11 May 1999

No. 99/370

Reference documents

- CM/Del/Dec(97)613/1.5; (98)641/6.7

- CM(98)132

- GR-SOC(99)3

and the Rapporteur Group on Human Rights (GR-H)

a) Summary report of the 14th meeting (Strasbourg, 30 January 1998)

 

Action

The Deputies are invited to take note of the report of the 14th meeting of the Liaison Committee between the Council of Europe and Management and Labour (LCML) set out in document CM(98)132.

 

1. The 14th meeting of the Liaison Committee between the Council of Europe and Management and Labour was held in Strasbourg on 30 January 1998. The agenda had been adopted by the Ministers' Deputies at their 613th meeting (18, 19 and 23 December 1997, A level, item 1.5). The meeting report is set out in CM(98)132.

2. Document CM(98)132 was examined by the Deputies at their 641st meeting (15 September 1998, B level, item 6.7). Since the 14th meeting of the LCML had not been satisfactory as regards the results anticipated, the Deputies asked the Rapporteur Group on Social and Health Questions (GR-SOC) and the Rapporteur Group on Human Rights (GR-H) to examine the report of that meeting and prepare the relevant decisions (cf CM/Del/Dec(98)641/6.7).

3. As the two Groups were to make proposals to the Deputies in this connection, the matter was placed on the agenda of the GR-SOC meeting of 22 February 1999 and dealt with in conjunction with GR-H, under dual GR-SOC/GR-H chairmanship. The conclusions are set out in Synopsis GR-SOC(99)3.

4. The Groups confirmed that the report of the 14th meeting of the LCML was lacking in substance and, in view of recent developments at the Council of Europe concerning co-operation in the social field and the time that had elapsed since the meeting, it was no longer of use to come back to this report in detail. In that case, action should be restricted to a formal decision on the report, namely to take note of it and to review the aims of the LCML in general (this is proposed under point b hereinafter).

 

DRAFT DECISION

Item 1.5

LIAISON COMMITTEE BETWEEN THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

AND MANAGEMENT AND LABOUR (LCML)

a) Summary report of the 14th meeting

(Strasbourg, 30 January 1998)

(CM/Del/Dec(97)613/1.5; (98)641/6.7; CM(98)132; GR-SOC(99)3)

Decision

The Deputies took note of the report of the 14th meeting of the Liaison Committee between the Council of Europe and Management and Labour (LCML) as a whole (CM(98)132), bearing in mind the decisions taken hereinafter under item 1.5b.

b) Future work of the Liaison Committee

Action

The Deputies are invited to hold an exchange of views on arrangements for co-operation with the management and labour partners of the Council of Europe and to authorise the Secretariat to contact those partners in order to review the aims and forms of future co-operation, within the new context of the Organisation's refocused activities following the 2nd Summit.

1. The terms of reference of the LCML, adopted by the Committee of Ministers at the 363rd meeting of the Deputies (October 1983, item 20), state that its aim is to "keep management and labour regularly informed of the Council of Europe's intergovernmental activities in the socio-economic and migration fields", to "enable management and labour to express their views on these activities and to put forward their proposals concerning the Council of Europe's future work" and to "draw up an outline programme of hearings for the current year and ensure the smooth conduct of the hearings procedure".

2. For some time, the meeting agendas of the LCML have gone beyond those terms of reference, in order to give management and labour - ETUC and UNICE - more information on the present activities and priorities of the Council of Europe. This is also explained by the presence of management and labour representatives within the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter and the European Committee for Social Cohesion (CDCS). This gives management and labour broad scope for participation in the Organisation's activities in the social rights and social policy sphere. They are keen to have more political contact with the Committee of Ministers. The recent meetings of the LCML have also demonstrated that it is time to consider new forms of co-operation that are more dynamic, diversified and geared to the present context of the Council of Europe, which now has 41 members and includes social cohesion as a focal point of its intergovernmental programme of activities.

3. This was the backdrop to the discussion which took place on 22 February 1999 within the Rapporteur Group on Social and Health Questions (GR-SOC), in conjunction with the Rapporteur Group on Human Rights (GR-H). It was suggested that the aims of the LCML be revised in collaboration with management and labour representatives (cf GR-SOC(99)3). The Secretariat would like express instructions from the Ministers' Deputies to that end, as well as some indication of the measures to propose.

4. The GR-SOC and GR-H have proposed that management and labour be consulted on their centres of interest in relation to the intergovernmental activities of the Council of Europe so that they might be granted observer status with the committees concerned, for example. Involving management and labour representatives in certain specialised ministerial conferences might also be envisaged. As far as contact at political level is concerned, the successive chairmanships of the Committee of Ministers, at the level of the Chairman of the Ministers' Deputies, could hold talks with management and labour, as is the case at the European Union. The question remains as to whether the list of management and labour representatives should be extended to incorporate inter alia the organisations representing management in the countries of central and eastern Europe (this is the case on the Governmental Committee of the Social Charter, where the employers are also represented by IOE, the International Organisation of Employers whose membership includes organisations outside the European Union).

5. The Ministers' Deputies might also wish to exchange views on the LCML, its terms of reference, the continuation of its work or its replacement by other forms of co-operation. In the light of that discussion, the Secretariat could, once duly authorised, contact the management and labour representatives, who themselves helped to draw up the terms of reference of the LCML, and ascertain their views on different proposals. The Secretariat would then prepare specific proposals for new co-operation arrangements to be examined by the Deputies.

 

DRAFT DECISIONS

 

Item 1.5

b) Future work of the Liaison Committee

Decisions

The Deputies

1. in the light of their discussion at the present meeting, instructed the Secretariat to contact the management and labour representatives involved in the LCML in order to review the aims and forms of future co-operation;

2. decided to resume examination of this item at one of their forthcoming meetings on the basis of proposals to be submitted by the Secretariat.