
The main conclusions were as follows:
ˇ The very close interrelation between demographic, social and economic trends is explicit and based on evidence and in this context effects of demographic trends are one of the most crucial elements. If no improvement is reached in demographic trends it could lead to severe problems regarding the operation and sustainability of welfare systems.
ˇ Securing proper pension rights during career breaks and longer working life policies give important added value to a sound, adequate and sustainable pension system, thus particular attention should be paid on these factors in the process of pension design. The Conference was organised by the Central Administration of National Pension Insurance in close co-operation with the Ministry of National Resources. It was supported by the European Commission. About 150 persons took part, most of them were representative of the Member States, experts, European stake holders, and representatives of the European and other international institutions (OECD, ISSA, ILO etc.).
Social Services in Europe: Innovative Responses for challenging times - High Level Expert Conference (Budapest, 17 May 2011)
The conference focused on three key issues:
ˇ how the priorities for social services might look over the next few years in the current financially difficult situation all over Europe,
ˇ how to benefit from innovation, efficiencies and the use of outcome measurement and some examples of innovative approaches to social services from across Europe,
ˇ how to promote new partnerships with service users, their communities and other actors. The participants agreed that one of the current challenges facing all EU Member States was to provide sustainable quality services in a difficult financial environment. Leading and managing social services are seen as more challenging than ever in the financially difficult context with less resources and more potential service users. These new demands required the needs and preferences of different stakeholders (elected politicians; service users; social services staff; finance departments; legal departments) to be carefully balanced.
The conference was jointly organized by the Hungarian Ministry of National Resources and the European Social Network.
Migrant workers and their pension entitlements - High Level Expert Conference (Budapest, 26- 27 May 2011)
The main objective of the conference was to pool the representatives of the pension liaison bodies of the EU and EEA Member States for the purpose of discussing the already known and alternative ways of enhanced co-operation. Bearing in mind that the social security rights of migrant workers mostly depends on the institutions being in charge of award and pay out pensions, the co-operation thereof must be in the focal point when international aspects are analysed.
By giving a historical and legal overview of the co-operation between pension institutions in Europe and focusing on the prevention of pension rights of migrants workers and their family members the speakers addressed the very actual and key issues and challenges all actors have to face with.
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems and its implementing Regulation aims are to guarantee the social security rights of the EU citizens. More effective cooperation between social security institutions is a key factor in allowing the persons to access their rights in reasonable timeframe and under optimum conditions.
To this end, topics discussed included: suitable means of rapid and reliable data exchange between institutions (electronic data exchange process from 1 May 2012); the revelation of the obstacles of effective legal procedures and processes which ensure legal certainty and comply with community law; and the elimination of imperfectness of legal procedure concerning the implementation by recommendations; current challenges regarding the complexity of the transitional period. Recommendations were also cited for the European Commission to take into consideration.
The Conference was organised by the Central Administration of National Pension Insurance in close co-operation with the Ministry of National Resources. The event was also supported by the European Commission. 26 from the 31 pension liaison bodies were represented at the conference and also the competent representatives of the European Commission contributed to the discussions.
MINISTRY FOR NATIONAL ECONOMY
Conference on Youth Employment in connection to the Informal meeting of the Employment Committee (Budapest, 4-5 April 2011)
The Hungarian EU Presidency Conference on youth employment was hosted by the Ministry for National
Economy with the support of the European Commission and held on 4-5 April 2011 in Budapest.
The conference was aimed at examining the main obstacles of the labour market integration of young
people in the recovery period and the ways to successfully meet these challenges. The conference was
organised with the following main topics:
ˇ Session 1 Skills anticipation: The first step to adapt education and training systems to labour market needs;
ˇ Session 2 Facilitating upward transitions and tackling youth unemployment;
ˇ Session 3 Stimulating labour demand and promoting the creation of quality jobs for young people in period of economic recovery.
