Guided by a need for common ground

Date: 30/10/1997

Simon Coss considers what the key players really want from November's jobs summit in Luxembourg

WHILE few would argue that EU governments are not genuinely concerned about levels of joblessness among their national electorates, it remains unclear whether they really believe much can - or should - be done to tackle European unemployment.

A glance at the widely differing tactics being employed by member states to combat joblessness shows that there is not a great deal of common ground between them. Even administrations which ostensibly come from the same political background are taking very different approaches.

In France, the Socialist government of Premier Lionel Jospin has announced plans to cut the working week by law from 39 to 35 hours in January 2000 - the theory being that the 'saved' hours could be used to create new jobs.

The French also insist that any attempts firmly to restrain pay levels would have an adverse impact on job generation.

But the New Labour government of UK Premier Tony Blair is arguing that increased employment will only come through the creation of flexible labour markets, unhindered by excessive legislation.

In Italy, meanwhile, rows over economic policy and job creation briefly forced Prime Minister Romano Prodi to resign and dissolve his centre-left coalition government earlier this month. Prodi made the move after the Italian Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its support for the coalition because of arguments over introducing a 35-hour-week proposal similar to that of the French.

The Italian premier was only able to return to power after promising the Communists he would indeed bring in the working time law. But Prodi now faces the wrath of many trade unions and employers' organisations in Italy who oppose the plan.

In the EU's largest member state, Germany, Chancellor Helmut Kohl's administration has made it perfectly clear on numerous occasions that it feels job creation must remain a national rather than a European prerogative. The point was stressed once again by German Finance Minister Theo Waigel at his regular meeting with EU colleagues in Luxembourg earlier this month.

German unemployment peaked at a record high of 4x3 million this summer and Bonn clearly feels that its priority must be to solve domestic problems before turning its attention to more high-minded European concerns.

Other member states have also stressed that cutting dole queues at home is their first concern. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern recently welcomed the idea of the Union summit mainly because it would help him to tackle problems in Ireland.

If it is possible to draw any sort of EU-wide conclusions from all of this, it is that member states seem happy to agree to some broad job creation guidelines at next month's summit but will not accept the idea of meeting any sort of employment targets.

National governments have, on the whole, reacted favourably to a set of proposed guidelines drawn up by Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn. He urges them to agree to a series of measures, such as ensuring school-leavers and the long-term unemployed are found a job or training place within six months or a year respectively, shifting the burden of taxation away from the workforce and encouraging flexible labour markets.

These guidelines will probably form the basis of any agreement arrived at during the summit. However, EU governments have made it perfectly clear that they do not agree with Flynn's suggestion that they try to meet the specific target of creating 12 million new jobs and cutting unemployment from 10.6&percent; to 7&percent; over five years.

Whether governments simply committing themselves to the guidelines without the added incentive of targets will be enough to convince the European-on-the-street that the summit has achieved concrete results is highly debatable.