EC establishing a Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - Progress - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2009)340 - Amendment of Decision 1672/2006/EC establishing a Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - Progress.
source	COM(2009)340
date	02-07-2009

The main impact of the recession is on people: the top challenge for the EU today must be to prevent high levels of unemployment, to boost job creation and to pave the way for economic renewal, sustainable recovery and growth. The EU reacted rapidly to the crisis through the European Economic Recovery Plan which highlighted the need to counter the effects of the crisis on jobs. The initial impact of the Plan is already promising, and social safety nets play a stabilising role. However, with labour markets continuing to deteriorate as they react to the economic downturn, additional action is needed.

Europe must not just tackle the recession but turn it into an opportunity to create a more productive, more innovative, higher skilled and low carbon economy; with open and inclusive labour markets, offering a more cohesive and equal society and jobs that respond to age, gender equality and work/life balance concerns. The measures needed to combat the social and employment impact of the current crisis must go hand-in-hand with the structural reforms needed to address the long-term challenges of globalisation and demographic and climate change.

Europe's labour markets will be changed by the crisis. Workers and companies must be given the necessary means to adjust to these changing realities: to retain jobs, enhance skills at all levels, get people back to work and create the conditions for new jobs.

The Commission Communication 'Driving European recovery' i outlined a number of points to help Member States design and implement effective employment policies. Working on this basis, the Spring European Council and the three employment workshops held in Madrid, Stockholm and Prague in April 2009 set three key priorities: maintaining employment, creating jobs and promoting mobility; upgrading skills and matching labour market needs; and increasing access to employment. Finally, the Employment Summit of 7 May featured an exchange of views on these priorities, and found common ground on 10 actions i.

Building on this common effort, the Commission adopted a Communication on 3 June on 'A shared commitment for employment' i, the aim being to step up cooperation between the European Union and the Member States as well as between EU social partners on these three key priorities, focussing on concrete initiatives and supported by all available Community instruments, in particular the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Globalisation Adjustment Fund.

In order to alleviate the social impact of the crisis, it is essential to retain and bring more people into the labour market, especially women, older workers and other groups facing discrimination, and to prevent long-term unemployment and inactivity. The best way out of exclusion is employment: social Europe starts with jobs – yet even before the crisis, far too many EU citizens who were willing and able to join the labour market did not have access to jobs.

To give the unemployed the chance of a new start and to open the way to entrepreneurship for some of Europe’s most disadvantaged groups, including the young, the Commission has proposed a new European microfinance facility for employment and social inclusion - Progress i, designed to help develop micro-enterprises and the social economy. This new facility will extend the range of targeted financial support to new entrepreneurs in the current context of reduced credit supply. Founders of microenterprises will also be assisted by way of mentoring, training, coaching and capacity building, in addition to interest-rate support from the ESF.

In line with the Inter-institutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 i between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management, the Commission proposes to reallocate EUR 100 million from the existing budget which could leverage more than EUR 500 million, in a joint initiative with international financial institutions, in particular the EIB Group.

The Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - Progress (2007-2013) i provides financial support for the implementation of the European Union’s objectives in the areas of employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, as set out in the Social Agenda i and in the renewed Social Agenda i.

The mission of the Progress Programme is to assist Member States in their efforts to create more and better jobs and to build a more cohesive society. In concrete terms, Progress is instrumental in:

1. providing analysis and policy advice;

2. monitoring and reporting on the implementation of EU legislation and policies;

3. promoting policy transfer;

4. creating a platform for the exchange of experience between Member States;

5. relaying the views of stakeholders and society at large.

Under the terms of the 2006 Inter-institutional agreement, an additional amount of EUR 114 million (current prices) i was allocated to the Progress programme. The total budget for 2007-2013 was therefore increased from EUR 628 800 000 (current prices) in the Commission's initial proposal to EUR 743 250 000 (current prices). After examining all possible options, the Commission proposes to reallocate EUR 100 million from the Progress Programme to the new European microfinance facility for employment and social inclusion – Progress.

The proposal to reallocate part of the budget will not compromise the objectives of the Progress programme. It will, however, require Progress to be more effective in its operations, more strategic in its planning and more focused in its activities. This will also require further promoting cross-cutting across policy sections and linkages with other EU instruments, such as transnational cooperation under the European Social Fund or support for social dialogue. Finally, it will increase the efficiency and consistency of EU action in support of EU objectives and priorities in the areas of employment and social solidarity.