PURPOSE : to present a proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community incentive measures in the field of employment.
CONTENT : the object of this proposal is to put into effect the provisons of Article 129 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, creating the legal base for the expenditure which is required to carry out the activities provided for, and also to develop the activities further in support of the new orientations for the Employment Strategy adopted at the Lisbon European Council.
Community incentive measures are designed to encourage cooperation between Member States and to support their action in the field of employment through initiatives aimed at developing exchanges of information and best practices, providing comparative analysis and advice as well as promoting innovative approaches and evaluating experiences. This is a necessary operation tool to develop and support the European Employment strategy stipulated in the Employment Title of the TEC (Articles 125-130).
Article 2 of the Treaty states that the goals of the Union to reach a high level of employment. The new Employment Title in the Treaty stipulates that Member States and the Community shall work towards developing a co-ordinated strategy for employment and particularly for promoting a skilled, trained and adaptable workforce and labour markets responsive to economic change.
The European Council at Lisbon agreed a new strategic goal for the Union of becoming a competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy, capable of sustainable economic growth, with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. This new strategy aims to enable the Union to re-establish the conditions for full employment. The European Council has also agreed to hold an annual spring summit devoted to economic and social questions, and asked the Commission to draw up an annual synthesis report for this meeting on progress towards the strategic goal.
This proposal aims to contribute to fulfilling the new strategic goal set up at Lisbon. It will build on the other aspects of the implementation of the Employment Title as well as on the experience gained from the work carried out under the Council Decision of 23 February 1998 on Community activities on research and communication in the field of employment. It will involve the mainstreaming of equal opportunities in the field of employment, which is one of the four pillars of the employment strategy.
The financial reference amount for the implementation of the Community activities for the period 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2005 shall be EUR 55 million.