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Priorities of the Danish Presidency
2012. 01. 18.
Copenhagen inherits a heavy social affairs agenda, with the economic crisis, the ageing of the population and the numerous legislative issues on the drawing board. As of 1 January 2012, the European Parliament and the Council will have around ten legislative proposals on the table and the Commission is set to continue to exercise its right of initiative, announcing a major employment package covering flexicurity, employment services and the European semester'.
Among these many subjects, the Danish Council Presidency has decided to give special attention to the future proposals on the posting of workers. These were initially announced for 20 December 2011, but were recently postponed until February 2012. The proposals - likely to take the form of a regulation clarifying the exercise of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services with social rights and an implementing directive - are meant to improve and reinforce transposition, application and compliance with Directive 96/71/EC, in the light of recent rulings by the EU Court of Justice (Laval, Ruffert and Luxembourg judgements). The first, referred to as the Monti II proposal, will aim to clarify the right of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services, while ensuring respect for fundamental social rights, in particular the right to strike. The second is meant to improve implementation of rules on the posting of workers by providing more detailed guidance on problem areas and by strengthening legal certainty.
OTHER ISSUES
The Danes will also oversee the Council's discussions on the following proposals: the maternity leave directive, the anti-discrimination directive, revision of regulations on the coordination of social security systems, the new programme for social change and innovation and the directive on electromagnetic fields. Progress can be expected on the proposals for revision of Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 on coordination of social security systems, following agreement on a general approach by the Employment and Social Affairs Council, on 1 December 2011. On the other hand, if the Danish Presidency hopes to secure advances on the directive setting minimum health and safety requirements related to the exposure of workers to potentially damaging physical agents (electromagnetic fields), it will have to reach agreement on how to define exposure limits and on exemptions to binding limits. The broad lines of the new programme for social change and innovation (PSCI), the subject of a draft regulation presented in October 2011, should not present too many problems.
Among the tougher issues to be taken up by the Danes will be the maternity leave directive, on which Parliament and the Council are strongly at odds, and the equal treatment directive, which has been on the Council's table for more than three years.
The Danish Presidency will also be steering debates on the future of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, which helps workers in the EU who have lost their jobs to be retrained and back into work. It is not clear at present whether the discussions will be limited to the draft regulation for 2014-2020 or whether Copenhagen will also address the matter of prolongation of the derogations decided as a result of the crisis. A minority of member states, including Denmark, refused, at the Council on 1 December, to keep within the regulation's scope until 31 December 2013 workers laid off due to the economic crisis and not strictly due to globalisation.
UPCOMING PROPOSALS
In the ongoing context of the economic crisis and in line with the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations 2012, Copenhagen has decided to focus its Presidency on several key themes, namely employment, gender equality and demographic challenges. On the last, the Commission is set to publish soon, barring any further delays, its white paper on pensions (initially announced for early November 2011) and a communication updating the 2006 strategy on the demographic future of Europe (originally due in autumn 2011).
In its 2012 work programme, entitled Delivering European renewal', the Commission also agreed to present an employment package based on a framework communication building on the guidelines set out in the annual growth survey 2012, a communication on flexicurity, and a proposal (partially legislative) on reform of the European Employment Services Network (EURES).
On social inclusion, the Commission will publish, in April 2012, its initial assessment of national strategies for Roma integration, which member states were obliged to submit by 31 December 2011. Towards mid-2012, it will also present a recommendation on child poverty setting out common principles for effective political intervention in supporting families and promoting access to services and participation in society.
(Europolitics)
