Brussels, 21 January 2009: CEEP participated with the other EU social partners in the Informal meeting of the Social Troika organised by the Czech Presidency, focusing on the following 3 points: job Mobility or employability?

Ms Sophie Thörne, Chair of the CEEP Social Affairs Committee, noted that “many of our employers provide critical services around the clock and rely on a skilled, flexible and adaptable workforce to do so. We recognise that high quality service is strongly linked to employee commitment fostered by a
supportive working environment which offers opportunities for ongoing development and progression.”

“Against the background of the current financial crisis, the key word should be employability, over and above job mobility. That is why we count on the Czech Presidency to translate the New Skills for new Jobs initiative into concrete policy initiatives”.

A balance between “Jobs’ mobility” to “people’s mobility”
“The services that CEEP members provide are labour-intensive and, in countries with tight labour markets, we have much need for migrant labour.” But when the population of one third of the regions of the EU is already in decline, geographical mobility can intensify the social and economic problems experienced by the poorer parts of the EU and can create social tension in the other parts (cf. the Vicking, Laval and Ruffert cases).

The European approach to mobility should be a balanced one, in which we try to move jobs to people as much as moving people to jobs” Social mobility
To ensure social mobility, i.e. to prevent social exclusion and to promote the employment of migrant workers and ethnic minorities, and other disadvantaged groups, the Social Partners are aware that a successful way towards social inclusion cannot be found by them alone. A flexible framework must be set at Member State level and CEEP believes that the flexicurity guidelines are a step in the right direction to encourage an approach which effectively combines flexibility with security through a range of measures.

Therefore many partners have to be involved in the solution and an agreement by the European Social Partners might include the request to Member States and the EU Commission to contribute in innovative ways. For that reason we welcome the possibility to cooperate with the Czech Presidency on that issue.

For further information, please contact:
Inge REICHERT, Director of CEEP - tel. +32 (0) 2 219 27 98
CEEP gathers enterprises and organisations from across Europe, both public and private, at national, regional and local
level, which are public employers or providers of services of general interest. CEEP members employ a quarter of the EU
workforce; CEEP is one of the three