The Council will start at 9h30. The main points for decision concern the Directive on equal treatment for men and women in employment, the Directive on information and consultation of employees and the Directive laying down minimum health and safety requirements for the protection of workers from exposure to noise. On all these items, the objective is to reach political agreement on common positions.
The preparation of the Göteborg European Council on 15 and 16 June 2001 will also be an important subject, with the debate on the sustainable development strategy and the report on the sustainability of pension systems.
Equal Treatment for Men and Women in Employment
The Council should reach political agreement on a common position on the proposed Directive providing for equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion and working conditions.
The Commission presented the proposal on 12 July 2000 with the aim of amending a 25-year old Directive from 1976 (Directive 76/207/EEC). The purpose of the proposal is to modernise the provisions of the existing text. It also takes account of the case law of the European Court of Justice, as well as of the two Directives on non-discrimination based on article 13 which were adopted last year (Directives 2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC).
The Working Party, having started work on the proposal at the very end of last year only, has worked thoroughly throughout the Swedish Presidency. COREPER was able to resolve the last outstanding issues concerning in particular the right for protection under national legislation of men on paternity leave, a reference to equal pay in relation to the special Directive from 1975 on that subject and a reference to ensuring that single sex professional organisations can continue to exist.
With the European Parliament having given its Opinion on 31 May 2001, the Council is now in a position to reach an agreement on a common position.
Gender Mainstreaming
a) Gender perspectives in other Council formations
The Council will take note of an information by the Presidency on the way that gender perspectives are taken into account in Council formations other than the Employment and Social Policy Council. It is recalled that the Treaty (Article 3 (2)) contains a reference to applying the principle of mainstreaming to all Community activities. France started with an analysis of the Education Council and the Internal Market Council. The Swedish Presidency has prepared a report on the Research Council and the Development Council. Belgium intends to focus on the areas of external relations (in particular in the framework of the Barcelona process) and the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines.
i) Gender equality in the Research Council
In May 1999, the Research Council adopted a resolution focusing on the under-representation of women researchers in science throughout Europe. In 2000, an expert-working group set up by the Commission published a report on women and science in the EU. The same year another expert group, the so-called "Helsinki-group" initiated work on improving the indicators to measure the participation of women in science and to provide the Commission with gender-specific statistics. An advisory Committee to the Commission and the Council, CREST, is preparing a report to identify gender issues in the next Research Framework Programme. The upcoming Research Council meeting on 26 June should approve a resolution on Science, Society and the Citizen in Europe. The latter invites the Commission to continue and intensify its efforts to promote the role of women in science to ensure effective mainstreaming of the gender dimension when implementing the next Framework Programme.
ii) Gender equality considerations in the decisions taken in the Development Council on 31 May 2001
The Swedish Presidency has studied how gender equality issues have been approached in the preparations for and decisions taken at the Development Council on 31 May 2001. There are a number of decisions and policy documents of relevance for gender equality that have been adopted. These decisions remind actors in development co-operation, on both sides of the partnership, that they should take gender aspects into consideration and respect the policies already adopted on gender mainstreaming.
b) Expert meeting (Sigtuna, 15/16 May 2001)
The Council will also be informed by the Presidency about the results of this meeting, which the Swedish Presidency organised in Sigtuna in May 2001. The topic was gender mainstreaming in Europe (application, experiences and how to continue). The purpose of the conference was to discuss and to share best practices in order to deal with practical issues and not only concentrate on the theory of gender mainstreaming.
Furthermore, the Commission intends under this point to report on the work of the high level task force which was established subsequently to the discussions of the Ministers at their informal meeting in Norrköping in February. The task force held a meeting in parallel to the Sigtuna meeting at which it dealt with the question of gender mainstreaming in the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines.
Information and Consultation of Employees
The aim is for the Council to reach a political agreement in view of a common position concerning the proposed Directive establishing a general framework in the European Community for informing and consulting employees. The proposal aims at establishing minimum requirements for the information and consultations of employees in undertakings operating within a single Member State. It would thus complement the two existing Directives containing provisions on information and consultation in the specific situations of collective redundancies and of transfers of undertakings respectively, as well as the so-called European Works Council Directive which applies to undertakings with in total more than 1000 employees operating in two or more Member States.
