Liz McManus
Question:74 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her Department’s programme for the remaining period of the Irish EU presidency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12050/04]
View answerWednesday, 28 April 2004
Questions (53)
Written answers
My overall focus for the Irish Presidency has been and will continue to be advancing the EU social policy agenda generally and, in particular, making progress in realising the ten year goals set by the Lisbon European Council in 2000.
One of the goals of the Lisbon agenda is to achieve greater social cohesion. Based on an analysis of the second round national action plans on social inclusion, 2003-2005, a joint Council-Commission inclusion report was adopted by the Council of Ministers in March and reflected in their key messages to the spring European Council. At the initiative of the Presidency, the employment and social protection committees together prepared a key messages paper on employment, social protection/inclusion and gender equality. At its meeting on 4 March 2004, the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council unanimously endorsed this paper for transmission to the spring European Council.
The four key social protection/inclusion messages relate to strengthening social inclusion; making work pay — which was the subject of our informal ministerial meeting in January; ensuring that pension systems support longer working lives; ensuring accessibility, sustainability and quality of health and long-term care for the elderly. The spring summit noted these and other key messages with approval and I was pleased to note that these messages were reflected throughout the spring Council conclusions.
One of the priorities of the Irish Presidency was to secure agreement with the European Parliament on the reform and simplification of Regulation 1408/71 which co-ordinates the social security systems of the member states so as to ensure that migrant workers, or members of their families, are not penalised in terms of social security when they exercise their right to free movement. Following acceptance by the European Parliament last week, the new regulation was deemed to have been adopted on Monday of this week after my colleagues at Council agreed to accept the two amendments proposed by Parliament.
Following the accession of the ten new member states, we will host a special conference in May, in co-operation with the Hungarian Government and the Commission. The conference will address both the implications of the current reform of the co-ordination regulations for all 25 states and the particular implementation challenges facing new member states in this field.
The issue of migration is also a priority for my Department during the Irish Presidency. I recently hosted a conference on the theme of "Reconciling Mobility and Social Inclusion". The main focus of the conference was on the role of social and employment policies in achieving social inclusion for people moving within the EU. In the area of family policy and to mark the 10th anniversary of the UN International Year of the Family, the Irish Presidency will host a major international conference the title of which will be "Families, Change and Social Policy in Europe".
The Irish Presidency will progress an initiative taken by previous Presidencies by hosting, in Brussels at the end of May, a third meeting of people experiencing poverty. Our aim is to further develop ways of promoting participation by, and consultation with, people experiencing poverty in the context of developing policies in this area. I will update my EU colleagues on the outcome of the various conferences at the next meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council which will take place at the beginning of June.
I am happy that these events represent a substantial programme of work and a significant contribution to moving forward the EU social policy agenda.
Question No. 75 answered with QuestionNo. 71.