Employment

Subsidiarity monitoring in the area of employment

 

Legal basis

Employment: Articles 145 to 150 of the TFEU
Click here to see the consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon.
 
Under the Treaty of Lisbon, employment policy is an area where the Union has a remit to take measures to ensure the coordination of  the Member States' employment policies, in particular by defining guidelines for these policies (article 5 TFEU).
 
Employment is one of the key concerns of the Member States, particularly in view of the high level of unemployment across the Union. Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, employment became one of the main objectives of the European Community. The Treaty invested the Community with new responsibilities for developing a European strategy for employment, in conjunction with the Member States. Under the Lisbon Treaty, employment measures are now adopted on the basis of Title IX of the TFEU, under which:
  • employment should be taken into consideration in other Union policies;
  • coordination mechanisms must be established at Union level (with the adoption by the Council of annual employment guidelines compatible with the broad economic policy guidelines, the monitoring of their implementation in the Member States and the creation of an employment committee);
  • The European Parliament and Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, may adopt incentive measures encouraging cooperation between the Member States and supporting their action.  
However, this excludes the harmonisation of national laws and regulations in this area.
 

Further information on the CoR's work in this area

 
The CoR commission responsible for work in this area is the Commission for Economic and Social Policy (ECOS). Click here for comprehensive information about this commission, its work programme and  activities.
 
See also the website of the Committee of the Regions' Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform (click here), as the "Europe 2020 Strategy", which replaced the "Lisbon Strategy" in June 2010, covers a number of cross-cutting fields which have a direct impact on the areas on which the Committee of the Regions must be consulted.