1. Underlines the importance of the conclusions of the Special Lisbon European Council and stresses, in particular, the relevance of the decisions adopted regarding employment and social policy; these should be an essential reference for enhancing EU action in these fields and reflection should continue at the Nice European Council where an agreement should be reached on a European Social Agenda on the basis of the Commission's forthcoming communication;

2. Underlines the importance of strengthening the guiding and co-ordinating role of the European Council, together with the recognition of the importance of the different Council formations' contributions to the preparation of the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BEPGs); these guidelines should become more focused on the medium- and long-term implications, safeguarding the specificity of the Cardiff and Luxembourg processes;

3. Underlines as particularly relevant the holding of an annual Spring European Council dedicated to economic and social questions, which demands a timely organisation of both the upstream and downstream work linked to that session.

Notes as particularly important the participation of the Council (Employment and Social Policy) in the preparation of the Spring European Council to give an input into the paper setting out the key issues.

4. Regarding employment, during the second half of this year, the mid-term review of the European Employment Strategy should be concluded following the lines of the Lisbon conclusions; the results of this evaluation can consequently be taken into consideration in the autumn revision of the guidelines for employment. With regard to this, the Council recalls the overall objective to raise the employment rate from an average of 61% today to a rate approaching 70% by 2010 and to increase the female employment rate from 51% to more than 60%. To pursue this aim, differing regional situations have to be taken into consideration when developing specific and appropriate employment policies.

The Council underlines that the examination of the National Employment Action Plans and the preparation of the annual joint report on employment, already in progress, represent important contributory steps.

Special attention should be given, in this context, to the improvement of employability and lifelong learning, exploiting the complementarity between lifelong learning and adaptability through flexible management of working time and job rotation, bearing in mind in particular the challenges and opportunities arising from a knowledge-based economy, to modernising social protection as part of an active welfare state to ensure that work pays, to the increase of employment in services and to enhancing all aspects of equal opportunities and the reconciliation of family and working life.

The fixing of new quantified targets, as proposed at the Lisbon Summit, as well as the definition of more effective procedures for the participation of the different actors, in particular the social partners who should be more closely involved in the drawing up, execution and monitoring of the appropriate guidelines, will contribute to bringing about the goal of full employment;

5. With regard to social protection, the need to adapt social protection systems as part of an active welfare state which ensures that work pays, guarantees the long-term sustainability of the systems, promotes social inclusion and gender equality and provides quality health services are common challenges; increased co-operation between Member States could contribute significantly to responding to these challenges.

In this context, and taking account of the first report prepared by the High Level Working Party on Social Protection (HLWPSP), a progress report should be presented by the end of this year on the study of the future evolution of social protection from a long-term point of view, on the basis of a Commission Communication, giving special attention to the sustainability of pensions systems.

The setting up of a Social Protection Committee will be decisive and will also contribute to strengthening co-operation between the Member States in this field by means of exchanging experiences and best practices.

The Council (Employment and Social Policy) makes it known that it intends to hold regular debates on the modernisation of social protection systems;

6. Regarding the promotion of social inclusion, steps must be taken to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty by setting adequate targets to be agreed by the Council at the end of the year (paying particular attention to the need to mobilise a set of relevant policies with special consideration of the most underprivileged and/or vulnerable groups in society); a set of monitoring indicators should also be defined, in order that the Member States can present their respective action plans.

The presentation by the Member States of national reports by the end of June which include the targets they consider most relevant in their respective national contexts, together with indicators of results or means which could be included in an appropriate way in those targets and in the policies followed, as foreseen in the HLWPSP report, will represent a significant step in taking forward work on this matter which the Council registers with satisfaction.

Furthermore, the Commission’s initiative aimed at co-operating in this field, to be presented by the end of this semester, should be an important support instrument for the Member States in considering the implementation of the strategy for the fight against social exclusion;

7. With regard to the strengthening of the links between existing processes, and taking into consideration the new context of the BEPGs as well as the holding of an annual Spring session of the European Council dedicated to economic and social matters, the Council (Employment and Social Policy) should contribute from the outset to the preparation of the employment and social policy aspects of the BEPGs and should be directly involved in the preparation of this European Council.

Point 3 of the Presidency’s Conclusions following the session of the Council (Employment and Social Policy) of 8th May 2000 is an appropriate framework for this which will allow these links to be strengthened. It provides that:

- strengthening and improving the Luxembourg process, and

- contributing to the process of economic policy co-ordination, including contributing to the preparation of the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines and participating in the macroeconomic dialogue at Community level.

