A view of the Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Union Commission
© AFP/File Dominique Faget BRUSSELS (AFP) - Stunned by Irish voters' recent rejection of the EU reforming Lisbon Treaty, and a year ahead of European parliamentary elections, Brussels through its "Renewed Social Agenda" will be showing its caring, protecting, relevant side.
"Can there be any better area than social policy to move us forward?" French employment minister Xavier Bertrand asked European parliamentarians recently.
Social policy may not be the number one priority for the French EU presidency which will start on July 1 -- with the Lisbon hangover to sort out.
Paris will nevertheless oversee the examination of three new social initiatives which the EU's executive arm will present on Wednesday.
These centre on the right to health care in another member states, the fight against non-workplace discrimination and the best practices for works councils.
The 27 EU member states usually have great difficulty reaching agreement on even the most minimal common social norms, normally preferring to maintain their national prerogatives on such issues.
And the European Commission traditionally sees the freeing up of restrictive markets as the source of myriad benefits for its citizens.
French employment minister Xavier Bertrand
© AFP/File Pascal PavaniThe European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has long been calling for the European Union to "change course" and work towards achieving a "social Europe".
"The EU urgently needs to change direction, at the risk of pillorying the European project and alienating its citizens," the group's executive committee said recently.
"European citizens have the image of a Europe that systematically attacks workers' rights, a Europe where markets are prioritised above all else, and this notion is doubtless one of the main reasons behind the Irish no'."
It was the resounding Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty earlier this month that once again brought to the fore the charge that the EU is too busy tinkering with the workings of its own institutions to deal with the real lives of its citizens, concerned about soaring oil and food prices.
The raft of policy measures will also include a paper addressing the particular problems of Roma gypsies as well as new legislative proposals to protect so-called social services of general interest -- covering such daily realities as energy, telecommunications, transport, schools and health. But will they convince?
Last November EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso declared it was futile to envisage a law which would set out the position on "services of general interest".
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
© AFP/File Dominique FagetEarlier this month EU labour ministers did manage to reach a hard-fought compromise deal on working rules. It met with a mixed reception.
Under the revision of working time rules, workers can still opt out of an existing 48-hour limit on the working week in Europe if they choose to do so voluntarily, a practice that is particularly common in Britain.
The revision also introduced for the first time the definition of "inactive on-call periods" that would no longer be regarded as working time.
On temporary agency workers' rights, the ministers agreed that they should be granted equal treatment compared to regular workers in terms of pay, maternity leave and leave from day one.
This would not however be the case if a national agreement were concluded between management and unions on a longer "grace period," as is the case in Britain.
While the European Trade Union Confederation welcomed the agreement on temporary workers, it panned the deal on working time.
The rules must still go before the European parliament where they will find some ready opponents.
While the legislative process is well known, Social Platform, an umbrella group of European social NGOs, wants the renewed social policy agenda "to take the lead in bridging the gap between governing".
"Particular efforts are needed to directly involve in decisionmaking those most excluded from society," the group added in a recent letter to European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
©AFP