More and better jobs for all. The European Employment Strategy

Summary:

Introductory booklet outlining the European Employment Strategy in 2004 following its evaluation and revised strategy. The related url provides detailed information on the EES.

Further information:

In early 2000, against the background of economic expansion driven by the single market and the move towards the knowledge society, the Heads of State and Government of the European Union (EU) countries held a historic summit in Lisbon. At the meeting, they adopted a strategy of co-ordinated structural reforms designed to consolidate Europe's growth path and enable it to achieve medium-term goals of sustained economic growth with full employment and greater social cohesion.

The Lisbon summit referred to the European Employment Strategy (EES), which found its origin in the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty, as an example of effective European level co-ordination on structural reforms. Although it acknowledged the role of the EES in reducing unemployment in Europe, the Summit also pointed at full employment, job quality and social inclusion as wider objectives to which the EES should contribute. Subsequently, the European Council decided that the EES had to be reviewed by 2003 in order to ensure that it fully supported the Lisbon objectives. This review has been successfully accomplished with the adoption of new Employment Guidelines by the Council on 22 July 2003.