- to evaluate the impact of social policies currently implemented in the Member States (coverage and structure of minimum resources, social assistance and other relevant social protection schemes, particularly with regard to eligibility and access; integration into work; integrated approach to the range of factors which cause social exclusion);

- to help to define a set of indicators able to act as a common reference for carrying out transnational studies and exchanges and for use in setting appropriate poverty eradication targets; the Working Party selected at this stage the following core factors: income, employment, living conditions and comfort, consumption, risk situations and social participation.

- to monitor the development of social protection policies in the Member States and the Community;

- to promote exchanges of information, experience and good practice between Member States and with the Commission;

- to prepare an annual report to the Council on social protection.

(1) The Treaty of Amsterdam lays down that the Community shall have as its task the promotion of equality between men and women, and to this end creates new possibilities for Community action, notably in Articles 2, 3, 137 and 141 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

(2) The principle of equality between men and women makes it essential to offset the disadvantage faced by women with regard to conditions for access to and participation in the labour market and the disadvantage faced by men with regard to participating in family life, arising from social practices which still presuppose that women are chiefly responsible for unpaid work related to looking after a family and men chiefly responsible for paid work derived from an economic activity.

(3) The principle of equality between men and women in relation to employment and labour implies equal sharing between working fathers and mothers, in particular of time off work to look after children or other dependants.

(4) The balanced participation of women and of men in both the labour market and in family life which is an advantage to both men and women is an essential aspect of the development of society, and maternity, paternity and the rights of children are eminent social values to be protected by society, the Member States and the European Community.

(5) Both men and women, without discrimination on the grounds of sex, have a right to reconcile family and working life.

(6) There is a significant "acquis communautaire", as well as other relevant initiatives in the EU context, to be taken into account in the field of the reconciliation of family and working life .

(7) The Council Decision of 13 March 2000 on Guidelines for Member States' employment policies for the year 2000 provides for strengthening policies for equal opportunities for men and women, paying particular attention to the need to introduce measures for reconciling working and family life; the Decision underlines the importance for men and women of policies on career breaks, parental leave and part-time work, as well as flexible working arrangements which serve the interests of both employers and employees, while maintaining the necessary balance between flexibility and safety.

(8) The Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000 recognised the importance of furthering all aspects of equal opportunities, including reducing occupational segregation, and making it easier to reconcile working life and family life, and considered that one of the overall aims of active employment policies should be to increase the number of women in employment to more than 60% by 2010.

(9) There is a range of international instruments and agreements relating to the reconciling of working and family life, in particular in the context of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the International Labour Organisation.

(10) in the light of Article 141(3) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, it is important to protect both male and female workers exercising rights relating to paternity, maternity or to the reconciling of working and family life.

(a) the objective of balanced participation of men and women in family and working life, coupled with the objective of balanced participation of men and women in the decision-making process, constitute two particularly relevant conditions for equality between men and women;

(b) there is a need for a global and integrated approach for reconciling family and working life as a right for men and women, a means of personal fulfilment in public, social, family and private life, an eminent social value, as the responsibility of society, the Member States and the European Community;

(c) it is necessary to make every effort and to promote specific measures, as well as the respective accompanying and evaluation measures, in particular by means of appropriate indicators, to bring about the changes in structures and attitudes which are essential for the balanced participation of men and women in the family and at work;

(d) it is necessary to promote measures to improve the quality of life for all, in respect and in active solidarity between men and women vis-à-vis both future and older generations.

(a) reinforce in their Government programmes the promotion of balanced participation of men and women in family and working life as one of the basic conditions for de facto equality, indicating the concrete measures to be adopted, both horizontal and specific;

(b) develop global and integrated strategies aimed at bringing about the balanced participation of men and women in family and working life, considering the measures enumerated below, without prejudice to the best practices applied in the different Member States:

(v) granting, where appropriate, specific protection to single-parent families;

(vi) examining the possibility of harmonising school and working hours;

(a) to implement measures, in their capacity as employers and on the basis of a review, promoting the balanced recruitment and career advancement of men and women with a view to preventing the horizontal and vertical segregation of the labour market;

(a) notably within the framework of Community initiative programmes, to step up its information and awareness effort and its efforts to promote research and to introduce pilot schemes to implement the balanced participation of men and women in family and working life;

(b) to take account of this Resolution in its fifth action programme on equal opportunities for men and women, notably placing emphasis on equality of family responsibilities of men and women in the context of its strategic objectives and giving sufficient prominence to measures to promote the balanced participation of men and women in working and family life;

(c) to propose, in the light of the new requirements laid down in Articles 2, 3, 137(1) and 141(3) of the Treaty establishing the European Community and taking into account the aforementioned fifth action programme, new forms of balanced participation of women and men both in working and family life;

(d) to work towards developing dialogue between the social partners at European level, whilst respecting their autonomy, with a view to the promotion of equality between men and women by reconciling family and working life;