Participants of the conference included policy makers and experts from EU Member States, the European Commission, ILO, OECD, Cedefop, European Economic and Social Committee and European Youth Forum as well as representatives of social partners, NGOs and the academic world. Based on the presentations and the discussions during the 3 thematic sessions of the conference, the
following conclusions can be drawn:
ˇ The problem of youth unemployment and many unemployed youth drifting into long-term unemployment and inactivity affects most of the Member States and requires firm action throughout the EU. Youth unemployment may have long-term negative implications both at the individual and at macro level.
ˇ Besides, in the context of current fiscal consolidation and in the early phase of the recovery period it is important to note that effective policy measures might have positive effect on fiscal considerations.
ˇ The labour market integration of young people is characterised by a number of challenges, which among others, include skills mismatches between supply and demand, the lack of work experience, the limited access to benefits and adequate support from employment services, labour market segmentation and the multiple challenges low qualified and other disadvantaged young people have to face.
ˇ In order to secure transitions in the labour market and tackle skills mismatches and imbalances, it is important to support the development of the right skill mix for new labour market entrants. Well functioning skills forecasting and anticipation systems may help reduce skills mismatches and should be further developed.
ˇ There is a general consensus on the need for a regular and systematic assessment of future prospects to guide & inform policy formation as well as individual decision making.
ˇ Close cooperation and development of partnerships between the different stakeholders, including governments, social partners, employment services and other labour market stakeholders, and education and training bodies should be strengthened to find successful solutions to promote youth employment and develop better systems of anticipation and forecasting of labour market skill needs and supply.
ˇ There are strong links between education and economic success. However, investment in education does not necessarily guarantee a return which combined with the current need to reduce public spending highlights that we need to invest in the right areas. It is crucial to involve employers during vocational training in order to ensure that young people's skills meet labour market needs.
ˇ Qualification levels are increasing in Europe, however, high level qualifications may no longer guarantee success in the labour market. Skills anticipation should help individuals and organisations to make more informed choices. Young people need not just more education but the best suited one to the needs of the labour market. Efforts to guarantee high quality education and training provision and career guidance services to young people are paramount to equip them with the right skills and competences needed in the labour market.
ˇ Combining study and work (eg. apprenticeships, work-experience schemes, company-based training, dual training system) may successfully help the integration of young people to the labour market, especially for those without any work experience.
ˇ Special attention should be given to the most disadvantaged youth eg. those not in employment nor in education or training (NEETs) or the least qualified youth. It is important that they receive support services adapted to their individual and often heterogeneous needs.
ˇ The responses given to the crisis have shown that extending benefit coverage to the most vulnerable and enhancing access to active labour market policies may also be an effective possible policy option sometimes to keep jobseekers in contact with the labour market.
ˇ In order to promote access to good-quality jobs for young people, it is important to develop adequate contractual arrangements, strengthen activation measures as well as provide adequate income protection for young people.
ˇ Beside intervening on the supply side of the labour market, it is also crucial to facilitate job creation. In this respect, demand side barriers to hiring youth could be eased. This may include effective wage-formation policies, reduction of non-wage labour costs for low-wage workers, revision of employment protection legislation, targeted use of wage subsidies, promotion of entrepreneurship and self-employment and investing in supply of right skills and supporting transition from undeclared work to regular employment.
PES Conference: Repositioning Public Employment Services to enhance youth employment prospects (Budapest, 28-29 April 2011)
Under the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union a PES conference on Repositioning Public Employment Services to enhance youth employment prospects was organized by the Hungarian National Employment Service with the support of the European Commission on 28-29 April 2011 in Budapest.
The conference targeted experts and officials working on the implementation of active labour market policies. Most attendants were heads, managers and experts of national public employment services of the EEA, others represented social partners and representatives of the academic field were also present. Employment and youth related EU level umbrella organisations (ECOSOC and European Youth Forum) as well as representatives of the unit responsible for PESs and EURES in DG Employment of the European Commission attended the conference too. Directors of the Hungarian National Employment Service's county labour centres were invited as well. In addition to the EEA countries, public employment services from the countries of the Western Balkan, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia. Serbia and Montenegro participated too.
The objective of the conference was finding ways of PESs contributing to youth employment. In the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the initiative on the formulation of a PES 2020 Strategy, the discussion focused on PES repositioning. The issue of repositioning was linked to exploring new tools and new methods in addressing youth unemployment. More specifically, two main topics were tabled: 1. Increasing the outreach of PES services to young people; and 2. Support for job creation.
As regards reaching out to young people, the workshops of the conference concluded that for increased accessibility, PES have to find the common language with young people, become more flexible and adapt to their lifestyle and quickly changing habits (e.g. through new communication technologies and social media, job fairs, counselling in schools). Moreover, extra effort is necessary to reach the most vulnerable groups (through mentoring for example). Finally, the number of possible access points has to be increased via extended networking and the creation of partnerships. PES has to identify their key partners enabling access to labour market support and to strengthen cooperation with them through structured partnerships. In addition to these findings, the issue of priority given to certain target groups has also been discussed. Although, in the present budgetary context there is a tendency in most EU Member States to give priority to young people vis-ŕ-vis other age groups and/or to the most vulnerable within young clients, each PES has to find the long- term balance in the allocation of resources on the basis of the specific socio-economic context.
As regards support given to employers for job creation, the first key issue is to find ways for increasing PES access to employers. Similarly to the challenge in the interaction with young jobseekers, 'language spoken' with employers has to be adapted to the needs of the receiver. Equally, the PES should behave as a business partner and develop a market oriented approach that is based on the recognition of employers' needs. Defining the right scope of services that are offered to enterprises has emerged as a key issue too. With a view to sparing scarce resources, face- to-face interviews should be limited to employers with special needs, and instead, ICT tools should be used more intensively in the communication and service provision to employers. Those tools can provide them with up-to-date information and upgrade the image of PES. Finally, as regards supporting employers in the identification and management of their skill needs, PES should act as a bridge between education and VET institutions on the one hand and enterprises on the other. In addition to these issues, questions related to prioritisation of certain groups of companies on the basis of their sector or size and the sharing of responsibilities with employers receiving employment subsidies have been discussed. As regards prioritisation, one group of PES uses an undifferentiated approach by trying to address all possible job creation opportunities. Others prioritise among companies, however, views differ considerably on where the preference should go (small, medium, large or big multinational companies). Concerning subsidised employment, the possibility of sharing the responsibility stemming from public funding with employers and increasing its efficiency at the same time through e.g. granting loans instead of subsidies or stricter linkage of support to results have been discussed.
In connection with the Presidency Conference, a European Job Fair for the Youth was organized by the Hungarian Public Employment Service. The Fair provided an opportunity for young professionals to meet foreign and Hungarian employers; to apply for vacancies and apprenticeship positions; to introduce themselves in the form of personal interviews or simply to inform themselves about the conditions of work and living in the European Union. During the Fair the Commission's new campaign "Youth on the Move" was presented.
On this job fair a new program, called Youth@Work was presented under a press conference. This is a new program for job creation and development of the potential of entrepreneurship in the European Union, which at the same time supports the "Youth on the Move" initiative of the European Commission. The Youth@Work program facilitates the creation of high-quality and sustainable workplaces for the European young people in an innovative way.
European Good Practice Awards Ceremony (Budapest, 28 April 2011)
The Hungarian EU Presidency together with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) organized the 10
th European Good Practice Awards Ceremony, as part of the EU OSHA's Healthy Workplaces Campaign on Safe Maintenance, held in Budapest on 28 April 2011, on the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. The European Good Practice Awards (GPA) were first introduced in 2000 to highlight, by examples, the benefits of good safety and health practices among European employers and workers, and other key stakeholders, including European social partners, OSH professionals and practitioners and others providing assistance and information at the workplace level.
The aims of this Ceremony were:
ˇ to raise awareness of the European Good Practice Awards throughout the EU27 and among key stakeholders and potential participants in future edition of the Awards;
ˇ to provide an opportunity for partnership building with the winning and commended organisations and enterprises;
ˇ to exchange and promote best-practices;
ˇ and to generate media coverage of the competition, the winners and EU-OSHA. Around 70 invited guests attended the ceremony, including representatives of the winning organisations, and representatives of occupational safety and health (OSH) authorities from Hungary and the GPA winner and commended countries.
