Partly this is a fatalistic realisation that there's 'nowt to be
done' and partly there's an element in the guerrilla war conducted by
Sarkozy to belittle the Czech presidency but there's also the fact
the EU's politicians have to be re-elected in June.
Then it seems they were worried about "public bickering and one-
upmanship"
What a complete shambles this EU is!
xxxxxxxxxx cs
=========
BRUSSELS - A planned EU jobs summit has been downgraded to a low-
key affair without the presence of EU leaders, following concerns
that the meeting would only underline the fact that there is no magic
formula for getting people back into the workplace.
Goaded into action by criticism that it was doing too little to
tackle the effects of the economic crisis, the Czech Republic,
currently at the helm of the EU's six-month rotating presidency, in
February called two extraordinary summits - one on anti-protectionism
and one on employment, with the latter to take place in May.
But EU leaders meeting last week for their regular spring gathering
decided that a full-blown jobs summit is "not the best way of
handling things," said an EU official, who added that this was the
"general feeling around the table."
Member states are reluctant to be pinned down to a possibly result-
less summit on employment with the economic crisis increasingly
taking its toll.
The advancing crisis has already claimed the government of Latvia and
produced serious political tremors in Hungary, with major
demonstrations or riots in a number of countries, including Bulgaria,
Greece, Ireland, Lithuania and France in particular, where millions
took to the streets last week.
Meanwhile, the EU's jobless rate climbed to 7.6 percent in January
and could rise still rise significantly. Business Europe, an umbrella
group for businesses, suggested last week that the EU is set to lose
an additional 4.5 million jobs this year.
National governments are hoping that their economic recovery plan,
amounting to ?400 billion including automatic stabilisers such as
unemployment benefits - or 3.3 percent of the bloc's annual GDP -
spread over two years, will slowly encourage employment to pick up.
A spokesperson for the Czech EU presidency said: "A number of
countries felt it would raise too optimistic expectations before the
European elections."
A jobs summit would give the misleading impression that a one-day
meeting "could come up with the magic solution" to the situation, he
added.
Instead, the meeting, pencilled in for 7 May but not yet with a
venue, is to be attended by the European Commission, the Czech EU
presidency and representatives from business and trade unions. Sweden
and Spain as the countries next holding the EU presidency will be
also be present.
Outlining the purpose of the summit, Czech Prime Minister Mirek
Topolanek on Friday (20 March) said: "We want to prepare specific
instruments for increasing employment in conjunction with the
economic policy of the European Union."
Previously he had said it would be a chance for all member states to
update each other on their unemployment situation and possible
solutions.
One member-state diplomat said not having a summit would "reduce the
likelihood of public bickering and one-upmanship," with EU
governments having managed to present a comparatively united front at
last week's summit and during the 1 March anti-protectionist meeting,
after having started off the year substantially and publicly divided
on how to tackle the economic crisis.
John Monks, head of the European Trades Union Congress, was
disappointed with the move.
"This decision is a very bad signal to citizens and workers as it
suggests complacency," he said. "It gives the impression that
European leaders are not sufficiently concerned about unemployment,
and we lose now a major opportunity to be heard at the very top level."
EU OBSERVER 23.3.09
EU downgrades jobs summit
HONOR MAHONY
BRUSSELS - A planned EU jobs summit has been downgraded to a low-
key affair without the presence of EU leaders, following concerns
that the meeting would only underline the fact that there is no magic
formula for getting people back into the workplace.
Goaded into action by criticism that it was doing too little to
tackle the effects of the economic crisis, the Czech Republic,
currently at the helm of the EU's six-month rotating presidency, in
February called two extraordinary summits - one on anti-protectionism
and one on employment, with the latter to take place in May.
But EU leaders meeting last week for their regular spring gathering
decided that a full-blown jobs summit is "not the best way of
handling things," said an EU official, who added that this was the
"general feeling around the table."
Member states are reluctant to be pinned down to a possibly result-
less summit on employment with the economic crisis increasingly
taking its toll.
The advancing crisis has already claimed the government of Latvia and
produced serious political tremors in Hungary, with major
demonstrations or riots in a number of countries, including Bulgaria,
Greece, Ireland, Lithuania and France in particular, where millions
took to the streets last week.
Meanwhile, the EU's jobless rate climbed to 7.6 percent in January
and could rise still rise significantly. Business Europe, an umbrella
group for businesses, suggested last week that the EU is set to lose
an additional 4.5 million jobs this year.
National governments are hoping that their economic recovery plan,
amounting to ?400 billion including automatic stabilisers such as
unemployment benefits - or 3.3 percent of the bloc's annual GDP -
spread over two years, will slowly encourage employment to pick up.
A spokesperson for the Czech EU presidency said: "A number of
countries felt it would raise too optimistic expectations before the
European elections."
A jobs summit would give the misleading impression that a one-day
meeting "could come up with the magic solution" to the situation, he
added.
Instead, the meeting, pencilled in for 7 May but not yet with a
venue, is to be attended by the European Commission, the Czech EU
presidency and representatives from business and trade unions. Sweden
and Spain as the countries next holding the EU presidency will be
also be present.
Outlining the purpose of the summit, Czech Prime Minister Mirek
Topolanek on Friday (20 March) said: "We want to prepare specific
instruments for increasing employment in conjunction with the
economic policy of the European Union."
Previously he had said it would be a chance for all member states to
update each other on their unemployment situation and possible
solutions.
One member-state diplomat said not having a summit would "reduce the
likelihood of public bickering and one-upmanship," with EU
governments having managed to present a comparatively united front at
last week's summit and during the 1 March anti-protectionist meeting,
after having started off the year substantially and publicly divided
on how to tackle the economic crisis.
John Monks, head of the European Trades Union Congress, was
disappointed with the move.
"This decision is a very bad signal to citizens and workers as it
suggests complacency," he said. "It gives the impression that
European leaders are not sufficiently concerned about unemployment,
and we lose now a major opportunity to be heard at the very top level."
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