| 08:30 - 09:00 | Registration & Welcome Coffee |
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| 09:00 - 09:30 | Welcome by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe, and Keynote Address by Joaquin Almunia, EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs |
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| 09:30 - 10:30 | CAN TACTICAL POLICIES ADDRESS PROFOUNDLY STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS? |
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| Long accustomed to unemployment figures as the barometer of political crisis, Europeans are having difficulty adjusting to the implications of their worsening labour shortage. Low birth rates and inadequate education and training in many high-tech sectors are already producing serious labour shortfalls. The economic impact is that western Europe (EU-15) will see its present 2.3% maximum annual GDP potential increase – in effect, the ceiling on growth – fall to 1.8% after 2010, and then to an average 1.3% after 2030. What does increasingly sluggish growth mean for Europe’s most industrialized countries, and what policy measures are needed to soften the impact of our shrinking and ageing workforces? Is some sort of European fertility strategy conceivable? |
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| Speakers: | | |
| Wolfgang Clement | Chairman of the Adecco Institute and former German Minister for Economics and Labour |
| Aart de Geus | Deputy Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) |
| José Silva Peneda MEP | Member of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and rapporteur of “A European Social Model for the Future” |
| Bruno Tobback | Member of the Belgian National Parliament and former Belgian Minister for Environment and Pensions |
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| Moderation: Co-moderated by Shirin Wheeler, Europe Correspondent of BBC TV, and Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe |
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| 10:30 - 11:00 | Coffee Break |
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| 11:00 - 12:00 | IS THE EU’S “FLEXICURITY” THE FIRST SIGN OF A WORKPLACE REVOLUTION? |
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| The European Commission is breaking new ground with its “Flexicurity” proposals for combining greater job flexibility with more security for both employers and workers. Furthermore, EU Member States have recently endorsed the common principles of flexicurity. Public opinion accepts that ‘jobs for life’ are a thing of the past and life-long learning and new forms of work are crucial. But trade unions remain sceptical about the labour market reforms that flexicurity implies. How can active labour market policies help re-fashion EU countries’ employment practices to address demographic challenges such as the shrinkage of active labour forces and the consequent shortage of skills? How best can governments stimulate labour mobility and devise also social security systems that fit new needs of workers and employees? How much common ground is there between them on family policies aimed at stimulating employment while reconciling professional and personal life? |
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| Annemarie Muntz | President of the European Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Eurociett) |
| Catelene Passchier | Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) |
| Nikolaus van der Pas | European Commission Director General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities |
| Ton Wilthagen | Professor at the Faculty of Law and Head of the International Flexicurity Research Programme at the University of Tilburg, the Netherlands |
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| Moderation: Co-moderated by Shirin Wheeler, Europe Correspondent of BBC TV, and Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe |
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| 12:00 - 12:30 | Coffee Break |
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| 12:30 - 13:30 | FOR HOW LONG WILL PENSIONS AND HEALTHCARE BE AFFORDABLE? |
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| Discouraging early retirement is now a widespread policy goal, reflecting Europe’s alarming outlook in which 30% of adults will be over 65 by 2050. This is almost twice the current figure. In any case, the crunch will come long before 2050; in France expenditure on state pensions is expected to rise by 24% between 2010 and 2050, illustrating how pension commitments could disrupt social and political equilibriums. Present policy thinking is shoring up state and corporate pension schemes, but what sort of new ideas could restructure them to cope with an ageing society in which fewer and fewer workers must fund an ever-larger retirement sector? Is a political revolution on the cards in which state pensions and health insurance would be phased out in favour of more flexible privatised systems? |
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| Speakers: | | |
| Robert Anderson | Head of Unit Living Conditions and Quality of Life at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Working and Living Conditions (EUROFOUND) | |
| Jos Berghman | Professor of Social Policy and Head of the Sociology Department at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Leuven University, Belgium | |
| John Hawksworth | Head of Macroeconomics at PricewaterhouseCoopers UK | |
| Marián Hošek | Czech Republic’s Deputy Minister for Social Policy, Social Services and Family Policy | |
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| Moderation: Co-moderated by Shirin Wheeler, Europe Correspondent of BBC TV, and Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe | |
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| 13:30 - 14:30 | Lunch | |
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| 14:30 | End of Conference | |