Topolánek: Maintaining employment is one of EU’s key tasks

Ahead of the European Council summit in Brussels, Czech Prime Minister and Council President Mirek Topolánek met with delegates of EU employer associations and trade unions at the Tripartite Social Summit.

The Presidency was also represented by Czech Labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Nečas. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso took part in the meeting as well. Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, and the Swedish and Spanish Prime Ministers, Fredrik Reinfeldt and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, were also present.

The Czech PM pointed out that maintaining employment and creating new job opportunities at a time when we are hit by the financial and economic crisis is one of the key tasks of the European Union

Asked by the media whether the Czech Presidency is planning new direct financial stimuli, Mirek Topolánek said: “Some haven’t implemented their national recovery plans yet, and this is why we still don’t know what their impacts will be. It is therefore meaningless to start adopting any new rescue packages”.

In talking to the European social partners, Commissioner Špidla stressed: "The social scale of the crisis and its impact on employment markets cannot be ignored. Our priorities are to keep workers in their jobs and to create new jobs. We need to boost measures to stimulate the labour market, promote active inclusion, improve how restructuring is managed and invest in education and lifelong learning. The social impact of the crisis will be the main topic at the Employment Summit in May where concrete measures will be adopted. I look forward to your input, so that we can identify together practical ideas at a local, regional, national and European level which can make a difference."

The Czech Presidency has convened another extraordinary European Council meeting in May in order to assess the results of the national recovery plans and, above all, their influence on employment.