European Union employment policy

The policy of the highest level of employment is one of the newest forms of the common policy of the European Community. It grew out of social policy and until recently was considered as its integral part. Employment policy was elevated and given priority only as a result of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which introduced a special chapter on employment. Employment was included among the Community objectives of "general interest". Since then, employment issues have been taken into account in the formation of all types of common EU policies.

Employment rules are based on the so-called four pillars, namely:

• employment opportunities;
• entrepreneurship;
• adaptability on the part of employers and employees;
• equal opportunities.

During a meeting in Cologne, the European Council decided that all schools in the European Union should have access to the Internet as soon as possible. The Commission's employment guidelines for 2000 state that by 2002 such access should be provided to all students, while at the same time teachers should be adequately trained to teach new skills. Equipping schools with appropriate equipment should be based on a partnership between the public and private sectors.

The employment opportunities and threats associated with the rapid development of information and telecommunications technologies became one of the main topics of the extraordinary EU summit in Lisbon in March 2000, dedicated to employment, economic reform and social cohesion. At the meeting, the European Council adopted a strategic goal for the next decade: to take advantage of the ongoing technological changes for the European economy to achieve maximum competitiveness and high growth rates (at least 3% per year), in order to create favorable conditions for full employment and increase the degree of regional cohesion in the EU. The European Council considered it possible to increase the average level of employment in the European Union by 2010 from the current 61%. up to 70 percent, and among women from 51 percent. now over 60 percent.

The concept of the four pillars of employment policy, on which the European Commission based its first employment guidelines in 1998, proved to be fundamentally sound; over time, individual pillars are only supplemented and expanded.