Member States and the Community shall, in accordance
with this Title, work towards developing a
coordinated strategy for employment and particularly for promoting a skilled,
trained and adaptable workforce and labour markets
responsive to economic change with a view to
achieving the objectives defined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union
and in Article 2 of this Treaty.
Article 126 (ex
Article 109o)
Member States, through their employment policies,
shall contribute to the achievement of the
objectives referred to in Article 125 in a way consistent with the broad
guidelines of the economic policies of the
Member States and of the Community adopted pursuant to Article
99(2).
Member States, having regard to national practices
related to the responsibilities of management
and labour, shall regard promoting employment as a matter of common concern
and shall coordinate their action in this respect
within the Council, in accordance with the provisions
of Article 128.
Article 127 (ex
Article 109p)
The Community shall contribute to a high level of
employment by encouraging cooperation between Member States and by
supporting and, if necessary, complementing their action.
In doing so, the competences of the Member States shall be respected.
The objective of a high level of employment shall be
taken into consideration in the formulation and
implementation of Community policies and activities.
Article 128 (ex
Article 109q)
The European Council shall each year consider the
employment situation in the Community and adopt
conclusions thereon, on the basis of a joint annual report by the Council
and the Commission.
On the basis of the conclusions of the European
Council, the Council, acting by a qualified
majority on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European
Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee, the
Committee of the Regions and the Employment
Committee referred to in Article 130, shall each year draw up guidelines
which the Member States shall take into account
in their employment policies. These guidelines shall be
consistent with the broad guidelines adopted pursuant to Article 99(2).
Each Member State shall provide the Council and the
Commission with an annual report on the
principal measures taken to implement its employment policy in the light of
the guidelines for employment as referred to in
paragraph 2.
The Council, on the basis of the reports referred to
in paragraph 3 and having received the views of
the Employment Committee, shall each year carry out an examination of the
implementation of the employment policies of the Member
States in the light of the guidelines for
employment. The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a recommendation
from the Commission, may, if it considers it
appropriate in the light of that examination, make recommendations to Member
States.
On the basis of the results of that examination, the
Council and the Commission shall make a joint
annual report to the European Council on the employment situation in the
Community and on the implementation of the guidelines
for employment.
Article 129 (ex
Article 109r)
The Council, acting in accordance with the procedure
referred to in Article 251 and after consulting the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, may adopt
incentive measures designed to encourage cooperation
between Member States and to support their action in
the field of employment through initiatives aimed at developing exchanges of
information and best practices, providing comparative
analysis and advice as well as promoting innovative
approaches and evaluating experiences, in particular by recourse to pilot
projects.
Those measures shall not include harmonisation of the
laws and regulations of the Member States.
Article 130 (ex
Article 109s)
The Council, after consulting the European Parliament,
shall establish an Employment Committee with
advisory status to promote coordination between Member States on employment
and labour market policies. The tasks of the Committee shall be:
to monitor the employment situation and employment
policies in the Member States and the Community;
without prejudice to Article 207, to formulate
opinions at the request of either the Council or
the Commission or on its own initiative, and to contribute to the
preparation of the Council proceedings referred
to in Article 128.
In fulfilling its mandate, the Committee shall consult
management and labour.
Each Member State and the Commission shall appoint two
members of the Committee.
