Problem of discrimination in the labour market can’t be solved by legislation. It is an issue for the whole society!
At the beginning of the 20th century, the average life expectancy was barely 50 years. Nowadays, half of the children born after 2000 are expected to live more than 100 years.
Rapidly increasing life expectancy and better health care together with lower birth rate lead to adverse demographic trends. The ageing population represents an extreme burden for public budgets.
Therefore, year 2012 has been designated by the European Commission as the “European Year for Active Ageing”. Active ageing is the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life. Participants of the debate organized by CEBRE on 7th March in Prague agreed that “future perspectives are uncertain. For this reason the problem must be immediately challenged.” In the long run, it is necessary to enhance the born rate. Maternity should not be seen as an obstacle for the labour market success. „Social challenges have to be addressed at EU level, however many Member States perceive them as national issue“, said Richard Falbr, Member of Committee for Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament. States have to create flexible labour markets and promote part-time jobs.
Last but not least, requalification and vocational training opportunities should be cornerstone for effective tackling of structural crisis. Employees have to be able to react on changing demand of working labour. According to Jan Dobeš, Deputy Minister of labour and » read more «
Future of European Social Fund
In October 2011, the European Commission proposed the rules that will determine how the European Social Fund (ESF) will work in the 2014-2020 period.
The proposal is part of an overall legislative package for the Union’s future cohesion policy. It will allow the ESF to continue providing tangible support to people who need help to find a job or to progress in their current job.
The aim of the European Social Fund is to improve employment opportunities, promote education and life-long learning, enhance social inclusion, contribute to combating poverty and develop institutional capacity of public administration. The new ESF proposal is based on the flagship initiatives of the European Union “Agenda for new skills and jobs”, which aim to reduce structural unemployment, improve self- regulatory function of the labour market and ensure the improvement of working conditions and the “Youth on the Move”, which responds to the high unemployment of young Europe.
The participants at CEBRE » read more «
Welcome by Tomáš Hartman
It has been almost three years now since I had had the first opportunity to work for CEBRE. After returning back to the Czech Republic and realizing that once Brussels catches you in its net, there is no going back, I was looking for ways how
to return as soon as possible.
Therefore, it is a great pleasure for me to work for CEBRE office again. Some things have changed since then, but many remained the same. Most importantly, CEBRE has not ceased to raise awareness of Czech entrepreneurs in the » read more «
EESC Corner – Active Citizenship Is More Than Free Movement And Rights
“Civil society is one of the ways in which our human nature can be exercised in its entirety.”
Václav Havel
The Year 2013 will mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of European Union citizenship under the Treaty of Maastricht. The European Commission has designated 2013 as the European Year of Citizens.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), as a representative of the organised civil society, has taken the opportunity and developed an opinion on European Year of Citizens (rapporteur Andris Gobiņš), highlighting participatory democracy and calling for better » read more «
Women in Europe still earn less on average than men
Women across the EU continue to earn in average 16.4% less than men, according to new figures released by the European Commission on European Equal Pay Day. The gender pay gap is persistently high, with considerable differences between countries and sectors. In the Czech Republic, the pay gap is more than 25%.
regional determination of cohesion funds
According to the data released by Eurostat in March, financial participation in allocation of European subsidies will be determined on the basis of the reached regional GDP per capita. By these results, the GDP per capita in individual regions of the Czech Republic (except for Prague) has not reached in the 3-year period of 2007–2009 75% of the EU27 average.
IDOS winner of first smart mobility challenge
The Commission announced that the winner of the First Smart Mobility Challenge on European multi-modal journey planners in the category of ‘operational journey planners’ was Czech IDOS. IDOS is a door-to-door journey planner for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It also provides other cross- border travel connections around Europe by bus and train. It has 66 million online views per month.
