EU ministers discuss employment in Gödöllő

“GDP rise alone is not enough to get out of the crisis, as it will not necessarily result in expanding employment opportunities’, said Mr Sándor Czomba, Minister of State for Employment Affairs of the Ministry of National Economy, after the two-day informal meeting of EU employment ministers in Gödöllő. “Member states need to coordinate their employment and economic policies in order to foster job creation’, the minister of state added.

Europe 2020 Strategy in focus

Mr Czomba claimed that all possible means should be examined to raise employment to 75 percent, a goal set by the Europe 2020 Strategy. On average, 69 percent of EU citizens that are fit for work are now employed. Ministers of member states and candidate countries exchanged their views on various measures aimed to stimulate employment. Mr Czomba said that despite member states’ different possibilities, an exchange of experience is highly useful. According to the minister of state, there is a need for new jobs that remain stable in the long run and it is particularly important to assist disadvantaged regions and employees.

Youth in Motion

“We can’t say the crisis is over until employment achieves a dynamic extension”, said László Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs. Mr Andor stressed the meeting’s success in examining several aspects of the subject and stated that improvement is essential for the job opportunities of young people, one of the hardest hit groups by the economic and financial crisis in a number of member states.

Member state representatives discussed in detail the Commission’s flagship initiative called “Youth in Motion”, an attempt to solve problems primarily related to the unfavourable employment contracts that are usually offered to young people for a definite term; and to under-privileged youth, including those who drop out from school early and are less qualified. Mr Andor pointed out the special importance of the relevant structural funds of the EU’s common budget and their due utilisation, with the proviso that such funding alone, without an appropriate economic growth, cannot solve employment problems.

Cross-presidency ambitions

As a token of the Trio’s cooperation, Mr Sándor Czomba’s Spanish and Belgian counterparts also gave an account of long-term employment policy objectives. Spanish Minister of State for Employment, María Luiz Rodríguez, stressed that it is vital to leave recession and the consequent unemployment behind. In this respect, the Spanish politician emphasised the importance of education, especially for young employees. Joëlle Milquet, expressed a similar view by claiming that besides education, it is also necessary to place employment matters in the focus of macro-economic policy.

The meeting’s agenda also included the utilisation of EU funds for job creation. In addition to economic development programmes and credit facilities aimed at job creation and European Social Fund related issues, the ministers reviewed how efficiently member states use sources granted by structural funds to boost employment creation.

Talks with social partners

On the first day of the informal meeting on 17 January, the ministers held talks with the social partners, EU level trade unions, the Employers’ Association and organisations representing small and medium enterprises. One of the key issues was the employment of European young people and the development of an employment-friendly economic policy.

In the meeting, the NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) involved in the cooperation called Social Platform presented their working material on social crisis and the situation of young people in the labour market.