Persistent with reforms – patient for results

Date: 11/07/02

By Martin Banks

Sustained growth and the support of member states are critical to the success of the EU's employment strategy, Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou tells Martin Banks.

The European summits at Lisbon and Stockholm set ambitious targets for the job market, but Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou believes they are well within the EU's grasp.

For one thing, the Commission is 'not going it alone' to achieve the central goal of having 70% of the working-age population in a job by 2010 - including 60% of women and 50% of older workers.

'The Commission's job is to keep governments and social partners on track and on time,' says Diamantopoulou, while conceding that certain conditions must be fulfilled if that goal is to become a reality.

'First, we must create the basis for sustained annual growth at or around 3% of GDP. This requires a stable macroeconomic climate...which we have created in the form of the single currency.

'In addition, we must complete the reform of product and labour markets. Key markets such as energy and transport, and indeed services in general, will supply the jobs of tomorrow if member states show the political will to encourage competition and innovation.'

But the Commissioner stresses the reforms will only be successful if member states, business and workers cooperate in making industrial change a 'smooth process and not a conflictual one'.

The Commission has recently unveiled a blueprint, emphasising 'socially intelligent' restructuring of businesses.

This vision received a cool reception from the Confederation of British Industry and Italian counterpart Confindustria.

CBI chief Digby Jones claimed that the employment and social affairs directorate 'takes instructions from trade unions and asks employers to negotiate with a gun to their heads'. Diamantopoulou unsurprisingly takes issue with those remarks. 'The CBI cannot unilaterally define European employment and social policy,' she says. 'Industrialists make up half of the Treaty-based social partners and one group of stakeholders alongside others such as workers.'

One area in particular that the Commissioner has focused on is abuse and sexual harassment in the workplace. A recent study for the Commission showed that 40-50% of women in the EU had been sexually harassed at least once in their working lives, as well as 10% of men.

While acknowledging that harassment is subject to differing interpretations - 'a simple touch of the arm may be considered harassment in northern Europe whereas the identical gesture would be unlikely to be seen as harassment in southern Europe' - Diamantopoulou is committed to sending the strongest possible signal that unacceptable behaviour must be outlawed.

'For the first time at EU level, binding legislation will now define sexual harassment and will establish that it constitutes a form of sex discrimination. The directive will enter into force in 2005.'

Other priorities include preparing for the 2003 European Year of Disabled People. The Council of Ministers has approved a budget of €12 million to support action at both EU and national level. Most important of all, says the Commissioner, will be the transposition by many member states of the directive on equal treatment in the workplace.

Diamantopoulou frequently stresses that she is engaged in a long-term strategy. Nevertheless, a five-year review is imminent and will certainly entail a 'boiling down' of priorities to target 'key sharp-edged, job-friendly reforms'.

Changes in tax-benefit systems and more policies to make lower-skilled work pay are crucial, she says. Affordable childcare and a narrowing of gender pay gaps are key targets, together with encouraging older people to stay in the job market.

Diamantopoulou is 'particularly satisfied' member states have endorsed the Commission's 'triangle' of economic, employment and social policies, where each element has equal weight and is mutually supportive. But she knows better than most that employment policy is a field where there can be a significant lead time before results are identified.

That underpins her philosophy: 'We must be patient as far as the results are concerned - but persistent in executing the reforms.'

Interview with Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou.