Documents

The training market for working people must become more dynamic. The importance of training for the working population is increasing; at the same time, however, the training participation rate in the Netherlands is showing signs of stagnation. Training providers must do more to key into the rapidly changing requirements of enterprises, workers and job-seekers. They must also guarantee that their programmes and courses are of good quality, transparent, and accessible. Those demanding training must in turn make their training requirements clear, and they must do a better job of coordinating their demand. These are the conclusions of an advisory report concerning the training market for working people issued by the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands.

In a global scenario of increasing competition, and especially at a time of economic crisis, Spanish companies should expand internationally, making structural improvements and equipping themselves with more and better competitive advantages allowing them to access and trade in the new foreign markets, and not to lose competitiveness in the medium and long term in their domestic markets.The report, with particular reference to small and midsize companies, calls urgently for determined support from the various tiers of government for firms seeking to expand internationally. In the Council’s view, internationalization of Spanish companies should be a top priority in economic policy and a major plank of foreign policy.As regards specific public measures of support, the report picks out the following:· greater awareness-raising efforts · provision of specific information in various fields allowing companies to minimize initial costs and risks · human resource development programmes in all spheres · financial support · support for participation in international tenders · promotion of business networks, or technical assistance The report highlights the role of commercial diplomacy, which it considers vital to consolidating companies’ brand and country image, and thus their international growth. Accordingly it advocates strengthening their links with priority markets with the design of a new model for Spain’s commercial network abroad. What is needed moreover is a business framework that enhances companies’ activity both at home and abroad, integrating all their various realities and needs.Finally the report places special emphasis on the role of dialogue between management and labour and the involvement of the social partners, which, in the Council’s view, may help the necessary mechanisms to be devised for adapting to an increasingly competitive international environment.

"Organization and functioning of the Greek Agricultural Organization - DIMITRA, integrated support for rural areas of applied agricultural research, rural vocational education and training and control and certification of agricultural products" - Draft Law

This report is part of the Council’s broader project on “Regional development, competitiveness and social cohesion”, aimed at analyzing public policies of particular significance to competitiveness and social cohesion objectives. The report aims to consider how the decentralized management of environmental policy works in Spain with a view to identifying its strengths and weaknesses, in terms both of effectiveness in achieving environmental protection goals and of effects on business competitiveness and social cohesion.The report recognizes the progress made in recent years both in decoupling economic growth and waste generation and in modernizing waste treatment so as to minimize its environmental impacts. The document notes, however, that waste management is characterized by a profusion of regulations and by a poorly coordinated overlapping of State, regional and local provisions. This, in the Council’s view, results in great confusion and complexity leading to unjustified administrative burdens for economic operators. The report adds that there are considerable differences between Spanish regions as regards administrative procedures and taxes linked to waste management, and that the environmental standards applicable in the field are not the same across the country due to regional idiosyncrasies, which in turn involves distortions in the domestic market as a result of variable costs for economic operators depending on the region in which they operate.The report advocates “harmonizing, synthesizing and simplifying” regulations.As to controlling greenhouse gas emissions, the report points out that, in its years of economic growth, Spain was far from meeting the emission reduction goals set in the Kyoto Protocol, but this trend seems to have reversed by the economic crisis. It is also notable that the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions is highly even across the Spanish regions due to differential factors such as urban development or economic specialization, and in particular the distribution of industrial facilities. The report also recommends strengthening central government’s role in the setting of harmonized criteria for the application of protocols and procedures for authorizing and verifying emissions to the air. The Council further recommends improving the quality of information provided to social dialogue roundtables in this area and developing work indicators.

The Spanish ESC’s plenary session has adopted an Opinion on the draft bill reforming the Audiovisual Media Act, amending its article 40 in two respects. On one hand it removes the limitation on the outsourcing of production and editing functions for certain programmes. On the other it allows the autonomous regions to use different forms of management (direct, indirect through a private entity, or various forms of public-private partnership).The bill aims, according to its explanatory preamble, “to contribute to budgetary consolidation and the consolidation of public accounts”. The opinion highlights the importance, in these times of crisis, of providing instruments allowing public resources to be used efficiently while preserving the quality and public utility of services. In the Council’s view, free competition and participation should be guaranteed for the sector’s various operators in the new forms of management provided for by the bill, so as to avoid market concentration and to ensure plurality in such services.The Opinion states that in order to guarantee efficiency it would be advisable in all events to assess the spending control mechanisms provided by the law, and if such an assessment shows it to be necessary, to propose measures to improve them.The Council regards the right to information as vital to the general economic interest, and so it considers that the reform of the Audiovisual Media Act should guarantee that right to information as well as diversity of opinion and pluralism in the media, along with respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, as set out in the Spanish Constitution. Finally, given that the bill is drafted as a basic law, the Council’s Opinion calls on the legislators to clarify whether its provisions will apply to State public radio and television.

The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG) presented its Draft Framework for Sustainable Development for Ireland (FSDI) for consideration by the NESC Council at the December 2011 meeting.The Council’s discussion of the FSDI, in December 2011 and January 2012, brought to the fore a range of issues. This report does not outline in any detail the specific comments of Council members. Instead, the Council’s focus here is on the characteristic of the FSDI that has prompted many of member’s concerns and questions, namely the encompassing nature of the FSDI. Paradoxically, this feature is also seen by the Council as one of the key strengths of the FSDI.

Austerity on its own will not be enough, additional policy initiatives are needed to promote economic growth and employment. The search for practical measures must be relentless and must engage the entire policy system and all economic and social organisations. The Irish National Economic and Social Council, today, argue that current policies will not, on their own or as currently designed, be sufficient to promote an acceptable recovery of the economy and employment.