Prague - Rather than firing people European companies should reduce their working hours to prevent job losses in the times of the economic downturn. That is one of the key measures agreed on at the EU employment summit held in Prague on Thursday.
Leaders of the current social Troika countries (the Czech Republic, Sweden and Spain), the European Commission and European social partners met in the Czech capital to draft measures to protect jobs and stop the rising unemployment.
"Millions of Europeans are losing their jobs and we must do all we can to create new jobs in Europe to offer to the unemployed," said outgoing European Council President Mirek Topolánek.
"We must also keep the cost of all these measures in mind because… because creating debt is no solution," he added.
In March the EU unemployment rate jumped up to 8.3 percent, which translated into 20.5 million of unemployed Europeans. The EU unemployment rate in February was 8.1.
More labour mobility needed
Among the measures the EU leaders agreed on at the summit are a job creation by lowering the non-wage labour costs, reducing the administrative burden for enterprises, investment in upgrading skills and eliminating obstacles to labour mobility.
"In this context the decision of Germany and Austria to keep their labour markets closed for workers of ten new Member States seems short-sighted," stated Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Petr Nečas, referring to the fact that these two countries have not yet opened their markets to the "new-comers".
Nečas also stressed that studies of the European Commission clearly show that "mobility of workers is an immense opportunity for the European economy".
"In times of economic crisis mobility can offer significant help in dealing with the needs of the labour market and contribute toward lowering unemployment," he added.
Informal messages
The main messages of the summit are of informal nature, as the summit included only the countries representing the current social Troika and not all EU member states.
The details of the recommendations will be discussed at the June meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council and Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council.
The conclusions will be then presented at the June meeting of the European Council, still to be headed by the Czech Republic. At the moment it is not clear whether the CE meeting will be chaired by Czech President Václav Klaus or PM-designated Jan Fischer.
