The Minister of State for European Affairs, Mr Roche, has said that the Republic will use its EU Presidency in the first half of 2004 to promote the role of social partnership in making Europe more competitive, writes Denis Staunton in Brussels.
Addressing the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels yesterday, Mr Roche stressed the central role played by social partnership in the State's economic success in the 1990s.
"Many elements contributed to it: responsible fiscal policies, targeted measures to attract inward investment, significantly improved educational levels, supply-side policies to improve the way the economy works, a proper focus on new technologies and the positive impact of the Single Market. Above all these, however, social partnership provided the framework within which these positive elements operated together," he said.
Mr Roche said the EU member-states that employed similar social pacts had seen the greatest economic dynamism and the most dramatic growth in employment in recent years.
"What they have achieved is a move from old-style bargaining to a new form of collective problem solving, suited to new economic and social conditions," he said.
On the eve of next year's spring EU summit, which focuses on economic issues, the Government will host a Tripartite Social Summit, to be attended by all EU leaders and European employers' representatives and trade unions.
"The summit has the potential for a collaborative and forward-looking discussion with the social partners, to develop innovative responses on themes directly related to solving our labour market problems," Mr Roche said.
