Ministers to discuss ‘flexicurity’ guidelines

EU member states are planning to approve common principles on labour markets by the end of this year.

Employment ministers are meeting in Lisbon today (13 September) for preliminary discussions on the paper which was unveiled in June by Vladimir Špidla, the commissioner for employment and social affairs.

The paper is intended to provide guidance to member states currently feeling the chill winds of global competition. The principles aim to balance flexible labour markets with job security, in a model known as ‘flexicurity’, introduced in Denmark in the 1990s.

Špidla’s paper pushes for more flexible contractual arrangements, with special emphasis placed on the modernisation of social security systems. His plans have come under fire from trade unions, which suspect that they will make it easier for employers to hire and fire, while tightening eligibility conditions for unemployment benefit.

"Trade unions feel that liberal Europe is receiving too much encouragement, with the current emphasis on deregulation and the opposition to new labour standards at EU level," said John Monks, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. "The way that flexicurity is being promoted by some is confirming the feeling that the social dimension of Europe is not keeping pace with the development of the internal market."

EU member states are planning to approve common principles on labour markets by the end of this year.