The Campaign's awarded good practice examples demonstrate outstanding and innovative contributions to promoting an integrated management approach to safe maintenance. The competition was run via a two-stage process. Following a selection procedure at national level, a European jury validated and assessed the examples submitted to the Agency in November 2010.
As a result of this competition, at the Ceremony EU-OSHA recognised and rewarded the outstanding contribution to safe maintenance made by eight organisations and companies from across Europe (Austria, Belgium, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom). Besides the 8 winners there were 15 other commended organisations from four countries, including Hungary, Italy, Slovenia and the Netherlands. The Ceremony also gave an opportunity to the invited people to get an insight into good practices in the field of safe maintenance by presentations of three European Good Practice Awards Winners.
Thematic Day "Sharing experiences" of the Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors-SLIC (Vásárosnamény/Baktalórántháza, 2 May 2011)
Under the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union a Thematic Day of the 60
th Meeting of SLIC was organized by the Hungarian Labour Inspectorate and the Ministry for National Economy with the support of the European Commission on 2 April 2011 in Vásárosnamény/Baktalórántháza. The Senior Labour Inspectors' Committee SLIC meeting is organized in the given country providing the presidency of the EU. The members of national bodies discuss strategic issues that are important from occupational health and safety point of view. The Hungarian Labour Inspectorate is the member of SLIC, this organization is responsible for health and safety issues and it represents Hungary.
In the first half of 2011, on 2
nd of May 60
th meeting of SLIC was held in Vásárosnamény and Baktalórántháza in Hungary followed by the SLIC Plenary Day on 3
rd of May. The event was organized by the European Commission, the State Secretariat for Employment Policy of Ministry for National Economy in Hungary and the Hungarian Labour Inspectorate. Around 50 foreign participants were involved in the event representing the national inspectorates of the European Union, the European Commission, the candidate counties, the EFTA member states and several international organizations among of others the International Labour Organization (ILO), European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), European Network Education and Training in Occupational Safety and Health (ENETOSH).
The overall title of the Thematic Day was "Sharing Experiences". On the Thematic Day presentations were held in two topics: 1. Lessons learnt from evaluations of national labour inspection systems/stakeholders in OSH and Collaboration and exchange of OSH information in the EU, 2. The role, practice and experiences of European OSH networks.
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1.Lessons learnt from evaluations of national labour inspection systems/stakeholders in
OSH The evaluations consisted of two rounds:
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1.19 countries were assessed between 1998 and 2006 2. Second round has been planned for the period of 2007 2016, when assessments of the
labour inspectorates are expected to be conducted in the survey in the 27 Member States According to the findings of the investigation it is important to set up criteria, common principles, and the methodology of the assessment of the survey. The common problems are undeclared work, posted workers, social protection. The key role of the national policies and the cultural features should be emphasized. Several organizations like ILO have such experiences that can be used in the evaluation process. Czech and Danish inspectorates reported their evaluation results. According to the presentations the benefits of the evaluation can be systematically divided into organization and management of the OSH-system in the Check Republic. The results of the evaluation in 2008 showed that the major part of the problems mentioned in 2003 have been largely addressed in
Denmark: the national objectives were clearly communicated to all concerned, current structure for back-up specialists for general inspectors allows considerable scope for providing appropriate specialist support when required.
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2.Collaboration and exchange of OSH information in the EU The role practice and experiences of European OSH networks
There are several international networks that are dealing with various aspects of health and safety at work. The second half of the Thematic Day gave opportunity to some of these organizations/networks to present themselves, their role, aims and experience in order to facilitate cooperation with them in the future. The organizations and networks taking part in the event are the
following: International Labour Organization (ILO-SRO, ILO-CIS), European Network of Safety and Health Professional Organisations (ENSHPO), European Network Education and Training in Occupational Safety and Health (ENETOSH), International Association of Labour Inspection (IALI), Product Safety Enforcement Forum of Europe (PROSAFE), European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).
