Workshop EU-Japan: maatschappelijke betrokkenheid is sleutel tot bestrijding werkloosheid (en)

CES/09/91

7 July 2009

EU-Japan workshop points to civil involvement as way out of employment crisis

A group of academics, civil society organisations, diplomats and other officials from the European Union and Japan came together for the first time at the EESC on 24 June 2009to discuss the future of employment and push through new ideas on how to overcome the global financial crisis.

Maintaining jobs, promoting decent work and working conditions, boosting entrepreneurship, upgrading skills , and dealing with social tensions are some of the challenges which, according to the conclusions of the one-day workshop, can be addressed effectively through a broad civil dialogue. Both the European and Japanese participants stressed the need to bring together employers, workers and other civil society organisations in an effort to maintain jobs and boost young people's access to employment.

The workshop was organised by the recently established EU-Japan Contact Group, which is chaired by EESC member Eve Päärendson (Employers' Group) . Addressing the opening session, EESC Vice-President Irini Pari said that " it is of the highest importance that we combine our thinking, in Europe and Japan, to see how we can face the challenges regarding civil society and its perspectives on employment".

The Ambassador of Japan to the European Union, Mr Nobutake Odano , highlighted his government's recovery efforts referring toJapan's "three stimulus packages to boost jobs, help certain sectors, assist SMEs and support the unemployed". He went on to warn that "job losses will remain a problem even after an upturn in production".

The EU- Japan Joint Action plan is set to be reviewed in 2010 and participants expressed confidence that the European Commission and the Japanese authorities will make provisions for more civil dialogue in the review.

Representing the European Commission , Mr Jonathan Hatwell said that official talks on how to replace the Action Plan will begin in 2010, and that the Commission is "open to feedback from civil society as to the terms, scope and duration of a new Action Plan".

Bleak reports about the impact and duration of the crisis on the industrialised world were reaffirmed by Japanese and European experts. Professor Hiromasa Kubo , President of the EU Institute in Japan, said that Japan "has seen a very large drop in its economy", characterised by loss of confidence and a 50% fall in exports.

For the EU, EESC member Erika Koller (Group II) cited Eurostat figures which show that 20 million Europeans are currently out of work. A number of speakers reflected on the time-lag between a prospective recovery and an eventual increase in employment levels.