Special European Council of Luxembourg on Employment, 20-21/11/1997

At the European Council of Luxembourg on employment, among other things, the European Council, in order to immediately demonstrate its will to act towards a more active policy accompanying the efforts of member states, supports two specific initiatives directly aimed at developing employment. The first is a European Investment Bank action plan, which aims to activate new technologies, new sectors and trans-European networks for small and medium-sized enterprises, up to an additional amount of 10 billion ECU, which could lead to total investments of 30 billion ECU. The second initiative is the result of an agreement between the Parliament and the Council, involving the reallocation of credits, and specifically includes the creation of a new budget line to help mainly small and medium-sized enterprises in creating permanent employment positions (“European Employment Initiative”). Over the next three years, 450 million ECU are expected to be allocated for this budget line.
Furthermore, following the inclusion of the new title “Employment” in the European Union (EU) Treaty in 1997, the Heads of State or Government launched the European Employment Strategy (EES) to coordinate national employment policies. The EES establishes a multilateral surveillance framework that encourages member states to implement more effective policies in this area. It also concerns employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability and equal opportunities in the European labor market.
The Luxembourg Employment Summit precedes the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, promoting the EES. The goal of the EES is to significantly reduce unemployment at the European level within five years. The EES establishes a multilateral surveillance framework that includes specifically an annual joint employment report, employment guidelines that will serve as a basis for national action plans developed by member states, as well as Council recommendations to the Ministers of various member states. The coordination of national employment policies essentially aims to commit member states to a common set of purposes and objectives, around four pillars, namely employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability, and equal opportunities.
The EES establishes a new working method, “the open method of coordination” (OMC). This method creates a balance between the responsibility of the community and that of the member states (principle of “subsidiarity”), establishes quantified common objectives to be achieved at the community level, and implements supervision at the European level encouraged by the exchange of experiences. The OMC facilitates political discussion at various levels and follows an integrated approach: actions taken in the field of employment should be consistent with employment-related areas such as social policies, education, tax regime, enterprise policy, and regional development.