Regional capabilities and the European employment strategy

The European Council laid the foundations for a European Employment Strategy (EES) in Amsterdam (June 1997) by anchoring the promotion of high employment levels and “the promotion of co-ordination between employment policies of the Member States with a view to enhancing their effectiveness ” in Articles 2 and 3 of the EC Treaty (cf. Goetschy 1999, Keller 2000, Hassel and Hoffmann 2000, Platzer 1999, Mosher and Trubeck 2003). This strategy was designed to improve the integration of groups, which are currently underrepresented, into the labour market. Women, older workers, the long-term unemployed, young people, early school leavers, low-skilled workers, people with disabilities, immigrants and ethnic minorities are explicitly mentioned in the latest Employment Guidelines (2003). The creation of a more inclusive national employment order is especially pursued through a new, more open method of co-ordination that is based on the definition of common targets, and a common evaluation of the outcomes and mutual learning processes (cf. Pochet, in thi