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Brussels, 06.01.2003
Position of the EUCDW
The European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW) therefore deems it appropriate that
The European citizen expects clear signals that the European project is also becoming his project. Institutionally, this means moving away from the Europe of government conferences in the direction of a common policy with a clear division between the Commission, the Council and a - substantially strengthened - European Parliament. It is not a matter of re-founding the Union. The Constitutional Treaty must prove itself as being the logical, further development of existing EU law. First and foremost, this entails the legally binding inclusion of the Charter of Basic Rights into the EU Constitutional Treaty. The EUCDW welcomes the progress that has been achieved in this respect. Furthermore,
the objectives of the Union must be coupled more strongly to concrete
policy. Thereby, initially, the formulation - on the foundation of the
social market economy - in the catalogue of objectives of "social cohesion"
is to be extended to include 'on the basis of solidarity'. Secondly,
in particular the article concerning the realisation of the internal
market is to be combined with the article on the Catalogue of Objectives.
On the basis of the pertinent EPP resolutions on the occasion of its last congress in Estoril, the EUCDW upholds the well-proved division of responsibilities in social protection, in employment policy as well as in regard to the social security systems. Firstly,
the joint responsibilities of Union and member states for the social
protection in the strictest sense of the word, i.e. the protection
of the health and safety of the workers at their places of work, need
to be emphasised. The introduction of common European (minimum) standards
for working practices and the handling of hazardous materials is a sensible
step. Such an approach provides the workers with immediate protection,
while it indirectly benefits (small and medium-sized) companies, too,
by staving off social dumping and unfair competition. Employment policies will obviously have to - in strict compliance with the subsidiarity principle - remain the responsibility of each individual member state. Attempts to agree common principles on a European level and to coordinate the measures taken by these member states have, on the other hand, been shown to be useful. This is why the process of agreeing European employment guidelines should remain entrenched in the treaty. For
the EUCDW, economic and social policy must be balanced. Therefore a
better co-ordination between the social- and economic policy guidelines
must be guaranteed. This can be achieved contractually by So far
as the social security systems are concerned, the historically
developed diversity would seem to rule out any attempt at coordination
through a centralised European institution. On the other hand, a European
added value may well be created if the EU member states decided to cooperate
even more closely than they have done so far. Practical regulations
to increase cross-border mobility would be a first objective. Attempts
to coordinate any moves to reform the systems in the individual member
states would, however, be equally sensible. The method to be used in this is the method of open coordination: it enables the EU states to learn from one another, to exchange „best practice" experience and to take action, for example on the basis of national action plans. This method respects the regional and national differences, it is flexible and, at the same time, aims at the promotion of progress in the field of social policy. An evaluation of this progress will only become possible by applying common criteria and indicators that are to guarantee cross-border comparability. Furthermore,
those areas that have hitherto been excluded from the application of
European Policy (the right to form unions and/or coalitions, wages,
strikes and lock-outs) must in future also become European topics
in order to achieve here a European added value. The aim is not to (completely)
Europeanise them, but rather to open up the possibility, wherever it
is sensible, to establish European framework agreements.
In order to render the Union capable of sustained action, two reform steps are indispensable:
For this, it is first of all necessary to establish the criteria according to which organisations will be recognized as participants in the European social dialogue. Secondly, a procedure must be found that guarantees the incorporation of agreements made by the social partners into European law and at the same time respecting the new division of tasks among the EU institutions. In particular it is desirable that the future, hopefully stronger, European Parliament legislation shall be more strongly drawn in to this procedure. The rights of the economic and social committees to a hearing shall be reinforced on questions of social and employment policy and must be extended to cover economic, industrial and trade policy, competition, etc. Due to the diversity of topics to be dealt with here, however, the question arises with increasing urgency as to whether the economic and social committees should not be complemented by a chamber for the organisation of the central areas of European social affairs.
The
European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW) consists of 23
workers' organisations from 15 countries and is an association of the
European People's Party (EPP).
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