Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen,
I should first of all like to thank you for the invitation to your Committee and for the opportunity to present the priorities of the Austrian EU Presidency.
It is important to the Austrian Presidency to focus on social policy and to strengthen the social dimension in the new Lisbon strategy. The social dimension must become more visible and it must become more perceptible to people, so that their trust in the European way of life grows again.
Before I briefly present the most important projects during the Austrian Presidency in my area of responsibility, allow me to make a few basic comments.
Last year, after the referendums in France and the Netherlands against the draft European constitutional treaty and the tricky agreement on the financial perspective, there was often talk of a crisis in the European Union. The British Presidency reacted to it with a very wide-ranging debate on the future of Europe, which culminated in the summit of Heads of State and Government at Hampton Court.
The Austrian Presidency will also continue discussions on the future of the European social model during these six months. The objective must be to examine in much greater depth people's needs, particularly unemployment and fighting poverty and social exclusion, as by far the most important priorities – as many surveys have stated.
The motto for the Austrian Presidency in the social field is "partnership for a social Europe". This is intended to express the need for a common course of action by all those involved, in the interests of the social objectives of the Member States and the European Union.
I now come to the major tasks facing the Austrian Presidency:
Up until the Spring European Council, the Austrian Presidency of the Council will concentrate on concluding the streamlining of the open coordination processes in the social field – i.e. social integration, pensions, health and long-term care. Streamlining is intended to contribute to more effective cooperation by the Member States in the fields of social integration and especially the modernisation of social protection schemes and to improve coordination with the new Lisbon strategy for growth and employment.
This was the topic of discussion for the Social Affairs Ministers at the informal meeting in Villach on 20 January.
The Ministers for Social Affairs were in agreement that all actors – social partners, NGOs, actors at regional and local level – should be involved in strengthening social protection and promoting social integration.
With regard to the future development of pensions, the Ministers agreed to strengthen their commitment to the fairness, sustainability and modernisation of pension schemes.
There was agreement on the need to take action in view of demographic trends, as the figures show clearly: today, one in five citizens of the European Union is over 60 years old, and in 2050 the figure will be one in three. The number of children (aged under 15) will fall by 20%. The number of people aged over 79 is likely to increase by around 180%.
The Ministers for Social Affairs in Villach also stressed the importance of the challenges in the fields of health care and long-time care and how they would continue to be of central importance in the future on account of these demographic trends.
The first common objectives for social protection and social integration are to be decided on 10 March 2006 by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, and passed on to the Spring European Council. We hope these objectives will also be approved.
In Villach, a clear message from the Social Affairs Ministers to the Spring European Council was approved. This message was intended to confirm the mutual reinforcement of economic, employment and social policies.
The agenda for your meeting today includes the draft report on social protection and social integration. It calls on Member States to make optimum use of the potential of the open method of coordination as a policy-making instrument.
The Austrian Presidency will do all it can to contribute to this. The challenges referred to in the draft report demand stronger measures to combat poverty and social exclusion at national level.
In the field of coordination of social security schemes, an important proposal from the Commission is expected shortly. Regulation No 1408/71 on the coordination of social security systems, which represents an essential aspect of the free movement of persons in the internal market, is currently undergoing comprehensive reform. The reformed Regulation itself has already been adopted as Regulation No 883/04. As a condition for its entry into force, an important element is however still missing after Annex XI was accepted yesterday. These proposals represent a major priority in the European Year of Workers' Mobility. It is important that precisely workers do not lose their rights if they are employed in another EU country.
The Austrian Presidency wishes to make a contribution to continuing discussions on demographic trends.
At the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council in December 2005, a policy debate was also held on the subject of demography and human capital. The discussion focused in particular on those measures contributing towards increasing the employment rate for young people, older workers, but especially disadvantaged groups. Support for the compatibility of family and professional life was also stressed in the discussion as a very important objective.
I have observed with great interest that your Committee is preparing a report on the demographic challenges. I consider it extremely important that the European Parliament gives its views on this subject and look forward with great interest to the position currently being prepared by your Committee.
Work on this theme is to be continued under the Austrian Presidency with the focus on family policy. With the support of the European Commission, a conference entitled "Demographic challenges – the family needs a partnership" is being held from 2 to 4 February 2006.
With the Commission's assistance, Austria plans to hold a conference on the topic of "social services" on 20 April 2006, following the informal meeting of the Social Protection Committee in Vienna, and thus continue the discussions at European level.
At the beginning of May, Austria, together with the Commission, the Economic and Social Committee and the European Poverty Network, will hold the 5th meeting of persons in a situation of poverty in Brussels. The starting point for the discussions at the meeting is to be an exchange of information between participants on how to cope with everyday life in the various Member States with an income at the national "risk of poverty" rate.
At the ESP Council meeting on 1 June 2006, a policy debate on the European strategy on sustainable development is planned, whereby the focus in this connection too will be placed on social integration. Social cohesion is a basic precondition for a sustainable society and sustainable management.
Combating poverty and social exclusion is a question of the legitimacy of the European Union. It must be our aim to strengthen the social dimension of the European Union, so that citizens have greater trust.
Thank you for your attention and I look forward to working with you over the coming months. I am of course happy to answer any questions you may have now.
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