cies that will bridge the great challenges. It also
requires a combination of necessary structural
reforms with effective and innovative social
investments.
Greece takes over the EU presidency in a partic-
ularly critical time period, since it is a typical
example of a European country exiting gradually
and successfully from a major crisis. Therefore,
Greece’s success –in this particular period of
time– will also be Europe’s success and thus will
become the starting point for a renewed and more
united Europe: a Europe of competitiveness,
prosperity, solidarity and democracy.
Based on this rationale, the priorities of the Greek
presidency in the field of employment and social
cohesion are structured on three axes:
1.
Promoting employment and combating unem-
ployment by enhancing the effectiveness of
structures, financial instruments and institution-
al reforms that ensure a labour market open to
everyone.
2.
Strengthening the social dimension of the
Economic and Monetary Union, with emphasis
on social investments and social innovation.
3.
Promoting social dialogue at all levels, as
well as mobilizing wider social, productive
and other bodies with a view to boosting
employment and deepening the social
dimension of European policies.
More specifically, the priorities are detailed by
area of activity as follows:
Employment
●Substantial inclusion of the EMU’s social dimen-
sion in the European Semester process, lead-
ing to its successful conduct. The introduction
of the social scoreboard is planned for the first
time within the framework of the European
Semester. From now on it will become the key
component of the Joint Employment Report for
the Annual Growth Survey.
●Combating youth unemployment. Monitoring the
course of the implementation of the Youth
Guarantee System and deepening the initia-
tives taken in this area, as well as the Initiative
for Youth Employment.
●Dealing with corporate restructuring in a socially
and financially responsible and sustainable way.
●Ensuring high quality internship and apprentice-
ship programmes.
●Combating the phenomenon of undeclared
work.
●Tackling the illegal employment of third country
nationals.
●Development of actions for the retention and
creation of jobs, through the growth of small
and medium-sized enterprises, social entrepre-
neurship and the promotion of the Programme
for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).
●Upgrading the functioning of public employment
services.
Social Protection and Inclusion:
●Strengthening the social dimension of the EMU,
through the promotion of policies on active
inclusion, with emphasis on social investments,
social innovation, children and young people.
●Creating adequate and sustainable social pro-
tection systems and ensuring minimum safety
nets, in order to address emerging social phe-
nomena such as the aging population, unem-
ployment, undeclared work and poverty.
●Upgrading social dialogue and the active
involvement of social partners in the planning
and implementation of reforms.
Legislative Work:
The Greek presidency is required to contribute to
the progress of the EU’s legislative work by pro-
moting agreements on a number of issues, which
include the following:
●Proposal for a decision of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the coopera-
tion between public employment services.
●Proposal for Recommendations on ensuring
good quality job training programs (stage).
●Communication of the European Commission
on “Social Dialogue and Restructuring of
Enterprises”.
●Proposal for a Directive on the posting of workers.
●Proposal for a Directive on the free movement of
workers.
●Proposal for a Directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council amending
Council directives 92/58/EEC, 92/85/EEC,
94/33/EC, 98/24/EC and Directive 2004/37/ΕC
of the European Parliament and of the Council,
in order to align them to Regulation (ΕC) No.
1272/2008 on the classification, labelling and
packaging of substances and mixtures.
●Initiative on illegal employment.
●EURES Regulation.
●Agreement of Social Partners on inland water-
ways.
●Proposal for a Directive on equal treatment irre-
spective of religion or beliefs, disability, age or
sexual orientation.
●Proposal for a Directive on improving the gender
balance in the Board of Directors of companies
listed on stock exchanges.
●Council Decision on the “Social Summit”.
Trade with Greece
29
