European Union News - Social Affairs

The Directorate-General for Education and Culture, School Education Unit  of the European Commission will study the impact of Comenius School Partnerships on the participating institutions, according to a tender published on the 10th June 2009

As part of the efforts to clarify and simplify state aid rules, the European Commission has adopted two guidance papers setting out criteria for the in-depth assessment of large amounts of training aid and of aid to disadvantaged and disabled workers. The guidance outlines the kind of information required by the Commission for its assessment and the assessment methodology, and they are in line with the Commission's refined economic approach in state aid analysis.

The European Commission has decided today to propose that 2011 be designated as the "European Year of Volunteering". The Council and the European Parliament are expected to endorse this proposal by the beginning of next year.

The Communication will be an input for the European Council in June and aims to propose a shared commitment for employment around three priorities: maintaining employment and promoting mobility; upgrading skills and matching labour market needs; increasing access to employment.

Notice has been published in the Official Journal of the European on June 3rd 2009 of the launch of a Call for Proposals under sub-Action 4.4 of the ‘Youth in Action’ Programme, aiming to support projects encouraging creativity and innovation in the youth sector. Interested applicants can submit their proposals by September 30th 2009 to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency.

Social protection expenditure in 2006 within European Union 27 Member states accounted for 26.9% of GDP. This ratio was 27.1% in 2005 and 2004 and 27.2% in 2003. The data delivered by Eurostat last report show important disparities between Member states, which reflect important differences in terms of living standards.

After the meeting of the Education, Youth and Culture Council, held on May 12th, the new strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (‘ET 2020’) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union on May 28th. The framework outlines EU cooperation to meet four strategic objectives in this area and establishes reference levels to be attained in specific areas by 2020.

The Council of the European Union adopted on May 25th the so-called “Blue-Card Directive”, a directive aimed at facilitating conditions of entry and residence in the EU of third-country citizens for the purpose of highly qualified employment. The Blue Card will facilitate access to the labour market to their holders and will entitle them to a series of socio-economic rights and favourable conditions for family reunification and movement across the EU.

In its meeting in Luxembourg 06 April 2009 the Council of the European Union, Justice and Home Affairs, adopted a decision transforming Europol into an EU agency from 01 January 2010. The new agency will have its seat in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The Troika Presidencies (the Czech, Swedish and Spanish governments) joined the European Commission, employers and trade unions, in a special summit held in Prague, dedicated to tackling the impact of the economic crisis on jobs in Europe. The summit identified ten actions to fight unemployment and create new jobs. The Commission will build on the summit's discussions when formulating its input to the European Council of 18-19 June.

The European Parliament wants to make it compulsory for assisting spouses to have social security cover. MEPs are also keen to strengthen the maternity leave rights of self-employed women and assisting spouses. The directive on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding has been referred back to the Women's Rights Committee.