§ Mr. Ernie RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EU Social Affairs Council on 6 November. [15841]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithI represented the UK at the Social Affairs Council on 6 November.
528WThis supplementary meeting was convened solely for the purpose of making preparations for the Extraordinary European Council on Employment taking place in Luxembourg on 20–21 November.
The meeting discussed the Commission's draft communication concerning the preparation of draft Guidelines on Employment which were called for by the Amsterdam European Council in June. I expressed the UK's broad satisfaction with the overall structure and key themes of the Guidelines and welcomed growing recognition that EU wide numerical targets on employment and unemployment were inappropriate. There was agreement among Member States and the Presidency on the need for the Guidelines primarily to express consensus on the areas in which Member States should take action to tackle unemployment and promote employability and that Member States should draw up Action Plans as the basis for national implementation of the Guidelines. The UK has a number of detailed comments which it will be discussing with the Presidency and other Member States. There will be further discussion at a joint meeting of the Social Affairs Council and the Economic and Finance Council of Ministers on 17–18 November.