Year of mixed fortunes for Pádraig Flynn ends on a high note as social partners strike accord

Date: 21/12/1995

THE year ended on an upbeat note for supporters of a strong EU social policy, with the signing of the ground-breaking agreement between the social partners under the Maastricht Protocol.

But 1995 started badly for Irish Commissioner Pádraig Flynn after he received a far from warm reception from the European Parliament's women's committee. MEPs' threats to make life difficult for Flynn were only deflected by Commission President Jacques Santer's decision to create a special group on equal opportunities.

Questions of sex equality played a major role in EU social policy over the year, particularly following the European Court of Justice ruling in October that the system of positive discrimination in favour of women operated by the German city-state of Bremen was contrary to EU law. The Kalanke judgement threw the whole basis of the Commission's equal opportunities policy into considerable doubt.

Flynn's eventual response was to promise a communication on the implications of the ruling early next year, an amendment to the existing directive on equal opportunities, and a repeat of his call for a more explicit reference to equal opportunities to be written into the treaty at next year's Intergovernmental Conference.

The theme of women's rights was brought further under the spotlight by the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women held in Beijing in September. Although the final conclusions did not go as far as the EU delegation had hoped, the Commission was happy that it managed to maintain a single European line throughout the conference.

The Commission clearly has great hopes for next year's IGC. Not only did 1995 see repeated calls for action to reduce discrimination, including the Commission's first-ever coherent policy statement on racism, but it also brought repeated calls for an end to the UK's 'opt-out' from the Social Protocol.

The Commission and the other member states are not holding out much hope of this happening while the Conservative Party remains in power in the UK, but are depending on a Labour victory in the next general election - which must be held before spring 1997 - to bring about a change of heart.

The agreement on parental leave, finally adopted formally by the social partners on 14 December, necessarily omitted the UK because of its government's continued refusal to take on board social legislation it felt to be a threat to its competitiveness.

But increasingly, the Commission argued that the UK could, in practical terms, not avoid being party to EU-wide social policy measures - as evidenced by the growing number of UK firms setting up European Works Councils, even though they are not duty-bound to do so on British soil. Encouraged by the progress made with works councils, some 70 of which had already been established voluntarily by the end of the year, and frustrated by the impasse over a number of company law directives, Flynn suggested extending the principle to national undertakings.

While the Commission hailed December's deal on parental leave as the start of a new era of decision-making by consensus, others were less convinced that future negotiations would go as smoothly.

All did not run to plan in Council of Ministers' meetings either. Attempts to unblock the impasse over the Posted Workers Directive came to nothing, although the change of government in Portugal has renewed hope that a deal can be struck during 1996.

There were also suggestions that Germany was becoming a serious challenger to the UK as the trickiest customer in Council. For much of the year, Bonn was locked in conflict with its partners over four schemes to assist the disadvantaged in society, unwilling to see them pushed through under Article 235 of the Treaty of Rome for fear of a legal challenge at home. But in December, a much-reduced equal opportunities programme did finally slip through.

Flynn repeatedly stressed throughout the year that his priority remained the fight against unemployment, but stirred up controversy with a joint report compiled with Economics Commissioner Yves-Thibault de Silguy which suggested unemployment could be halved by the year 2000, given the right economic and structural climate.