News
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23/11/2006
Commissioner Špidla meets with Belgian employment Ministers on Volkswagen job losses
Today, Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities met with the Belgian regional authorities (*) to discuss how best the European Structural Funds, in particular the European Social Fund (ESF), can offset the negative consequences of the expected decision by the Volkswagen to lay off 4,000 workers. Commissioner Špidla encouraged close cooperation between Commission representatives and the Belgian crisis team.
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22/11/2006
Commission launches open debate: Modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st century
The European Commission today launched a broad open public debate on reviewing labour law and adaptation to the modern world of work. The discussion paper will ask Member States, social partners and other stakeholder how labour law at EU and national level can help the job market become more flexible while maximizing security for workers (the 'flexicurity' approach). The consultation will run over a period of four months and its contributions will feed into in the upcoming Commission communication on flexicurity in June 2007.
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21/11/2006
Statement of Commissioners Vladimír Špidla and Danuta Hübner on the redundancies at Volkswagen in Forest/Vorst
The Commission is aware of the challenging effect of any large-scale redundancies at Volkswagen plant in Forest/Vorst for the Brussels region and Belgium. Commissioners Vladimír Špidla and Danuta Hübner are especially aware of the difficult situation for workers who loose their jobs.
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15/11/2006
Corporate Social Responsibility – Benchmarks for Consumers - One-day conference on Monday December 18, 2006 in Brussels
Why and how to improve Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) testing for consumers? What shared responsibilities come up in ethical consumption? How to articulate CSR and ethical consumption in a free trade economy?
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10/11/2006
OECD LEED Programme (Local Economic and Employment Development ) has launched a call for experts for projects on Designing Local Skills Strategies.
The project receives support from the European Commission. Deadline 18th December 2006
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06/11/2006
EU job situation improves, but new reform push needed to hit 2010 target
The employment situation in the EU continued to improve in 2005 despite a temporary slowdown in economic growth, according to the 'Employment in Europe 2006' report, published by the European Commission today. Reforms are producing results. Unemployment in the EU fell by almost half a percentage point (to 8.7% from 9.1% in the previous year) while employment growth almost doubled to 0.9%. Nevertheless, the Union continues to under-perform both in terms of employment and productivity growth in relation to EU targets. A stronger drive to implement comprehensive reforms is a matter of urgency.
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06/11/2006
Europeans ready to meet challenges of job market according to new EU survey
A new survey published today reveals that the majority of Europeans have a positive view of the EU's role in employment and social affairs. In addition, three out of four say the European Union impacts positively on access to education and training as well as on job creation and unemployment. The survey results also show that the vast majority [84%] of European workers are confident about keeping their current jobs in the short term, but a similar proportion accepts that a “job for life” is a thing of the past. Most respondents stress the importance of regular training and being able to adapt to a new job. In this respect, many recognise the support of the European Social Fund which helps people to improve their skills and job prospects.
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30/10/2006
The Racial Equality Directive: taking stock
The Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC) has proved “a major step forward in the fight against racial discrimination across the EU”, according to a new European Commission communication published on 30 October 2006.
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20/10/2006
EU calls on social partners to join the flexicurity debate
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, together with Commissioner Vladimír Špidla and Member States' representatives called on employers' and workers' organisations to participate actively in the debate on flexicurity. The informal Tripartite Social Summit was organised jointly by the Finnish Presidency and the Commission to encourage high-level trade union and employer representatives to examine ways of combining active labour market policies, flexible contractual arrangements, lifelong learning and social protection. It was the first opportunity for the social partners to provide input to discussions on flexicurity at the European level.
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12/10/2006
Five ways to defuse the demographic time bomb
Europe's ageing population is an unprecedented challenge for the whole of society, but it is a challenge we must rise to, and we must rise to it now, concludes the European Commission's new Communication on “The demographic future of Europe – from challenge to opportunity". It underlines Member States' ability to meet the challenges of a shrinking workforce and an ageing population. The keys to success are the promotion of demographic renewal, more jobs and longer working lives, higher productivity, integrating migrants and sustainable public finances.