"More focus to ESF- bringing closer the European Social Fund towards the Europe 2020 objectives" (Budapest, 26 May 2011) The one-day conference was held in Budapest in Stefánia Palota. The conference aimed at discussing the better contribution of the European Social Fund to the EU2020 objectives, especially to the headline employment target aiming to achieve 75% of employment rate for the 20-64 age group by 2020.
Among the participants were members of ESF Committee (both government representatives and social partners' representatives arrived from almost each Member State), representatives of European Commission and European level social partners, project promoters implementing ESF projects and national stakeholders with different institutional background (ministries, NGOs, managing authorities etc.).
The conference was opened by Mr Sándor Czomba, state secretary of employment policy in Ministry for National Economy and Mr László Andor Commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion. While in his opening speech Mr Czomba expressed the importance of the two main topics of the conference (forecasting of labour market skills and training) and their contribution to the headline targets of the EU2020 Strategy, Mr Andor presented in depth the EU2020 Strategy and its elements with special regard to the field of labour market policy.
After this, the representatives of European level social partners (ETUC and Businesseurope) had the opportunity to introduce their point of view on both topics in the framework of an interview. Their key role in identifying and developing labour market skills and trainings was one of the main message of this session.
As a general introduction and orientation to the topic of labour market skills, the representative of the European Commission presented the Commission's `New skills and new jobs' Flagship Initiative and its latest outcomes.
The morning session through presentations and debate addressed to find an answer for the following question `How can ESF support the anticipation of skills needs and the matching of labour demand and supply?`. In order to give an comprehensive approach to this topic, the representative of CEDEFOP presented their survey on `Skills supply and demand in Europe: medium-term forecast up to 2020'. The presentation was followed by two country examples on ESF forecasting projects by Belgium and Hungary. The presentations were followed by discussion how the outcomes of forecasting could be used more effectively. The main message of the morning session was that targeted and well-designed forecasting is essential but not enough. The final success of these projects (and appropriate use of ESF resources) is if the information is able to reach the target group and if they are able to support their decisions.
The afternoon session focused on labour market skills by aiming to find an answer to the question `How can ESF be used to support training activities which respond to labour market needs?' First, GHK Research Institute presented their research on ESF in-work training projects and identified some of the key experiences in connection with labour market trainings. The presentation was followed by three country examples on ESF training projects by Germany (training project for older unemployed persons), Finland (training project for employees) and Poland (training project for entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs). This session was also followed by questions and debate. As predicted, the training projects have to be suit both to the background of the participants and the labour market needs. Continuous support to the participants, tailor-made services as well as flexibility is some of the essential success factors.
In the closing sessions the representatives of European level social partners could send their key messages to the stakeholders once again. Conclusions were made by the head of the ESF Unit at DG Employment. The outcomes underlined that well-focused and targeted ESF training projects are and will be essential if we want to achieve the headline employment targets.
The conference was closed by the director of the Hungarian Human Resources Managing Authority. Agreeing with the summary of the European Commission he added the importance of well- organised and well-functioning implementation framework. The conference was organised by Ministry for National Economy, Department of Employment Programmes in the framework of the Hungarian Presidency, co-financed by the European Commission. Presentations and photos of the conference will be available on-line soon.
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND JUSTICE
The 5th European Roma Platform (Budapest, 7-8 April 2011)
The Roma Platform was opened by a cultural event. About 350 Hungarian and European Roma intellectuals and artists were invited. Along cultural performances, statements were made by high level policy makers.
The Platform itself had an overview on recent developments of Roma inclusion at European level and focused on the presentation of two key policy documents:
ˇ the recently adopted Commission's Communication on `An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020'; and
ˇ the European Parliament's Resolution on the EU strategy on Roma inclusion adopted on 9 March 2011 (based on the report of MEP Lívia Járóka).
A discussion paper was also presented on the territorial aspects of poverty and social exclusion.
The main conclusions of the Roma Platform highlighted the following:
ˇ The European Commission called the Member States to set targeted measures and allocate resources necessary for their implementation within the four priority areas in order to improve disadvantaged people's including Roma living conditions and chances.
