by Honor Mahony
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A planned EU jobs summit has been downgraded to a low-key affair without the presence of EU leaders, following concerns that the meeting would only underline the fact that there is no magic formula for getting people back into the workplace.
Goaded into action by criticism that it was doing too little to tackle the effects of the economic crisis, the Czech Republic, currently at the helm of the EU's six-month rotating presidency, in February called two extraordinary summits - one on anti-protectionism and one on employment, with the latter to take place in May.
But EU leaders meeting last week for their regular spring gathering decided that a full-blown jobs summit is "not the best way of handling things," said an EU official, who added that this was the "general feeling around the table."
Member states are reluctant to be pinned down to a possibly result-less summit on employment with the economic crisis increasingly taking its toll.
The advancing crisis has already claimed the government of Latvia and produced serious political tremors in Hungary, with major demonstrations or riots in a number of countries, including Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania and France in particular, where millions took to the streets last week.
Meanwhile, the EU's jobless rate climbed to 7.6 percent in January and could rise still rise significantly. Business Europe, an umbrella group for businesses, suggested last week that the EU is set to lose an additional 4.5 million jobs this year.
National governments are hoping that their economic recovery plan, amounting to €400 billion including automatic stabilisers such as unemployment benefits - or 3.3 percent of the bloc's annual GDP - spread over two years, will slowly encourage employment to pick up.
A spokesperson for the Czech EU presidency said: "A number of countries felt it would raise too optimistic expectations before the European elections."
A jobs summit would give the misleading impression that a one-day meeting "could come up with the magic solution" to the situation, he added.
Instead, the meeting, pencilled in for 7 May but not yet with a venue, is to be attended by the European Commission, the Czech EU presidency and representatives from business and trade unions. Sweden and Spain as the countries next holding the EU presidency will be also be present.
Outlining the purpose of the summit, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on Friday (20 March) said: "We want to prepare specific instruments for increasing employment in conjunction with the economic policy of the European Union."
Previously he had said it would be a chance for all member states to update each other on their unemployment situation and possible solutions.
On member-state diplomat said not having a summit would "reduce the likelihood of public bickering and one-upmanship," with EU governments having managed to present a comparatively united front at last week's summit and during the 1 March anti-protectionist meeting, after having started off the year substantially and publicly divided on how to tackle the economic crisis.
John Monks, head of the European Trades Union Congress, was disappointed with the move.
"This decision is a very bad signal to citizens and workers as it suggests complacency," he said. "It gives the impression that European leaders are not sufficiently concerned about unemployment, and we lose now a major opportunity to be heard at the very top level."
Source: www.unobserver.com
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A planned EU jobs summit has been downgraded to a low-key affair without the presence of EU leaders, following concerns that the meeting would only underline the fact that there is no magic formula for getting people back into the workplace.
Goaded into action by criticism that it was doing too little to tackle the effects of the economic crisis, the Czech Republic, currently at the helm of the EU's six-month rotating presidency, in February called two extraordinary summits - one on anti-protectionism and one on employment, with the latter to take place in May.
But EU leaders meeting last week for their regular spring gathering decided that a full-blown jobs summit is "not the best way of handling things," said an EU official, who added that this was the "general feeling around the table."
Member states are reluctant to be pinned down to a possibly result-less summit on employment with the economic crisis increasingly taking its toll.
The advancing crisis has already claimed the government of Latvia and produced serious political tremors in Hungary, with major demonstrations or riots in a number of countries, including Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania and France in particular, where millions took to the streets last week.
Meanwhile, the EU's jobless rate climbed to 7.6 percent in January and could rise still rise significantly. Business Europe, an umbrella group for businesses, suggested last week that the EU is set to lose an additional 4.5 million jobs this year.
National governments are hoping that their economic recovery plan, amounting to €400 billion including automatic stabilisers such as unemployment benefits - or 3.3 percent of the bloc's annual GDP - spread over two years, will slowly encourage employment to pick up.
A spokesperson for the Czech EU presidency said: "A number of countries felt it would raise too optimistic expectations before the European elections."
A jobs summit would give the misleading impression that a one-day meeting "could come up with the magic solution" to the situation, he added.
Instead, the meeting, pencilled in for 7 May but not yet with a venue, is to be attended by the European Commission, the Czech EU presidency and representatives from business and trade unions. Sweden and Spain as the countries next holding the EU presidency will be also be present.
Outlining the purpose of the summit, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on Friday (20 March) said: "We want to prepare specific instruments for increasing employment in conjunction with the economic policy of the European Union."
Previously he had said it would be a chance for all member states to update each other on their unemployment situation and possible solutions.
On member-state diplomat said not having a summit would "reduce the likelihood of public bickering and one-upmanship," with EU governments having managed to present a comparatively united front at last week's summit and during the 1 March anti-protectionist meeting, after having started off the year substantially and publicly divided on how to tackle the economic crisis.
John Monks, head of the European Trades Union Congress, was disappointed with the move.
"This decision is a very bad signal to citizens and workers as it suggests complacency," he said. "It gives the impression that European leaders are not sufficiently concerned about unemployment, and we lose now a major opportunity to be heard at the very top level."
Source: www.unobserver.com
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