Tag: labour market

If civil society  engage more actively in its development and implementation, a functioning internal market can help the EU get out of the financial crisis, EU lawmakers said, in a resolution celebrating 20 years of the single market.

French government officials are to meet next week to decide whether to lift working restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals in an effort to provide legal status for some 15,000 Roma from these countries living in France.

Arguments presented by nine EU countries that have decided to maintain labour restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian nationals are "unconvincing", said Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner László Andor.

Crisis-struck Italy is lifting labour market restrictions for Romanians and Bulgarians while nine other EU countries are maintaining their curbs, with several citing high unemployment.

Romanian and Bulgarian workers should be allowed in Belgium as of 1 January next year, after Flanders, the last Belgian region opposing the move, lifted its veto.

The European Parliament adopted today (25 October) a resolution urging the 10 member countries that have not opened their labour markets to Bulgarians and Romanians to do so by the end of the year.

The European Commission adopted a defensive stance yesterday (26 July), saying that Spain could introduce restrictive measures against Romanian workers "under exceptional circumstances". Last Friday, the EU executive said Spain had no legal right to impose such a ban. EurActiv Spain contributed to this article.

Social dialogue is becoming ever more important in the enlarged EU labour market, and is one of the areas where the EU can best assist member countries, German MEP Nadja Hirsch (ALDE) told EurActiv Hungary in an exclusive interview.

Since Europe has more employment and social problems now than before the crisis, more social inclusion measures need to be supported by the European Social Fund (ESF), which should be given competences on financial engineering, said László Andor, EU commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, in an exclusive interview with EurActiv Slovakia.

Austria, Belgium and Germany have been more successful than other member states at keeping people in their jobs during the economic recession, according to the European Commission's latest annual employment report, published last week (25 November).

Eurozone unemployment jumped to an 11-year high in November and is likely to rise further this year, adding to the instability of an economic recovery now based on fickle inventory rebuilding and exports.

A citizens' forum in Berlin last week - the last of its kind to be held in 2009 - recommended that the European Union harmonise labour laws for all its citizens. EurActiv Germany contributed to this article.

In the wake of the global financial and economic crises, the EU is developing a new labour market strategy as part of its successor to the 'Lisbon Agenda' for economic, social and environmental reform, which is due to end in 2010. The new roadmap will retain many of the previous ambitions, but will also be shaped by EU leaders' exit strategies.

The European Court of Justice yesterday (10 February) ruled against Paris in a case where lawyers, medics and dentists from Bulgaria and Romania were unlawfully denied access to the French labour market.

Cultural resistance and fear of integrating a large Muslim minority are leading Brussels to consider imposing restrictions on the free movement of Turkish workers when the country eventually joins the EU, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Reactions to the EU's new social package were split as the Commission presented it to MEPs yesterday (2 September), with many voicing their support but critical that it is not far-reaching enough. Meanwhile, Socialist leader Martin Schulz used the opportunity to open the election campaign against the political right, who would lead Europe in the "wrong direction".

Although European labour markets continued to recover in 2007, employment rates across Europe are still a long way short of the targets the EU set itself via the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs in 2000. Workers aged over 55 continue to face the greatest difficulties, new data reveals.

After EU leaders agreed at the Spring Summit to step up efforts to improve working conditions for researchers, the Commission has presented upgraded plans to boost researchers' mobility, including pan-EU pension schemes targeted at researchers.

Europe does not need more highly regulated job markets but rather increased investment in human capital if it is to meet the dual challenge of achieving both economic efficiency and social justice, Wolfgang Merkel, the director of the Social Science Research Centre in Berlin, told EurActiv Slovakia in an interview.

The growth in European employment levels has remained robust, according to the winter 2008 Quarterly EU Labour Market Review, published on 18 February.

The German upswing will continue next year "but will clearly weaken", raising the question of how it first came about, writes Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich.

Amid Commission predictions that some 5.5 million new jobs will be created in 2007-08, EU leaders are facing a different challenge: finding workers to fill the vacancies.

Economic ecovery is on a solid footing and growth rates could rise even more than expected by the end of the year, thanks to falling oil prices and lower unemployment. 

In an attempt to increase employment rates among older people, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin wants to introduce new schemes for older workers.