Brussels, 12/12/2004
{{ETUC warns policy agenda-makers not to narrow down the Lisbon Strategy to the sole pillar of competitiveness and structural reform but to respect all three pillars of Lisbon.
The upcoming review is a strategic opportunity for European policy-makers to emphasise that a completely new approach to structural reform is necessary. Structural reform should not be about scaring workers by deregulating and dismantling the welfare state. Neither should it be used as a scapegoat so that the need to ensure economic recovery simply gets forgotten', says John Monks, General Secretary of the ETUC.}}
In coming weeks, the European Commission will prepare its report on the mid-term review of the Lisbon process. This report will serve as the basis for a discussion at the European Spring Council. In a resolution, approved by its Executive Committee on 3 December 2004, the ETUC urges the Commission to take into account the following key demands:
- Invest in Social Europe. By helping workers to handle structural change, Social Europe is a force for productivity and at the core of Europe's competitive advantage. Europe needs to invest massively in guidance, training and counselling for the unemployed, in access to lifelong learning for all workers, in policies to fight discrimination and improve participation in the workplace and in additional forms of security for workers.
ETUC proposal : An European investment plan in social infrastructure, providing support for workers confronted with the challenges of globalisation and delocalisations, should be initiated.
- Break the taboo on active aggregate demand management. The slump in growth since 2001 is not caused by the supposed lack of structural reform but by the failure to support domestic European demand. Europe can no longer continue to focus exclusively on stability and leave the job of promoting growth and demand to policy-makers in the rest of the world. This implies that both the European Central Bank and a Stability and Growth Pact should pay increased attention to the need to support growth and demand in an economic downturn.
ETUC proposal : The ‘Growth Initiative', agreed at the end of 2003 should be strengthened by inviting Member States to present ‘national plans for recovery' which increase public investments in education, research, social housing and renewable energy sources by 1% of GDP'
- Put the money where the Lisbon mouth is. ‘Lisbonise the Stability Pact. Europe does not have the luxury of waiting another five years or so for deficits to be eliminated before investing massively in innovation, research and development. This dead lock needs to be broken by reforming the Stability Pact so that investments which are at the heart of the Lisbon priorities are no longer counted in the public deficit, at least for the next few years. In turn, the growth that will result from this investment effort will be the basis for driving down and eliminating government deficits.
- Implement Lisbon by involving social partners. The ETUC welcomes the High Level Group's recommendation to make the Lisbon programme a part of the common work programme of the European Social partners. At the same time, the ETUC expects a ‘partnership for change' to represent real change and not ‘the business of deregulation as usual'. If there is a real willingness to strengthen the European social dimension as part of the Lisbon process and to reform Europe's macro-economic policy framework, the ETUC is prepared to explore the possibility of a ‘European framework agreement for innovation, social change and more and better jobs' within the context of the common European Social Partners work programme.
Finally, the ETUC urges policy-makers to resist the temptation of going for a ‘quick economic fix'. Achieving competitiveness and jobs on the basis of social dumping will only weaken the productive base and the innovative capacity of the European economy in the medium and long run. The Lisbon ‘learning society' will not be reached on the basis of poverty, insecurity and sharp inequality. Policies to press workers into longer hours will lead to a burned-out work force, cutting wages will undermine domestic demand and liberalising the services market while turning a blind eye to the risks of social dumping is not acceptable.
Note to press :
- ETUC resolution on the mid term review of Lisbon
- ETUC mid-term review (background study)
