The Employment and Social Affairs Council sealed a political agreement on the employment dimension of the country recommendations, without the support of Belgium, Cyprus and Malta.

On Friday, the majority of ministers stressed the added value of the recommendations, which advise member states on how to strengthen their economic and social policies in the framework of the European semester.

During the debate ahead of the vote, however, several member states suggested ideas for improving both the content of and procedure for this exercise. Luxembourg regretted that the issues of education, poverty reduction and inclusion are neglected. A number of delegations also called on the European Commission to clarify the legal basis of the recommendations as a means of determining responsibilities.

“There is necessarily a learning curve for all of us, both as a group and individually. This should be seen as a step forward for the EU as a whole: it is a real achievement and the EPSCO plays an important role in this exercise. We all have to assume our responsibilities to ensure that it succeeds,” declared Commissioner László Andor. He encouraged the member states to show flexibility on this first experience.

In spite of his encouragements and the three-way negotiations with the European Commission and the Council Presidency, Belgium, Malta and Cyprus maintained their reservations.

Malta does not support the recommendation urging it to tie wage adjustments to productivity; Belgium criticises the raising of retirement age, arguing that the problem lies elsewhere; and Cyprus is critical of several of the recommendations made to it in these two areas.

The United Kingdom added a parliamentary scrutiny reservation; its parliament did not have time to react given the short time period between the Commission’s presentation of the recommendations, on 7 June, and the Council session ten days later.

The finance ministers or if need be the June European Council will be asked to settle these questions. Once the recommendations have been adopted, member states will have 12 to 18 months to implement them.

The ministers went on to adopt the joint opinion of the Employment and Social Protection Committees on the national reform programmes (NRP) for 2011, and the statement of results on employment.

The findings are as follows: compared with the draft NRPs, certain member states have raised their level of ambition for their national employment rate but the gap is still 1-1.3 percentage points. The two committees call for a more intense effort.