The proposal dates back to late 1998. Under the French Presidency during the second half of 2000, the Council started work on the Commission proposal. The Council meetings on 17 October and 27/28 November 2000 dealt with the item.
Having had bilateral contacts with certain Member States, the Presidency is of the opinion that there is now a real chance of making progress at the Council on 11 June. The Presidency is currently working on a compromise text which it intends to present at the Council or shortly before.
The Commission has presented its amended proposal which will also feed into the ministerial discussion.
Minimum Health and Safety Requirements for Workers - Noise
The Council will strive to reach a political agreement in view of a common position on a draft Directive laying down minimum requirements for the protection of workers from risks to their health and safety arising from exposure to noise, in particular concerning the risk to hearing.
The proposed Directive is intended to be the second separate Directive after the "splitting" in 1999 of the Commission's original proposal - dating back to 1993 - which combined in a single instrument four types of physical agents (noise, mechanical vibration, optical radiation and electro-magnetic fields and waves). The first Directive deals with vibrations, in respect of which the Council should shortly adopt a common position after having reached political agreement at the Council on 27/28 November 2000. As a follow-up, the Swedish Presidency presented in January 2001 a revised text of the noise element of the proposal. This new Directive would replace the existing Directive 86/188/EEC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to noise at work.
The Working Party has worked hard on the file and the time should be ripe for agreement. The main outstanding issues concern the scope of the future Directive and the exposure values:
1. Scope of the Directive
Workers engaged in sea and air transport are excluded from the scope of the 1986 Directive. Since this provision was intended to be temporary, the present proposal contains no such provision. Some delegations have entered scrutiny reservations on this point arguing that too stringent requirements would lead to technical and practical difficulties, particularly in respect of older ships.
2. Exposure values
The text provides for two sets of exposure action values which are based on ambient noise levels and which trigger different degrees of protective measures, and for one set of exposure limit values which lays down exposure limits taking account, however, of the wearing of individual hearing protectors. In each case a daily, or weekly, average noise exposure value dB(A) is accompanied by a peak sound pressure value (ppeak) to take account of high instantaneous noise levels.
The levels of the values are still under deliberation. A Presidency compromise proposal is on the table. The Commission had proposed a limit value of 90dB (A) as daily average exposure.
The draft Directive fixes exposure limit values and exposure action values. It also contains the following provisions imposing certain obligations on employers:
- provisions on the determination and assessment of risks;
- provisions on avoiding or reducing exposure;
- personal protection;
- limitation of exposure to the ear;
- worker information and training;
- consultation and participation of workers.
Sustainable Development Strategy
The Council will have a debate on the employment and social related aspects of sustainable development in view of the European Council in Göteborg on 15 and 16 June 2001. The latter should adopt a strategy for sustainable development for the EU. The discussion will be based on the Commission communication on sustainable development from 15 May 2001 and two opinions from the Employment Committee and the Social Protection Committee respectively.
Three Councils - Employment and Social Policy, Ecofin and Environment - will discuss the sustainable development strategy without adopting formal conclusions (Ecofin and Environment have done so on 5 and 7/8 June respectively). The Presidency will take note of the comments made in the preparation of the Göteborg European Council.
Social Protection
a) Report on the sustainability of pensions systems
The Council will take note of the report by the Social Protection Committee on the sustainability of pensions systems which will be submitted to the Göteborg European Council on 15 and 16 June 2001. The report is a follow-up to the preliminary study on the long-term viability of pensions which had been produced at the request of the European Councils in Lisbon, Feira and Nice, and which was submitted to the Stockholm European Council in March 2001.
