Social policy. White Paper

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on this White Paper, the purpose of which is to define the main principles behind the Union's social policy. In its resolution, Parliament called first and foremost for the fight against unemployment to be the Community's number one objective and reiterated the need for greater flexibility in national and European social policy in order to meet the new challenges of the labour market. It also reaffirmed its commitment to the European social model and felt that a bedrock of binding legislative provisions applicable at European level was the best way of achieving social Union. At the same time, Parliament commented on some of the major issues in the White Paper: . action instruments: the European Parliament called on the Commission to make use of the potential of the agreement on social policy (between the 11) and recommended that it implement the Community acquis in this area by paying greater attention to citizens' complaints and, where necessary, by applying the proper infringement procedures where Member States failed to comply with Community legislation; . employment: Parliament urged the Commission to develop the EURES system and to strengthen its relations with the social partners. It also called for a new programme to provide social support for workers taking advantage of free movement (language training, installation and reinstallation allowances); . vocational training: the European Parliament supported the Commission's policy in this area and, more importantly, its intention to involve the social partners in defining a European collective agreement on continuing training; . legislation: it called on the Council to process all the legislative procedures pending at 1 January 1995 and on the Commission to table proposals designed to guarantee equal opportunities, parental leave, voluntary job-sharing (in a framework directive), individual redundancies, atypical work and the right of consultation in enterprises with fewer than 50 employees and of frontier workers and called for a new action programme on health and safety in the workplace; . equal opportunities: it called for the Commission to table legislative texts quickly and to develop measures to guarantee equal opportunities; . trade union freedom and role of the social partners: it reiterated its belief in the European social model and therefore stressed the importance which it attached to the intervention of the social partners. Everything should be done to guarantee trade union freedom and collective negotiation at all levels.