Employment policies in the European Union

• Author: Eneida Sema - Florian Bjanku
• Position: Dr. Lecturer at Law Faculty, Tirana University - Ph.D. (in process) Lecturer at Law Faculty Shkodra University
• Pages: 98-100

EMPLOYMENT POLICIES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Eneida Sema

Florian Bjanku

Abstract

Employment constitutes one of the priority issues in the European Union. After 20 03, the Eur opean

Union decided a new direction for EES, ba sed on the new needs of the Eur opean labor market and the aging of

the population.

The European Unio n institutions pay considerable a ttentions to the employment policies by considering

them as prior ity policies.

Key words: employment, labor mar ket, active workforce, priority policy.

Introduction

The Lisbon Trea ty, which was signed in December 2009, explicitly states that the European Union is

founded on fundamental principles, respect to human dignity, freedom, democracy, equity, the respect to the law

and the fundamental human r ights, including the rights of the minorities.

Pursua nt the principle of free movement of persons of the Eur opean Union member sta tes, any kind of

discrimination in employment, remunera tion and work conditions on grounds of nationa lly by the employers is

prohibited.

Nowadays, the la bor market i ncludes the active workforce th at represents the persons participating in

one labor relation form which they benefit the salar y, as well as the self-employed persons.

Employment policies

Employment constitutes one of the priority issues in the European Union. The employment issue was

treated in the Treaty of Rome (art. 125 – 130) and the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997). The member states of the

European Union are encouraged to strengthen cooperation amongst each other via employment strategies that

aim at the minimization of unemployment.

In 1994, the European Union determined the objectives and the priorities related to employment:

- Implementation of quantitative policies of employment

- Implementation of qualitative policies of employment

- Increasing the efficiency of employment policies

- Improvement of assistance and services for categories of the persons for whom it is difficult to find

employment.

In 1996 the Council and the European Commission submitted a summarized repo rt on the concrete

employment measures and policies based on the priorities related to this issue.

The Treaty of Amsterdam, which also entered into p ower in 1999, determined employment as one the

main objective of the European Community.

The Luxemburg Summit “On employment”, on November 21st, 1997, determined that the European

Employment Strategy should treat four main issues

1:

- full employment

- improve entrepreneurship

- adoptability

- equal opportunities

In March 2 000, in the European Summit of Lisbon, the heads of the states and the governments of the

member states determined the further strategic aim for the next decade: economic g rowth, more efficient

employment and social cohesion.

The European Employment Strategy has these priorities: reduction of unemployment larger

participation o f women in the labor market permanent qualification support to enterprises elimination of non-

declared employment (illegal employment) After year 2003, the European Commission deter mined a new

direction for the EES (European Employment Strategy), based on the new needs of the European labor market

due to the aging of the population2. This new spirit that pervaded the EES aimed at full, productive and

qualitative employment, completely based on the economic development of the member states.

The Treaty of Lisbon, signed in December 2009, explicitly states that European Union is founded on

the fundamental principles, respect to human dignity, freedom, democracy, equit y, respect to the law and the

 Dr. Lecturer at Law Faculty, Tirana University, e-mail: eneidasema@yahoo.com

 Ph.D. (in process) Lecturer at Law Faculty Shkodra University, e-mail: bjanku@gmail.com

1 Ralf Rogowski, “The European Social Model and Transitional Labour Markets”.

2 Gianni Arrigo, Giuseppe Casale, “Glossary of labour law and industrial relations with special reference to the European Union”.