11 February 2008
News from the EU
The demographic future of Europe
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs will discuss on 19 February the Report of the French MEP Françoise Castex (PES) on “The demographic future of Europe”. The purpose of the Commission Communication is to examine how Europe can confront demographic changes and how the EU can support the Member States within a long-term strategy. The Commission is therefore proposing five core policy directions: promoting demographic renewal in Europe; promoting employment in Europe: more jobs and longer working lives; a more productive and dynamic Europe; receiving and integrating immigrants in Europe; and sustainable public finances in Europe.
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‘Flexicurity’
In November 2007, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Common Principles of Flexicurity, based on the own-initiative report drafted by Ole Christensen (PES, DK) in response to the Commission communication ‘Towards Common Principles of Flexicurity: More and better jobs through flexibility and security’, as a way of solving the Union's employment problem. At their informal meeting held on 1st February 2008, the Ministers of Employment and Social Affairs, discussed about the young and the elderly, and the challenges faced by women in the labour market, within the framework of the concept of ‘flexicurity’. The conclusions of this meeting will be the basis for further work in the field of EU employment and social policy.
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WHO “Task Shifting Guidelines”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently launched the “Task Shifting Guidelines”, aiming to address health worker shortages and help expand access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care services. The plan aims to expand to “free up” time for physicians and nurses by allowing "less specialized" health workers, who can be quickly effective, to perform tasks. By reorganizing the workforce in this way, task shifting presents a viable solution for improving health care coverage by making more efficient use of the human resources already available and by quickly increasing capacity while training and retention programmes are expanded.
Recommendations on ‘HIV/AIDS and Migration’
The European Commission HIV/AIDS Civil Society Forum (CSF) published the recommendations on ‘HIV/AIDS and Migration’, approved during the Portuguese EU Presidency. These recommendations, aiming to represent the various voices from migrant communities, and addressing to policy makers, EU national AIDS Coordinators and stakeholders, should be presented to the International AIDS Conference in Mexico and to the Eastern European and Central Asian AIDS Conference in Moscow, in 2008.
Publications
Machiavelli in Brussels - The Art of Lobbying the EU
Filled with real cases, examples of good practice, and special issues of EU lobbying, this reviewed edition of “Machiavelli in Brussels - The Art of Lobbying the EU” provides a lot of information for successful lobbying in the European Union.
For further information, click here.