ˇ The Commission aims to make available the resources of the European Union for promoting Roma inclusion and territorial approaches will be an important aspect.
ˇ The aspects of Roma people in the Europe 2020 strategy should be considered.
ˇ Having a successful and strong monitoring system is necessary, where the Fundamental Rights' Agency and the mapping of extreme poverty (or so-called crises map) would have a particular role.
ˇ The extreme poverty map could be a useful tool in the preparation of integrated approaches, in project planning both at national and local levels. It could also have an important role in policy planning, using of EU funds and monitoring. It was stressed that each Member State should use the simplest indicators possible and existing data to create the extreme poverty map and to make visible the most disadvantaged micro-regions.
In the closing section the representative of the Belgium Government recalled the achievements of the previous Belgian Presidency in relation to the social inclusion of Roma. In particular, the aspects of early childhood development and the inclusion of Roma families were presented. The future Polish Presidency also presented its programme in the field of social and economic integration of Roma.
The Roma Platform was co-organised by the Hungarian Presidency and the European Commission. The participants represented national governments, international organizations and Roma NGOs.
10
th European Meeting of People Experiencing Poverty (Brussles, 13-14 May 2011) The theme of the annual meeting was "Employment, Work and Jobs: the reality for People Experiencing Poverty and Social Exclusion". Set in the context of deepening crisis which is making jobs scarcer, social benefits harder to come by and a deteriorating quality of life for many people experiencing poverty and social exclusion, the question, for many present, was whether the new instruments put in place through the Europe 2020 Strategy would really make a difference to their lives and the lives of their children.
Key Messages of people experiencing poverty were:
ˇ The need for quality jobs: If employment is to be a way out of poverty then public authorities and social partners must ensure that the trend towards `working poor' is reversed and that quality jobs with living wages, decent social protection systems and that respect work and private responsibilities are created. Poor quality jobs for poor people is not an answer.
ˇ The absence of jobs: The delegates confirmed that people who live in poverty want to work but the reality is that there are more people wanting work then there are jobs available. The crisis has made this situation even worse. Faced with this reality it is not an option for a lot of people to take up jobs as a result of increased conditionality to receive social welfare. In the absence of jobs people need access to income sufficient to live in dignity.
ˇ Support to access employment: Even in case of difficulties to find employment, tailored support should be provided for people living in poverty or the long term unemployed to help them access to decent employment. Investing in early childhood development, schooling, including not abandoning people who drop out of school early and opportunities for people in poverty to access life long learning are essential investments to increase chances to access employment.
ˇ Tackle discrimination: Specific attention was given to the problem of discrimination and exclusion for groups including: disabled people, migrants, ex prisoners, long term unemployed and Roma. The implementation of anti-discrimination legislation as well as positive actions should be taken to overcome the barriers caused by discrimination. The particular difficulties faced by women, who often have the major caring responsibilities, and often work in sectors with precarious and poor quality jobs needs special attention.
ˇ Implement the commitments: Delegates said that they have heard many fine proposals to fight poverty at these and other meetings, such as: the target to reduce poverty, the active inclusion recommendation on adequate minimum income, access to essential services and support to access employment, the commitment for strategies to address homelessness or child poverty. The delegates gave a clear message that real action is needed to follow up and implement the commitments. They reiterated that people experiencing poverty are ready to engage at all levels in the implementation of the necessary actions.
ˇ Tackle the causes of poverty and not only the symptoms: The delegates reaffirmed that the current economic and social systems have an effect on the occurrence and levels of poverty and there was a clear call on the political institutions to respond by combating the causes of poverty and not only the symptoms.
As regards the future, there was a call that the annual meeting should have a structural place in the "European Platform against Poverty" and that this should be underpinned by meetings held at national and regional levels as part of the strategy to fight poverty.
The 10
th Meeting was co-organised by the Hungarian Presidency, the European Commission and the European Anti Poverty Network. Delegations of people experiencing poverty and social exclusion came from 26 countries and observers were present from a further 4 countries. Some 60
guests: representatives of European, national and international public authorities, representatives of social partners, academics and NGOs engaged in exchange with the delegations at the meeting.
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