Employment and Social Policy

Since the foundation of the Union, the standard of living of Europe's citizens has doubled. However, unemployment remained high in some member states as Europe's economies prepared to launch the euro and begin a new enlargement. To pave the way for a more coordinated European strategy, the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty introduced a new chapter on employment that made job creation a formal goal of the Union. European Councils, beginning particularly with Lisbon in March 2000, expanded this goal to encompass specific measures to alleviate unemployment—including preparations for the shift to a digital, knowledge-based economy. According to the EU's Employment In Europe, 2001 Report, high-tech and knowledge-intensive sectors have driven job creation. These sectors contributed to more than 60 percent of total job creation between 1995 and 2000. The unemployment rate in the EU-15 fell from 10.6 percent in 1997 to 8.2 percent in 2000.

With the removal of barriers within the Union, the drive to complete the single market was accompanied by social legislation guaranteeing workers a certain standard of health and safety in all member states and facilitating vocational training and retraining. A Social Protocol was added to the Maastricht Treaty which led to legislation on the European Works Councils, equal rights for part-time and full-time workers, and parental leave for men as well as for women. The Social Protocol was incorporated into the Amsterdam Treaty, giving the Union a greater role in social legislation and providing fresh impetus to initiatives in the social policy area.

The March 2000 Lisbon European Council launched an annual meeting on the economy, and it highlighted the essential linkage between Europe's economic strength and its social model. Subsequently, the December 2000 Nice Council adopted the Social Policy Agenda (2000-2005), which seeks to modernize the European social model, invest in people, and combat social exclusion (poverty). The agenda includes job creation that profits from the new working environment and the potential of the knowledge-based economy; modern and improved social protection (the social safety net); social inclusion, gender equality, reinforced fundamental rights; and preparations for enlargement.

Energy

Although not a full-fledged common policy, the founding treaties provided for certain common activities in the field of energy, such as promoting energy research under the EU's Research and Technological Development (R&TD) policy, and supporting the establishment of a Transeuropean Network (TEN) for energy. In recent years, however, security of the EU's

Renewable energy resources are playing an important role in the diversification of energy sources and environmental protection.

The Union was instrumental in the creation of the European Energy Charter, which was signed by fifty-one nations in the Netherlands in 1991. The mission of the Energy Charter process is to strive toward open, efficient, sustainable, and secure energy markets and to promote a constructive climate conducive to energy interdependence based on trust among nations.

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