European Briefing - 24 June 2005

Future of European Social Model debated

Following the recent rejection of the EU Constitutional Treaty by France and the Netherlands, there has been much discussion of the merits of the so-called EU Social Model, as favoured by France and Germany, against the perceived flexibility of the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ model. Three developments took place in Brussels this week which could increase pressure to modernise the framework for European labour law.

First the Lisbon Council, the Director of which recently addressed the EEF Brussels Delegation, organised a meeting on Modernising the European Social Model. The keynote speaker was Vladimir Spidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. He accepted that the European Social Model does need to be modernised since Europe was part of an increasingly integrated global economy in which whole sectors of the economy were undergoing significant transformation.

Secondly EEF participated in a CEEMET Roundtable with Fernando Vasquez from the European Commission’s DG Employment. During the discussion it was stated that the Commission would be presenting new proposals to review European Labour law at the beginning of next year. This could lead to a consolidation and simplification of existing law.

Finally, the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, addressed the European Parliament to outline his vision of the EU in the next six months when the UK will hold the Presidency of the European Council.

In particular he argued that there is not a division between the Europe necessary to succeed economically and a social Europe. He was also quick to dispel the myth of Dickensian work conditions in the UK.

He urged the EU to modernise, pointing out that there are 20m unemployed in Europe and that, on any relative index of a modern economy - skills, R&D, patents, IT - the EU’s performance was going down not up.

In the months ahead EEF plans to contribute to this important debate on the future of the European Social Model and in particular to make proposals for the Commission’s review of labour law.

EU struggling on Kyoto Targets

A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) has shown that emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases rose by 1.5% in the EU-25 in 2003 compared with 2002. Averaged over the last five years, EU-15 emissions stood 2.9% below their 1990 level, however EU-15 emissions went up by 1.3% in 2003. Under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the EU-15 have to cut their combined greenhouse gas emissions, averaged over the 2008-2012 period, to 8% below the 1990 level. The report blames a rise in coal use for electricity generation pushed up EU emissions of greenhouse gases in 2003.

Commission proposes energy-saving plan

The European Commission has this week adopted a Green Paper on Energy Efficiency, designed to bring forward EU-action on energy-saving measures.

The Green Paper lists a number of options to save 20% of energy consumption by 2020, in part through changes in consumer behaviour and energy efficient technologies. The green paper will lead to an Action Plan in 2006, which will identify concrete measures to be put forward. Further information can be found at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy/efficiency/index_en.htm