Quote of the Week:
It is not enough to do good; one must do it the right way -
John, Viscount Morley
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ESBA WEEKLY of Friday 23 March 2001 - VOL 3 - N° 16
Headlines of WEEK 12:
- ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Policy report presented at SME Forum
- TELEWORK: Commission proposes guidelines for social partners
- INTERNAL MARKET: Outline of upcoming Internal Market Strategy review
- TRANSPARENCY: Council makes more documents available to the public
- EDUCATION: OECD to present publication: Education Policy Analysis
- FISHERIES: Green Paper on management of Community fisheries
- ENTERPRISE: DG Enterprise puts work programme 2001 online
- STATE AID: EU state aid register online and updated regularly
- UPCOMING EVENTS
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EU / ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Växjö 19/03/2001: Policy report presented at SME Forum
During the SME Forum "Entrepreneurship for the future", organised in
Växjö, Sweden, the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research
presented the report "Entrepreneurship policy for the future". It examines
existing SME policy in ten different countries, explores the movement from
SME policy to entrepreneurship policy and describes good practices. The
report is likely to influence future policy-making. The report can be
found on the web at:
http://eu2001.se/industry/eng/docs/entrepreneurship_policy_report.pdf
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EU / TELEWORK
Brussels 19/03/2001: Commission proposes guidelines for social partners
Currently, some seven million employees in Europe, making up about 4.5% of
the labour market, telework on a regular basis. Projections indicate that
the number of teleworkers as a share of the total labour force in the EU
could reach 11% by 2005. To clarify the legal status of teleworkers, the
European Commission submitted a set of proposed guidelines to form the
practical framework for possible formal negotiations between European
employers and trade unions on teleworking.
It is up to the two sides of industry to indicate whether they prefer a
Commission initiative on the matter or to start a negotiation process
among the social partners, drafting up EU labour laws and agreements
themselves. ETUC has informed the Commission that it would like to see a
regulation at EU level, either by legislation or by agreement between the
social partners. However, as indicated in ESBA WEEKLY Vol. 3 - N. 14,
UNICE has recently proposed negotiations on a non-legally binding
agreement on telework to ETUC. If the social partners do not agree on a
draft rules to cover teleworkers, the Commission may decide to draw up
proposals itself, if considered necessary.
The proposed guidelines by the Commission are: voluntary basis, with right
to return; guaranteed retention of employee status; guarantee of equal
treatment; information to be given to teleworkers; employer to bear the
costs involved; guarantee that suitable training will be given; protection
in respect of health and safety; working hours; protection of private life
and personal data; maintenance of contact with company; and teleworkers'
collective rights.
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EU / INTERNAL MARKET
Brussels 19/03/2001: Outline of upcoming Internal Market Strategy review
After the adoption of the Internal Market Strategy by the Commission in
1999 and the first review (analyse of progress and setting priorities) in
2000, Commissioner Frits Bolkestein outlined this week the details of the
upcoming review (April 2001) to the European Parliament.
The Commission is likely to propose four priority themes:
- Pursuing the Lisbon agenda: the continuation of last year's priority
actions, but also regulatory simplification and improvement (including
improved consultations);
- Improving the functioning of the Internal Market: mutual recognition,
standardisation, transposition and enforcement;
- The experiences of citizens, consumers and SMEs: improve information on
rights and opportunities; and
- Strengthening the external dimension: enlargement.
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EU / TRANSPARENCY
Brussels 20/03/2001: Council makes more documents available to the public
The Council of the European Union took a decision today to the effect that
as of 1 May this year certain categories of Council documents will be
automatically published on the Internet (without waiting for prior
requests from the public). However, the decision will also give Member
States the veto right to deny public access to documents. Furthermore the
document classification code will become more restrictive, introduced by
the so-called 'Solana Decision' in July 2000, to all EU policy areas.
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OECD / EDUCATION
Brussels 20/03/2001: OECD's new publication: Education Policy Analysis
The OECD's Education Policy Analysis, out on 27 March 2001, will review
achievements, in particular progress in implementing lifelong learning
programmes, over the past five years and look forward to some of the
challenges that will shape schooling systems in the 21st century. The
report's conclusions will serve as a basis for discussions at a meeting of
OECD Education Ministers in Paris on 2-4 April with the theme "Investing
in competencies for all".
The publication indicates a difference in approaches in relation to
lifelong learning, with some countries stressing employability and
competitiveness (e.g. Korea, Austria, the Netherlands) while others
concentrate on personal development and the need to generally enhance the
level of education (e.g. Czech Republic, Sweden, United Kingdom).
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EU / FISHERIES
Brussels 20/03/2001: Green Paper on management of Community fisheries
The Commission presented this week a Green Paper on the future of the
Common Fisheries Policy. The Green Paper, including environmental, food
safety and development co-operation issues, suggests a fundamental reform
of the Common Fisheries Policy in an attempt to deal with all problems
related to overfishing. The Green Paper will form the basis of
consultations with industry and NGOs over the next six months. The
Commission wants to publish concrete reform proposals in 2002 which should
enter into force on 1 January 2003. For more information:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/fisheries/doc_et_publ/green1_en.htm
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EU / ENTERPRISE
Brussels 21/03/2001: DG Enterprise puts work programme 2001 online
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/enterprise/work_programme_2001.htm
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EU / STATE AID
Brussels 22/03/2001: EU state aid register online and updated regularly
A new EU state aid register came available this week on the internet,
providing a summary of all EU state aid cases examined after 1 January
2000, plus links to information on state aid policy, decisions and
legislation. The register in fact brings together effectively existing
information on the Commission's State aid decisions. The site includes
search facilities which allows users to access information for example by
aid instrument (soft loan, subsidy,.), by primary objective (aid to SMEs,
regions, R&D,.) or sector/activity. The register can be consulted via:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/competition/state_aid/register/
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EU / UPCOMING EVENTS
Brussels 06/04/2001: GoDigital official launch; Theme: E-commerce & SMEs
Info: http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ecommerce/godigital/kickoff.html
Brussels 23&24/04/2001: E-marketplaces: enterprise policy, competition and
standardization; Theme: E-commerce, SMEs & Standardization
Info: http://www.europa.eu.int/Commission/enterprise/ict/e-marketplace.htm
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