Pressure rises to make jobs summit more than words

Date: 25/09/1997

By Simon Coss

A FLURRY of meetings is being planned between now and mid-November as Luxembourg intensifies its efforts to ensure that this autumn's jobs summit amounts to more than a bout of political grandstanding by Europe's leaders.

But despite the very specific theme of the meeting, employment and economics ministers have not been offered a place at the top table for the 20-21 November summit. Luxembourg presidency officials confirmed this week that only EU heads of state and government and foreign ministers would be invited to attend.

“There is a certain protocol for this sort of event and the presidency decided if two extra ministers were to be invited from every member state, then there would simply be too many people,” explained one.

Instead, the regular meeting of finance ministers which will take place three days before the big event is being extended for an extra day so that joint talks can be held with social affairs colleagues.

This extra session will be used to approve the so-called joint report on employment which the two sets of ministers, along with the European Commission, are currently drawing up. If all goes according to plan, the final draft should be completed by the beginning of October and the text formally presented to EU leaders at the summit.

A series of meetings between politicians and representatives of European trade unions and employers' organisations will also be held before 20 November.

On 6 October, social affairs ministers will have a working dinner with representatives from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the employers' confederation UNICE and the public sector employers' body CEEP: the so-called social partners. Socialist MEP Stephen Hughes, chairman of the European Parliament's employment committee, has also been invited to attend.

There will be further opportunities for the social partners to put forward their views at their own summit on 13 November and contacts are planned with the Luxembourg government five days later.

One piece of positive news for the Grand Duchy's Premier Jean-Claude Juncker came last week when Germany confirmed that it was no longer opposed in principle to a proposal dating back to the December 1994 Essen summit to grant the European Commission limited funds to carry out research into unemployment.

But experts warn that no figure has yet been agreed upon and that Bonn is unlikely to endorse any hefty expenditure.

Juncker has also called on four high-profile experts to help him in his quest for fresh employment-generating ideas ahead of the November meeting.

Former Commission President Jacques Delors, author of the much-debated 1993 White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment, has agreed to throw his considerable political weight behind the project.

Other experts being consulted by Juncker include former US Labour Secretary Robert Reich; Horst Köhler, head of the German savings banks association; and an employment expert from the London School of Economics.