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In the European Parliament this week, the European social partners launched a debate on the EU 2020 Strategy, which will build on the achievements of the Lisbon Strategy. The aim was to get first reactions to the consultation document of the Commission. The majority of MEPs and European social partners, however, criticised the new proposal.

The European Commission started a public consultation on the EU 2020 Strategy on 24.11.2009 to turn the EU into a more intelligent and ecological social market. The EU 2020 Strategy will build on the successes of the Lisbon Strategy of 2005, which was aimed at the creation of growth and employment - developing but eliminating certain weak points at the same time, was the tenor of the European Commission. This prompted John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation to make the statement that the Lisbon Strategy had definitely not been a success and that, where there had been successes, it was not quite clear whether they had been the result of the Member States themselves rather than attributing them to the EU - a damning verdict. With regard to the new EU 2020 Strategy he also criticised that it was hardly comprehensible that so little time was dedicated to such an important matter - only a few months to decide on the EU Strategy for the next 10 years! Alejandro Cercas, Member of the European Parliament even said that the entire “Europe” project would be in a crisis, which not least would be the result of the fact that to-date the workforce had been forgotten. In particular with respect to developing a new strategy one should not make the same mistakes again to only concentrate on the economy, concluded Cercas his statement.

Jørgen Rønnest, Chair of BusinessEurope's Social Affairs Committee, spoke, independent of the EU 2020 Strategy, against any kind of new EU social security legislation. There would also not be a need for revising the Posting of Workers Directive, said the employers' representative. In general, however, Rønnest was hoping for a stronger EU 2020 Strategy, which would be more concerned with innovation and entrepreneurship and fight against any type of protectionism. Thomas Mann, Chairman of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, criticised that the proposal on the EU 2020 Strategy would be lacking in substance and was not concrete enough. Many other MEPs took the same line.

The Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour also participated in the public consultation on the EU 2020 Strategy. We welcome the new strategic aim of the EU 2020 Strategy. Missing, however, are the commitment to full employment and the reference to the necessity of quantitative targets, which underpin the new strategic aim. The Chamber of Labour is of the opinion, that it would be possible to have a more intensive debate on the future strategy and that we could imagine to postpone the decision - as already requested from various quarters - by a few months.

Further information:

AK EUROPA Position Paper on the EU 2020 Strategy