Implementation and development of the EU policy guidelines were addressed at the first session of the Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Committees on Social Affairs and Labour which was titled Employment Incentives to Implement the Europe 2020 Strategy and took place in the Seimas.

In her opening address Loreta Graužinienė, Speaker of the Seimas, welcomed the participants and noted that “although forecasts predict economic recovery in many European countries and most EU Member States should see economic growth next year, the unemployment level remains unacceptably high. There are 26 million unemployed in the European Union, including 5.5 million unemployed young people, that means every fourth young European citizen is unemployed.”

Mrs Graužinienė expressed her concern over the young people who move away from the labour market: “An increasing number of young Europeans cannot find jobs; they are neither in education nor vocational training. Therefore there is a risk that many young people will find it difficult to integrate into the labour market in the future.”

Kristina Miškinienė, Chair of the Committee on Social Affairs and Labour, who chaired the Meeting, emphasised the significance of the Communication from the European Commission Europe 2020 for the promotion of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, “One of the key EU objectives set out in the strategy is to raise the employment rate of people aged 20-64 years from 69 to at least 75 per cent by 2020. Cutting unemployment, especially among young people, is the key priority of the EU.”

Algimanta Pabedinskienė, Minister of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, presented employment and social policy priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU and highlighted youth unemployment, better protection of workers, strengthening of social dimension and de facto equal rights between men and women.

According to the Minister, youth unemployment remains one of the most painful issues in the EU and has to be address urgently. The aim is to ensure the highest political attention to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee scheme in 2014. Lithuania as the EU Council Presidency has drafted a Declaration on the European Alliance for Apprenticeships. In October, the Declaration was adopted by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO).

“We are working on social inclusion of young people. We focus on the most vulnerable young people who are not in education, employment and training,” said Ms Pabedinskienė.

Minister Pabedinskienė said that the aim was for Member States to be able to start the activities financed from the Fund for European Aid for the Most Deprived from 2014. According to Ms Pabedinskienė, Lithuania supports the aim of the European Commission to improve women representation in decision-making, with special attention to the economic sector, “We emphasise the policy capable of better gender balance in corporate boards. It is one of the Lithuanian Presidency priorities in terms of legislation. We have the text after and the structure after the three meetings of our Presidency. Now our goal is to reach a consensus on the directive in the EPSCO Council in December.

Virginija Langbakk, Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality, who spoke about work and life balance as an assumption for equal participation of women and men in the labour market noted that women remain less likely to participate in the labour market and the environment is not very encouraging. She noticed that many young people still had a deeply rooted attitude to women’s housework, “Mentality issues are complex and not easy to change and change takes time.”

Mrs Langbakk presented the findings of Gender Equality Index, i.e. a study which among other things was aimed at analysing participation of men and women in employment and estimating time spent by men and women for childcare and domestic activities in different Member States.

Director Langbakk points out that employability of women who are responsible for children care drops by 10 per cent, while employability of men with children is much higher. She also believes that it is very important to educate young people about the possibilities to reconcile career and family.

Saulė Eglė Trembo, Public Relations Unit, tel. +370 5 239 6203, e-mail: [email protected]