Seán Crowe
Ceist:104 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on the social Europe aspects of the draft EU Constitution. [24342/03]
Vol. 573 No. 1
104 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on the social Europe aspects of the draft EU Constitution. [24342/03]
The draft EU constitutional treaty sets out in a clear and readable text the proposed rules which would govern the Union in the future. The draft will now be subject to debate and discussion with a view to repealing all of the previous treaties of the EU and consolidating them into the proposed single constitutional treaty.
Article 3 of the draft treaty sets out the Union's objectives, and paragraph 3 includes specific references to combating social exclusion and promoting social and economic cohesion. These are the goals which we have already been working towards, particularly through the open method of co-ordination of policies at EU level.
Article 4 guarantees free movement of persons, goods and services within the EU. Article 13(2) provides that the Union will share competence with the member states in the area of social policy – for aspects defined in Part III.
Article III-21 requires the Council of Ministers to adopt measures necessary to provide freedom of movement of workers and their families within the Union. To this end, the Council is required to make arrangements to secure the aggregation of entitlements to, and payment of, social security benefits. This article replaces similar provisions set out in Article 42 of the current treaty. However, a move from unanimity to qualified majority voting is proposed for decisions by the Council under this article. Ireland is not in favour of this change as such decisions may have serious financial consequences for individual member states.
The articles relating to social policy are contained in Part III, section 2, of the draft treaty, that is, Articles III-103 to III-115 inclusive.
Article III-103 sets out the objectives of the Union and member states in regard to social policy and corresponds to Article 136 of the current treaty. The objectives set out include proper social protection, dialogue between the social partners and the combating of exclusion.
Article III-104 lists the fields in which the Union shall support and complement the activities of the member states. These include: social security and social protection of workers; the combating of social exclusion; and the modernisation of social protection systems.