Employment policy
- (Photo: European Commission)
The Treaty of Nice has a special chapter on employment policy (Art. 125-130 TEC). Incentive measures and pilot projects may be decided by a qualified majority in the Council and co-decision with the EU Parliament, but no harmonisation of national employment rules is permitted and there can be no common EU economic policies geared to maximising employment. Instead, the EU seeks to influence national employment policies by means of "guidelines".
The so-called Lisbon-process seeks to affect employment issues by means of benchmarking and other forms of voluntary co-ordination. This is called the Open Co-ordination Method. After the 2005 revision of the Lisbon Process, so-called integrated (employment and economic) 3-years guidelines are addressed to the Member States. The latter have to transform them through “National Reform Plans”.
Future
The Lisbon Treaty has proposed to include full employment as one of the objectives of the EU (so far only „high level of employment”). The open co-ordination method may also be inserted into this document. Article 5 TFEU of the Lisbon Treaty opens up new possibilities for economic co-ordination and employment-related cooperation through legally binding "measures" including regulations and directives.
Links
Activities of the European Union: Employment and social affairs http://www.europa.eu.int/pol/socio/index_en.htm
