Feature : The French presidency of the European Union

At the end of a slow progression that has endowed it with legislation and an institutional framework, European social policy is at a crucial turning point. The constraints of globalisation, of the increasingly intensive economic integration of the Community, of the socio-economic changes and the Lisbon Summit of March 2000 have put a series of challenges on the agenda that the French Presidency of the European Union will have to transfer on to a "European social agenda" before the end of the year 2000.

Social Europe is the product of a slow evolution. Right from the start of the Community project and in the spirit of the founding fathers, there has been the conviction, on the one hand, that the Member States’ competence in social matters should be left to them and, on the other hand, that social progress will very logically follow from the economic progress brought about by the Common Market. It is therefore not surprising that the first and very important achievements in the social field covered the free movement of workers and the indispensable additional benefit of social security for migrant workers to accompany the opening up of borders and the completion of the Common Market.

It was not until the end of the 70s, when it became evident that the "Thirty Glorious Post-war Years" (1945-1975) had indeed ended and that the first social tensions were beginning to appear - notably with the rise in unemployment - that greater attention was paid to the Community’s social dimension. The need to strengthen the social aspect in the course of conversion to the internal market and the advances made in European construction - the Single Act, the Maastricht Treaty and the Social Agreement as well as the Amsterdam Treaty - have produced a genuine European social policy.

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A positive achievement

The achievement is more significant than is sometimes stated. It needs to be thought about objectively, which is often not the case inasmuch as Community social policy calls for cut-and-dried comments. Regarded by some as the poor parent of European construction, still subject to the economy, social policy is viewed with suspicion, even hostility, by others who believe that no extra social obligations should be created at all on a European scale.

Today social Europe consists of around seventy directives or regulations on the equal treatment of men and women, improvement in living and working conditions, protection of health and safety in the work place and information and consultation of the workforce. It consists of a financial tool, the European Social Fund (47 billion Euros*, that is, 10% of the Community budget for the period 1994-1999). And finally, it is a field of Community action in which the direct involvement of the social players has evolved alongside the traditional decision-making mechanisms in working out the Community social provisions. Three framework agreements have been concluded on parental leave, part-time work and fixed-term employment contracts, which have been translated into Council directives..

The Amsterdam Treaty includes social

advances, notably a new heading on employment. The Maastricht Social Agreement, which was attached to the Treaty, has now been incorporated into it and several of its aspects reinforced. A new article unanimously allows the measures needed to combat discrimination to be taken.

The process of globalisation and technological change mean that economies and employment will inevitably have to adapt and changes will have to be made in the way social policies are conducted. Social Europe has itself entered into a renewal phase made necessary in view of the challenges it faces today: combating unemployment and striving for full employment again, even if unemployment is falling in every country of the European Union; the ageing of the population; globalization, technological change, the organisation of work and social exclusion.

Finally, the challenge of the new economy - or the innovation and knowledge-based economy - is today absorbing all the European Union’s energy. It was the theme of the European Summit held in Lisbon on March 23 and 24, 2000: "Employment, economic reform and social cohesion: towards an innovative and knowledge-based society". It was in view of these challenges that the conclusions of this summit proposed a modernisation of the European social model.

Employment remains the priority task. In 1997, the Extraordinary Summit on Employment was held in Luxembourg at France’s initiative, which laid the foundations of a European strategy in favour of employment..

Based on convergence, this strategy relies on common choices, "guidelines" that are translated into national employment policies, that are analysed and evaluated within the Community context. A process has been set in motion which, it could be said, is beginning to produce results: the Member States as a whole have begun to modify their employment policies in order to take into account the choices made at Community level.

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The major construction sites of a social Europe

The conclusions of the Lisbon Summit revealed the subject areas that will assume crucial significance in a society based on knowledge and particularly on life-long training and the need to create more, better quality jobs for a skilled and motivated European workforce.

This method of convergence, which has proved itself in the employment context, is cited today as an example for other areas of Community policy, including that of the social welfare system.

Finally, the stronger social dialogue between the social partners is a factor rightly regarded as essential, particularly for everything relating to the modernisation and reorganisation of employment.

It is these issues that touch on the everyday concerns of the citizens of Europe which the French Presidency will be covering throughout the second half of the year 2000. In order to set the broad outlines of European Union policy in the social area, France has suggested to her partners that a "European social agenda" be drawn up. Through a medium-term programme of work, this will involve defining practical objectives for European social policy after detailed consultations - particularly with the European Parliament and the social partners - and in close cooperation with the Commission.

* 1 Euro = 6.55957 francs.