The Luxembourg Process is the name commonly used to describe
the institutional mechanism through which the chapter on employment
introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) is carried out.
It was launched, in advance, with the Extraordinary European
Council of Luxembourg (November 1997).
In this occasion, the common outline for the annual National
Action Plans for employment from 1998 to 2002 (first cycle)
was defined. On the basis of these plans, the Commission predisposed
the following:
• the Joint Report;
• the Guidelines for Employment;
• the Recommendations to Member States.
With the process launched by the Treaty of Amsterdam the single
Member States, although remaining absolutely sovereign in the
definition of their own employment policies, are under the supervision
of the European Council, which (by qualified majority), has
the power to direct Recommendations to Member States.
The Conclusion of the European Council of Lisbon was added
to the European Employment Strategy (March 2000). It identified
the quantitative targets to be reached by 2010 (the main of
which is the employment rate, which needs to reach an overall
European rate of 70%). It was thought that only by linking labor
and employment policies to precise numeric parameters (although
not binding as the Maastricht ones) would it be possible to
impart a substantial acceleration to the coordination and convergence
process of structural policies in Europe.
During 2002, at the end of what can be defined as the first
cycle of the Strategy, a careful evaluation of the results obtained
by the European Employment Strategy was undertaken. This evaluation
produced a profound revision of the institutional structure
and a reorganization of the contents and of the objectives,
in coherence with the Conclusions of the Barcelona Council,
which had indicated the necessity to better coordinate economic
and labor policies in order to obtain concrete and efficient
results.
Nonetheless, the overall situation has undergone profound
changes following the 2005 revision of the Lisbon Strategy:
the new Commission presented a packet in which it redesigned
objectives and times for the future of the Lisbon Strategy,
answering thus to the need to improve it and, at the same time,
make it more visible.
A packet of integrated guidelines was presented, as well as
a National Report containing three chapters: macroeconomics,
microeconomics, and employment.
The European Employment Strategy continues to carry out a prominent
role, with the objective of the realization of employment objectives
of the Lisbon Strategy. The strengthening of social cohesion
also makes up a fundamental element for the success of the Lisbon
Strategy.
The orientations for employment are subject to a total revision
once every three years, which means the current ones are valid
until 2008. They are based on three fundamental priorities:
• Full employment and the reduction of unemployment
and inactivity, through the increase of supply and demand of
manpower;
• The improvement of quality and productivity in the workplace;
• The strengthening of social and territorial cohesion.