Content of the Social Protection Committee's report on the future of social protection
The report analyses what will be needed to ensure that pension systems provide retired people with a securely financed, adequate income that does not destabilise public finances or impose an excessive burden on future generations, while maintaining fairness and solidarity, and responding to the changing needs of individuals and society. The report in particular singles out the following three points:
- safeguard the capacity of pension systems to meet their social aims of providing safe and adequate incomes to retired persons and their dependants and ensuring decent living conditions for all elderly persons,
- maintain the financial sustainability of pension systems,
- enhance the ability of pension systems to respond to the changing needs of society and individuals.
According to the report, the challenge of demographic ageing requires concerted and mutually reinforcing efforts in three broad policy areas : social protection, employment and public finances. The employment strategy must improve employment opportunities, particularly for women and older workers, and ensure that people have the right qualifications for these jobs. Finally, economic policy has to unleash the full growth potential of the economy, thereby fostering more employment growth, and to ensure sound public finances today so that more budgetary resources can be made available for ageing-related needs tomorrow.
The main chapters of the report concern :
- challenges confronting pensions systems (demography and sustainability, new employment patterns, evolution of family structures),
- meeting the challenges (safeguarding the financial sustainability of pensions systems, maintaining social cohesion, adapting pensions systems to a changing society),
- national reform processes and the role of the European Union.
It is recalled that the Stockholm European Council in March 2001 identified a three-pronged strategy - combining higher employment rates, debt reduction and the reform of pension and care systems - as being necessary for ensuring the adequacy of pension systems. The Commission will propose a communication developing appropriate objectives and working methods for future co-operation in the European Union on these issues, based on the common objectives and principles identified in the communication of October 2000.
b) National Action Plans against poverty and social exclusion
The Council will hear a brief information by Commissioner Diamantopoulou about the ongoing work within the Social Protection Committee on the fight against poverty and social exclusion, which is the first of the four priority areas laid down for this Committee. The report will be based on contributions from the Member States on their national action plan, which, in accordance with the conclusions of the Nice European Council, were due to be submitted by 1 June 2001. The report should subsequently contribute to a joint Council/Commission report going to the European Council in Laeken in December 2001.
Co-Ordination of Social Security Systems
The Council will take note of the progress report by the Presidency on the proposed revision of Regulation 1408/71 on the co-ordination of social security systems of the Member States as regards the rights of migrant workers. The Commission proposal from December 1998 is intended to replace the 1971 Regulation, which has been amended numerous times, with the aim of modernising and simplifying current provisions.
The Swedish Presidency has concentrated its efforts on the chapters concerning unemployment, pre-retirement and family benefits, benefits for dependent children of pensioners and for orphans.
The Presidency has submitted the following two questions to the Ministers:
1. Would it be desirable, with a view to promoting employment, to extend from 3 to 6 months the period of eligibility for unemployment benefits in cash for those who are seeking work in other Member States?
2. Would it be desirable if workers, who become unemployed after having resided in one Member State and worked in another Member State, were given the opportunity to seek work in their State of residence while receiving cash benefits from their former State of employment?
It is recalled that at the end of each Presidency, a report has been presented to the Council setting out the progress achieved by the Working Party. The Swedish Presidency is now presenting the fourth Progress report (after the Finnish, Portuguese and French Presidencies). Prior to the Swedish Presidency, the following parts of the text have made the subject of a first reading: Titles I (General provisions) and II (Determination of the legislation to which a person is subject) and Chapters 1 (Sickness and maternity), 2 (Invalidity), 3 (Old age and survivors' pensions) and 4 (Accidents at work and occupational diseases) in Title III (Special provisions relating to the various categories of benefit). The objective is to conclude work on this file before the enlargement of the EU.
European Co-Operative Society
The Council will take note of an oral progress report by the Presidency on the draft Directive on the involvement of workers in the European co-operation society.
The original Commission proposal dates back to 1992, work having been pending on the European Company Statute. The European Co-operative Society (SCE) is a parallel proposal to the European Company, i.e. a specific legal entity available to co-operatives with operations in two or more Member States.
In the light of the agreement reached on the European Company in December 2000, the Presidency presented a revised text of the proposal regarding the involvement of employees in the European Co-operative Society. A first detailed reading has taken place in the Working Party.